Legal Basis for the Financial Sustainability of Civil Society Organizations in Central Asia

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 2017

In this report, issues of legislative regulation of various sources of income for non-commercial organizations are discussed in five countries of Central Asia: the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

OVERVIEW

Among the sources of financial sustainability, we will consider the following: state funding and aid from private sources (local and foreign), income from internal sources of the NCO (such as membership and entrance fees, as well as income from entrepreneurial activity), favorable tax regulation of the NCOs and their donors, and volunteer activity. The NCOs’ access to various sources of income is the basis of their financial sustainability. In turn, this access depends on the supportiveness of the legislation enabling such access, and how well the NCOs know their rights and responsibilities and can take advantage of this access.

The authors of this overview hope that it will inform the readers about new possible sources of income, about the experience of their colleagues from other countries of Central Asia, and may lead them to take practical steps towards generating income from new sources and improving legislation that enables access to income.