Between 6th January and 6th March 2009 we have opened the third, and by it the last, call for proposals for Lot II “Environmental protection and sustainable development”. As compared to the previous calls, this one attracted least interest from the Applicants. One of the causes for this may be the fact that some of the potential Applicants had already implemented projects form the NGO Fund in the first and the second call. Moreover in the period when the first call was implemented there were less opportunities to receive financing from different support programmes. Basing on our own analyses and information from the Beneficiaries, one can make a hypothesis that less interest of the Applicants is also influenced by the fact that in 2007, when the first call for proposals was opened, there was a hiatus in implementation of operational programmes within the European Social Fund.

Within the three calls of Lot II „Environmental protection and sustainable development” 795 applications in total were submitted, with 119 (15%) receiving financing amounting to 12 826 828 Euro (47 301 372 PLN). Average value of implemented projects is 397 490 PLN. In all applications the greatest interest from the Applicants was paid to the following focus areas:

• „Education and information activities for environmental protection”
• „Activities for increase of social awareness”.

One of the possible causes for interest in these areas is the profile of the Polish NGOs. National research of the organisations (Gumkowska, Herbst 2006) shows that the most often field of activity was education and upbringing (35.6%). Moreover, in 2006 33% of the NGOs declared their activity as “Mobilising and educating the public opinion to support activities of the NGO, and running social campaigns”.