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Welcome to UNDER 30, the podcast series by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership that brings research results, explores trends in young people's lives and themes relevant for youth policy and practice.
The EU-CoE youth partnership is a co-operation programme between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth, created in 1998, connecting youth research, policy and practice.
T-kit 9 Under 30
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Dariusz Grzemny: Welcome to Under30, the podcast of the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership. Today we are talking about the second edition of T-kit 9 on funding and financial management, a practical resource for youth organizations, youth workers, trainers, and anyone involved in turning ideas into sustainable action.
The first edition of T-kit 9 was published in 2004. More than twenty years later, the realities of youth organizations have changed considerably. Digitalization has transformed the way organizations work and manage finances. Private funding has become more significant, and many organizations are moving beyond a purely project-based approach towards longer term sustainability, organizational resilience, and diversified sources of income.
This new [00:01:00] edition invites us to look at funding not simply as the search for the next grant, but as a part of a wider process of organizational development. It asks important questions. How can organizations remain guided by the mission and values when choosing funders? How can they avoid becoming fund-driven rather than strategy-driven?
And how can sound financial management strengthen independence, accountability, and long-term impact? The publication was written by Daniela Fellinger, Tamás Mahner, Aleksandra Maldžiski, and Spyros Papadatos.
In this episode, I'm joined by two of its authors, Tamás and Spyros, as well as Tanya Basarab from the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership. Together, we discuss why this update was needed, what readers can find in the new T-kit, and how it can support both newer [00:02:00] volunteer-led organizations and more established organizations, with staff, multiple projects and more complex financial systems.
Let's begin.
Let's start with the introduction to the topic we are going to deal with today, which is the new T-kit, T-kit Number 9 on funding and financial management. The first edition was published in 2004, so it's a couple of years now, more than 20. So, Tanya, what made the EU-Council Youth Partnership do this update? And,what kind of changes in the reality of youth organizations actually had an impact on it?
Tanya Basarab: Firstly, I want to introduce the whole T-kit series. By now we have published 15, but if you look deeper, quite a few of the T-kits have been updated or renewed or... and an updated T-kit, it [00:03:00] means a new T-kit. A new T-kit even conceptually. So, if you add those up, there is quite a lot more, and I do encourage people when they look at the latest version to compare, to open the older or the first editions or previous editions, because sometimes they will find, not sometimes, but almost always, they will find complementary content and useful even now. So T-kit 9 is one of those that had been published earlier, and we have this project going on continuously, so every year, we try to look at what we could update if necessary, if it is needed, and also what new content is needed for the youth workers who use them. T-kits are some of our most cherished and appreciated publications, [00:04:00] they are probably picked up first when we set up materials that the Youth Partnership produces. And rightfully so, we have kept the, the format of presentation. So if it is printed, it is an A4 size printout, that is for people who work with groups of young people, with organizations and so on, to be able to adapt them right away and to take inspiration and to put them in practice directly. This is one of the purposes. So T-kit 9 first edition was published in 2004, and if you look at the way it was developed, it spoke a lot about European sources, about own sources, public-private funding and how to approach, let's say grant management. So that was the spirit of it, how to write a project application that would guarantee you funding and so [00:05:00] on. Funding has grown, and has become more stable for youth organizations and for youth work organizations in Europe, and that is something that we all see in practice, that a lot of organizations have developed systems and are willing to improve those systems of financial management. So, there is a move in many organizations from thinking project-based to more coherent and more integrated funding as part of organizations. That is the reason why we launched this updating process. And I will let the authors really go more deeply into content, the structure, and the approaches that were developed in this new T-kit.
Dariusz Grzemny: Let's see. I may ask you more questions later. Okay, let's talk about the content, what's inside. Probably some people already had a look at it, some [00:06:00] people hadn't so, it would be good to introduce it. It's always very interesting when you are updating or when the update process starts, is how do you actually make decisions, what to keep and what to leave, and what to add on top of it? So, this is my next question. How did you make decisions? During the process, how did you realize that this is needed to be kept and this is needed to be just let go?
Tamás Mahner: Yeah. Obviously we read through the original T-kit and we were just, you know, looking at the content in a way as we are doing fundraising and we are implementing financial management in our own organizations. And we were looking at them and whatever was still standing and whatever we were still practising, basically we kept, and whatever was outdated, we complemented it with [00:07:00] the updated information or we deleted some parts were, also not really, everyday practice anymore.
Spyros Papadatos: Yeah. If I may. So one of the biggest things that we realized was that many discussions around fundraising were still very project-oriented and project-centred perhaps. While project funding, for sure remains important, I think organizations, we observe that they increasingly need to think about sustainability.
They need to think about diversification of income and organizational resilience, especially given the trends that we see in relation to civic space around Europe, both at the European level, at the different country level, but also in the wider global level, huh? At the same time, I think we deliberately kept one idea that runs throughout the publication that fundraising is not the goal itself.
