Summary

• Deadline is 1 May of each year
• The 2012 application can be downloaded here

About:

The "NATO Wives Bazaar ASBL" is a philanthropic Association created in 1968 and officially registered in Belgium as a non-profit organization since April 26, 2005. Its objectives are to raise money for charities and to promote friendship in the international community of NATO. Funds are collected through several events each year, the annual bazaar being the most important of them.

Annually, the Association invites all member nations of the Alliance and its Partners to join in an International fair for charities called the "NATO Charity Bazaar". For many consecutive years now, it is customery to see several thousand people come through the doors of the Bazar.

Well over 100,000 Euros are collected each year, and entirely distributed to charities. Half the funds are donated to Belgian charities in acknowledgment of Belgium as the host nation of NATO Headquarters, and the other half is going to International charities.

A transparent and objective selection process determines which charities will receive a part of the collected funds for any given year. The Charity Coordinator and her Assistant, investigate all requests received from a large number of Charities and will visit some of these with the help of volunteer members of the Charity Committee. This same committee reviews all the files and lists the requests in order of priority based on collectively defined criteria and using a voting system. Final agreement of the list of donations is given by our General Assembly. Finally, the funds are transferred to the Charities, normally at the end of January.

Emergency Requests:

These donations are for exceptional or extremely urgent cases. The requested donation should not exceed the amount of 2000 Euros. These donations are made throughout the year.

The following criteria are considered when selecting charities for donation:

CHARITY SELECTION PROCESS

Two categories of projects are funded:

• Belgian charities (35% of proceeds) and International Charities (65% of proceeds).
• Emergency requests: These donations are for exceptional or extremely urgent cases. The requested donation should not exceed the amount of 2.000 €. The donations are made throughout the year.

Factors taken into account when selecting charities for donation:

We only consider the funding of requests from organizations which:

• are non-profit (ASBL or VZW if located in Belgium), non-governmental organizations which have been officially registered as such for at least one year

• are small, independent organizations (those which are NOT a branch of a large parent organization) with a maximum income of €300.000 per year

• exist (or are based) in a NATO country, a NATO PfP country or a country where NATO is currently engaged (i.e. Afghanistan)

• have NOT received funds from the NCB for at least two complete calendar years (for example, an or­gani­zation that has benefited from funds raised at the 2011 Bazaar is not eligible to apply again before 2014).  

Application forms must be complete.  All questions and requests for explanation MUST be addressed.  FAILURE TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION OF THE APPLICATION.

To be considered a Belgian charity applicant, the organization must exist (or be based) in Belgium.

We fund projects which:

• are small, specific projects which will be completed during the donation year (2013).

• cover the widest spectrum of the community, and when completed have a long term impact and are of benefit to as many people as possible,

• primarily benefit NATO countries, NATO PfP countries, and countries where NATO is currently engaged (for example in Afghanistan). However, we do not exclude projects from other geographic locations.

We do NOT donate funds for the following expenses:

• salaries for the daily staff nor daily running costs of the applying organization

• publishing fees for advertisement purposes, nor for media related fees (web design, radio/TV advertising, radio/TV programs)

• transportation modes (bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, car, bus, train, boat, airplane)

• transportation costs (including gasoline, tickets and the hiring or leasing of transportation)

The maximum amount donated is €10.000 (euros), however we always strive to give the smallest amount required to make the project viable.

The NATO Charity Bazaar members vote on the final list of charities to be funded + amounts to be donated.

 

APPLICATION PROCESS

The 2012 application is available to download here

• Submit a completed electronic version of this form (rename the file to include the name of your organization) in Word format only (no pdf versions) by e-mail ONLY to charity@natocharitybazaar.org.   
• REMEMBER:  Rename the application file to include the name of your organization
  The subject line of the email MUST include the name of the applying organization.
• Direct any questions by e-mail to charity@natocharitybazaar.org, Attn: the Charity Coordinator.
  
• Proposals are due by 1 MAY of each year. If funding is awarded, the funds will be transferred in December 2012 with a Donation Ceremony in January 2013.
• Receipts for goods purchased with funds are required.
• All Belgian charities will receive a personal visit from a representative of the NCB.
• All correspondence must be in English or French unless otherwise stipulated.
• Failure to provide ALL of the information requested will result in the disqualification of the application.