For the Development of the Nonprofit Quality Management
 
"Do you want to change the world? Start with yourself!" This age-old proverb could be the guiding motto behind the Civil Society Development Foundation Hungary´s (CSDF Hungary) program to disseminate nonprofit quality management skills and know-how in Hungary.

Funded by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe, the goal of this program is to increase the level of consciousness of nonprofit organizations in Hungary about quality management issues and to introduce a wide range of systems that are available for them to make use of. This comparative approach will make it easier for them to adopt the system that best fits their level of organizational development as well as their goals for quality work and monitoring.

Over the next two years, CSDF Hungary will be adapting quality assurance systems that have been successfully tested elsewhere to the Hungarian context, such as the Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organizations (PQASSO). We are developing this accountability standard together with the Educators´ House Association in Pécs, and aim to use it to increase both local confidence in the nonprofit sectors and levels of local fundraising. PQASSO is a self-assessment system that guides its users towards quality assured work, be they young organizations taking their first steps, or more mature organizations capable of more sophisticated strategic planning and action. In addition, we formed a strategic partnership with the Quality Development Center and the Hungarian representative of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), the organizer of the Hungarian Quality Award. As part of this partnership we are working to make the EFQM Excellence Model more accessible to Hungarian nonprofit organizations, and plan to engage less with the promotion of the most widely known quality assurance system, the ISO 9001, which we feel is not fully appropriate for the sector. We would instead like to demonstrate a wide range of alternative models from which organizations may select that which they feel is the most suitable for their needs.

To achieve this we regularly organize training events and conferences, and will be releasing publications on the topic. We are currently testing the quality assurance systems in collaboration with several organizations and together we will be adapting them to the Hungarian context after assessing the results. We will then disseminate the tested and adapted systems to a wider audience.

Committed to Excellence

The Quality Development Center (HQDC) of the Public Foundation for the Progress of the Industry (IFKA) has launched a unique and cutting-edge program in 2006. The so called "Committed to Excellence" program focuses on the issue of quality and excellence.
 
In accordance with the international (European) quality development tendencies the aim of the program is to open up the possibilities and to disseminate the advantages self-assessment - as a means of quality development - can provide to organizations and companies in Hungary. In connection with the technique of self-assessment the program also aims at making the European Excellence Model (EFQM Model) known by a wide public.
 
CSDF Hungary is the only nonprofit organization that has been invited to join the program which is mainly open to a group of selected business companies.
 
The key element of the program is to ensure that participants can learn from each other, and good practices as well as lessons learned are shared. In the course of the program winner organizations of the Hungarian Quality Award share their best practices, while consultancy organizations on the other hand inform the participants about all the up-to-date quality development and quality assurance techniques, methods and tools that are adaptable and applicable in continuous developmental processes.
 
In the first phase, professional meetings and small group consultancies take place in turns. During this period all the participating organizations complete their self-assessment process by May. CSDF Hungary is assisted by the MCS Management & Controlling-Service Vezetési Tanácsadó Kft.
 
Self-assessment needs to be done in 9 areas, where capacities (methods) and results are examined and analyzed. Based on the outcomes, each organization defines three concrete developmental directions with certain aims that are to be met by November in the form of a project.
 
All participants who successfully complete the developmental project will be provided with the European-level certificate of "Committed to Excellence" as an acknowledgement and appreciation of their work.    

• Committed to Excellence
• IIASA-SHIBA Award 2005
• 2004 NGO Sustainability Index
• Nonprofits Can Also Apply for the Shiba Award