One of the central messages of the T-kit is that fundraising should be, [00:08:00] let's say, the result of organizational development, the result of strong impact and effective communication rather than an end goal, and I think that idea felt as relevant in 2026 as it did also in 2004.
Tanya: I just wanted to add that there have been societal changes and transformations that definitely impact youth sector organizations. And when I say that, I mean at all levels. So digitalization has transformed hugely how people interact, how projects are done, how organizations are managed, and especially this financial management aspect of it has completely been transformed.
So moving from paper to everything digital, it has opened so many opportunities, but perhaps for some organizations, it also has become more challenging to be able [00:09:00] to have the same kind of international outreach and impact that maybe they had developed earlier and still sustain this organizational ethos that they had.
Tamas: Yeah, connecting to that, with the digitalisation the private funding became so much bigger than in 2004 that this is really important to mention and, you know, give some information, especially for new NGOs how to tap into that in order to be more sustainable.
Dariusz: Thank you. I would like to come back to what Spyros said that you had this idea that funding is not the goal in itself, that it should be something bigger, something as a part of organization's mission, of organization's strategy, independence as well, you know, because that's what's very often talked about. Why was it important to frame it this way? [00:10:00] Because financial management is always this scary thing for many youth organizations, you know? This is something you want to deal later on so why is it important to pass this kind of message that this is something bigger?
Spyros: Can I say it very plain if, if it's okay? Because in my understanding, money is never neutral. I think many organizations think about finance only when they need funding, but then it is often too late. Financial Management can influence strategic directions. It can influence organizational independence, long-term sustainability, and even, I would say, organizational culture to a certain extent.
And one of the topics that we introduce in the publication is that fundraising should emerge from a more... from a stronger organizational foundation. You have clear mission, you have clear strategy, you have impact measurement and effective communication. But when [00:11:00] organizations focus only on chasing grants, let's say, they risk becoming very fund-driven, rather than strategy-driven.
And our aim was to help organizations see that financial management is not an isolated technical function that you mentioned, Dariusz, perhaps, but more as a, core part of their organizational development. And also that's my observation after working for 10 years in the youth field. Every organization is different.
We all have our different missions, different visions, different areas that we work, different thematics. What unites us all is funding. We all need funding. We all need resources to realize our individual missions and visions and everything we're trying to achieve.
Tamás: When, when I wrote this sentence into the publication, "Fundraising is not a goal, but it's a result," I was coming from the actual [00:12:00] field, let's say; I realized that a lot of NGO management or staff, they sit down and they say, "Okay, this year we are going to do fundraising." so it becomes a goal. So then they start doing, or they start planning social media campaign events, charity events and so on. And then they move on with the planning, and then they realize, okay, now we need ambassadors to do the social media fundraising or what is going to be the content that we are going to communicate? Which activities do we choose? What photos, and so on. And for me, it is a little bit of reverse thinking, and this is for sure not the sustainable way to do it. And this is how we also drew up this pyramid that the fundraising should be the result of organizational management. So an [00:13:00] organization should have the clear mission, objective, activities. They should be also able to measure this, the activities, what they do, and the impact, what they create. And once you measure the impact that you create, it's quite easy to communicate. So you're already there in the social media communicating your impact. And so if this is done, if these steps are done correctly, then fundraising is obvious. It's coming by itself. You just have to target the right donor or you have, to target the right group in order to ask for the funding you need.
Dariusz: Okay, I would like to follow up on that a little bit and, what you said, that sometimes making decisions on the funding for the youth organization is, in some cases, probably easy. There is a project idea, there is, "Oh, we, we know this funder, they [00:14:00] probably will be interested." For many, it's not very easy. I would say for majority of them it's not very easy. But sometimes they're coming into this dilemma of "Should we get the funding from this funder? Because what they want contradicts our mission, actually contradicts our values." So how youth organizations can make these difficult choices without compromising this ethical compass that they have?
Tamás: Yes. I would not suggest or recommend to do in this way. Rather, as I was saying, if you do have your vision and mission and activities and you have your impact measurement, then, you have to look for the donors who support this kind of activities and then they support you financially to reach your vision and mission. Otherwise, it's not gonna be sustainable. Yes, you can do several grants or several applications based or... [00:15:00] and transforming or changing or reshaping a little bit your activity you are already doing, then how far you can go that you always have to modify the activities, then your vision will be also not... You are, you are not going to reach your vision. So this is for the time being, it can work, but I also believe that this is the straight way for burnout and for conflicts within the organization. So I would rather start with the activities and match the financial resources who is concretely financing the activities what you are doing.
Spyros: I would like to echo what Tamás said about, you know, the mission and the vision of the organization. I think it's very important to know where you're coming from, what your values are, what are your long-term objectives. And if an organization knows why it exists [00:16:00] and also what it wants to achieve, where it wants to go, I think it becomes much easier to assess whether a funding opportunity is aligned or not with these core things, these core characteristics of an organization.
