At the end of last month, a training session on tools and techniques that can contribute to more effective community fundraising was held for representatives of AKT partner organizations. The goal was to strengthen their capacities for developing sustainable financing models.
Essential knowledge on this topic was delivered by Tanja Bjelanović, an experienced trainer and expert in civil society development and philanthropy. Tanja has over 25 years of experience in the civil sector and more than 15 years working as a consultant and trainer. Her expertise focuses primarily on strategic program and organizational development, change management, program evaluations, organizational capacity assessments and strengthening, as well as grant-making programs.
During the training, participants had the opportunity to learn about the basic principles and goals of community fundraising, and to develop and present a call for support—an essential communication tool for engaging donors and citizens—by working through practical case studies. In addition, the training covered donor mapping and various fundraising techniques, ranging from mass campaigns and individual donor outreach to organizing community events. Through hands-on exercises, participants created their own mini-campaigns and exchanged experiences on successful models already implemented within their organizations.
Evaluating the quality and purpose of the training, participants emphasized that it helped them better understand the process of building trust and relationships with the community, as well as gain practical tools for launching successful fundraising campaigns.
NBS IPS Generator and Validator
The AKT team continues to share useful information that can support and improve fundraising efforts for your CSOs and/or campaigns you plan to implement.
We believe some of you are already familiar with the options offered by the National Bank of Serbia, related to two services that enable the generation (technical preparation) of the NBS IPS QR code and validation (technical verification) of an already prepared IPS QR code.
The IPS Generator is a tool for generating an IPS QR code.
This code contains all the information required to execute an instant payment via a bank’s mobile application. With the IPS Generator you can:
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create a QR code, print it or display it (e.g., on a card/sticker, promotional material, website, POS terminal);
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conduct payments between individuals and legal entities—the user simply scans the code and the payment is executed automatically—an option that significantly simplifies individual donations (and effectively replaces or complements traditional donation boxes used for specific purposes).
The IPS QR code contains key information about the recipient (account number, payment amount, payment purpose, reference number, recipient name, etc.), eliminating the possibility of data entry errors and speeding up the payment process.
The IPS Validator is a tool used to verify the accuracy and compliance of an IPS QR code with the standards prescribed by the National Bank of Serbia. It is used to test QR codes generated by various entities (e.g., merchants, service providers) to ensure that the code contains all mandatory elements and that the data is properly formatted according to IPS NBS specifications. This ensures that all codes function correctly within the IPS system and can be successfully read and processed by banking applications.
For more information and detailed instructions on these services, visit the dedicated page of the National Bank of Serbia.