And I think our T-kit emphasizes that organizations should not start with where can we get the money, but they should start more what are we trying to achieve? And now, something I would really like to mention is the aspect of diversification. I think it's very important, and today we see it more and more coming in organizational development discussions and internal meetings, whether we are developing our next strategic plan or whatsoever.
Diversification is also very important. We have seen a lot of examples when organizations depend too heavily on a single funding source. They become more dependent to that source, but also more vulnerable to changes in [00:17:00] priorities, to changes in policies, to changes in economic conditions.
A more diverse funding portfolio, essentially, creates a greater independence, and it allows the organizations to be more selective in picking the funders and having more values-driven decisions rather than applying for everything and hoping to get something just because you need to keep the machine running.
So I think that's a very important differentiation we need to make, and we shouldn't sacrifice everything in the temple of funding diversification. I think we should strive to have still the decision-making power because we've seen that priorities change and also funding becomes more scarce and the competition higher.
Dariusz: Thank you for this. So what's inside this T-kit? How attractive is it for small organizations? Because there are very different realities of youth organizations in [00:18:00] Europe. Small organizations which maybe are dependent on municipality funding all the time, and bigger organizations that have the staff, that have the possibilities, they have people who are able to do it. So, does the T-kit responds to those different needs of youth organizations?
Tamás: Yes. The first part of the T-kit is what we were just discussing, the broader scope and the building blocks of fundraising. Then, basically, we are going from organizational level to project level, and then how to spend the money and how to account for it. Then, there are the different sources of funding: own resources, revenues, public funding, private funding. Yeah, for your question, we were specifically making a distinction between new organizations and more advanced level experienced [00:19:00] organizations. And we have some infographics where we show what are the available funds which we suggest for starting or new organizations, and what are the grants which are more complex, focusing more on years of track record and experience, which is also harder to manage since the amounts get bigger. So yeah, in most of the parts it is very clearly distinct from one to another.
Spyros: Yeah, indeed. I think the publication is designed to be flexible. Part one focuses more on concepts, on building blocks, such as organizational development, such as, financial management and fundraising. While part two contains 24 educational activities that organizations, trainers, youth workers, can adapt to their unique needs.[00:20:00]
Now, a small volunteer-led organization might use it more as a starting point to understand budgets, to understand basic financial systems, and also maybe fundraising opportunities. A larger organization, on the other hand, that has staff, it has multiple projects, can use it a bit more meta, if I may say so.
So it may use it as a more advanced resource on sustainability, on financial procedures, on risk management or organizational strategy. I think from the authors' perspective, all four of us, we intentionally wanted it to work both as a reference manual on one hand, but also as a practical training resource on the other hand.
Dariusz: Thank you. You actually replied to the question I wanted to pose, so it's fine. I think what is very interesting in such a T-kit, if you read the title, Funding and Financial Management, and then you [00:21:00] look inside and then you see educational activities, I think that this is an important message as well, that we need to educate ourselves about how to do these things, how to manage finances, how to manage the organization, how to fundraise, how to support the organization financially, and so on.
I think that this is also a very important message, because it's a skill, so you can learn it as well. Tanya, what's happening now with this? I know that the T-kit is online already, so it can be downloaded on the website of the Partnership. Anything else planned in terms of promotion of the T-kit and maybe the next revision of another, another T-kit?
Tanya: So in the first half of this year, we launched another new or updated T-kit, and that is T-kit 3, project management. And some elements probably are cross-referenced in the two T-kits. So I do encourage youth organizations to look at both. And this T-kit, has [00:22:00] already been presented for example, the European Youth Foundation has had meetings with international organizations, and it has shared it. We will be continuing to speak about it, disseminate it. In 2028, we will have a capacity-building seminar for probably beginner youth work organizations or youth workers based on these T-kits.
We are in process of updating and hopefully next year we'll have a new T-kit on organizational management. So we are doing a big review of several T-kits that are critical to really having and understanding clearly the basics and the concepts that are needed for today's youth organizations and youth work organizations to function well. And of course we have other thematic T-kits in [00:23:00] process. And, we invite people to visit our website. It is downloadable as all our publications are available also in PDF format. We will be sharing it through our networks with youth work networks, with funding networks, with our partners, hopefully it will be a very useful resource and important reference publication for the coming years.
Dariusz: This brings us to the end of this episode of Under 30. Thank you Tamás, Spyros, and Tanya.
As we have heard, funding and financial management are not only technical or administrative tasks. They are closely connected to an organization's mission, values, independence, and capacity to create long-term impact. The new T-kit offers both practical guidance and learning activities to help youth organizations, whether they are [00:24:00] just starting, or are already well-established, develop more sustainable strategic and values-based approaches to funding.
You can download T-kit 9 on funding and financial management free of charge from the EU-Council of Europe Youth Partnership website. You will find the link in the notes to this episode. Thank you for listening, and see you next time on Under 30'.