FAQ

A: If you are an organization from the EaP or WB6 countries applying as a lead applicant, you have two options:

Option 1: Your project must involve at least three organizations from three different V4 countries (“1xEaP/WB6 + 3xV4” rule).

Option 2: Your project must involve at least two organizations from two different V4 countries AND one additional partner from an EaP or WB6 country different than that of the applicant (“2xEaP/WB6 + 2xV4” rule).

Examples of possible combinations: 

• Czechia & Slovakia + Armenia & Moldova
• Slovakia & Poland + Serbia & North Macedonia
• Poland & Hungary + Albania & Georgia
• Hungary & Czechia + Azerbaijan & Bosnia and Herzegovina

A: Yes. To create a new application with an already existing account:

• Go to the homepage (http://my.visegradfund.org) without logging in.
• Under registration, select the program that you want to apply for and register again using the e-mail address and password belonging to your existing account.
• Fill out the data of your organization and click on the Register button.

A: You can submit one project application for each deadline. Please note that if you submit more than one applications, we will only consider the first submitted one. Any further applications will automatically be disregarded.

Should your application be approved in a grant scheme (e.g. Visegrad Grants), you will not be able to submit another project until the previous one is fully concluded. It is, however, possible to apply for another project in a different grant scheme (e.g. Visegrad+ Grant) for another deadline.

A: Although Visegrad, Visegrad+ and Strategic Grants have no strict limitation for the size of the financial support you can apply for, our average project budget does not exceed €30.000. Each submitted proposal is evaluated on its merit, taking into account the potential outreach and impact of the project, the elaboration of the grant budget in the "Outputs" section and adherence to the "value-for-money" principle.

In order to get an estimate of the average size of our grants, check out our previously approved projects here.

A: Consulting your project proposal is possible via e-mail, phone, or online and in-person meetings based on appointments. A maximum of two consultations can be provided per project idea. The consultations will be based on draft project proposals that must be sent to the Fund's employee providing the consultation ahead of time. We recommend that the project idea is already in a more developed stage when requesting a consultation. The draft proposal should include the following: the main goal of the project with a proposed solution, the planned activities, the list of project partners, target groups, and the estimated budget.

Any consultation can take place no later than 14 days before the given application deadline. Please do not wait to book your consultation until the last moment and request a consultation in advance.

If your questions are directed at the basic conditions of our grant programs, please check our Grant Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions section or join one of our online webinars/info sessions. If you can't find answers to your questions, please contact us by email or phone.

A: Project proposals are only accepted electronically through the Fund’s online application system (http://my.visegradfund.org), which opens 30 days before each deadline. Registering your application is possible only with a valid e-mail address. Each application is password-protected, and can be accessed and edited later.

Our application system is fully electronic and therefore we require no printouts or hard copies of the application form. Please note that the Fund will not accept nor evaluate any external documents, attachments, official letters sent to us via e-mail or regular post.

A: Proposals for Visegrad Grants, Visegrad+ Grants or Visegrad Strategic Grants are accepted regularly three times per year, always by February 1, June 1 and October 1. Applications must be submitted 12:00 p.m. (noon) CET on the given deadline date.

A: A grantee can have a maximum of two running projects at the same time, in different grant schemes (e.g. applicants having a running Visegrad Grant may apply for Visegrad+ Grants or Strategic Grants.)

A: Organizations with running projects cannot reapply in the same grant program with another project until the previous one is concluded (officially closed by your assigned project manager). It is, however, possible to be a partner in any number of projects.

Faculties of universities, institutes, or organizational units of academical, artistic, social, educational, cultural, research and/or science organizations can be exempt from this rule if a different organizational unit applies (e.g. the university has a running project managed by the Faculty of Arts and the new application is submitted by the Faculty of Economics). Please note that this exemption is valid only if the applicant can, according to their own internal rules, apply for funding independently.

The new application will be accepted only if the organizational unit is correctly entered when filling out the application form (section “Organizational unit”).

A: No preference is given based on the project content as long as the project is in line with the Fund’s main mission, objectives and the Grant rules (see also the Fund's official website).

A: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine

A: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia

A: Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia

A: Visegrad+ Grants support projects which contribute to the democratization and transformation processes in non-EU member states of the Western Balkans (WB6) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Projects can address one of our regular objectives. Visegrad+ Grants should be implemented in the Eastern Partnership or Western Balkans region, or have a strong impact on local communities in at least one of those countries.

Please note that simply having a project partner/applicant from the EaP or WB6 region does not automatically make an application qualify for a Visegrad+ Grant! However, applications submitted by entities from one of the WB6 or EaP countries will automatically be considered as Visegrad+ Grant applications.

 Conditions for applying:

Projects must develop meaningful cooperation and ensure the active involvement of at least 3 V4 partners and 1 entity from the Eastern Partnershio region or the Western Balkan countries OR, if the applicant’s country of origin is one of the EaP or WB6 countries, at least 2 V4 partners and 2 entities from different EaP or WB6 countries.

 The maximum duration of project implementation is 18 months.

A: Strategic Grants support projects addressing the annual strategic priorities of the Visegrad Group. These priorities are announced on a yearly basis by the V4 country holding the rotating presidency over the group.

Please note that Strategic Grants have a different set of conditions than our other grant programs:

A strong partnership involving at least 1 organization from each V4 country (full V4 participation).

An implementation period of min. 12, max. 36 months.

Projects must clearly address one of the annual strategic priorities of the Visegrad Group, available on our website.

Please keep in mind that projects applying with objectives marked as “(Strategic)” in our application system will be evaluated based on the rules applying for Strategic Grants. Should your application not comply with these criteria, the application will be automatically considered non-eligible.

A: Bilateral cross-border cooperation is a sub-type of the Visegrad Grants, involving at least 2 organizations from two neighboring V4 countries. Here the “3xV4” rule does not apply; you can implement your project with another partner from the other side of the border if your proposal addresses a specific geographical area and a local issue/problem. If the project addresses a general issue, this problem should be tackled and addressed while taking the local context into consideration and from a local perspective. Consequently, all project activities within cross-border projects should take place within approximately 40 km from the state border, preferably on both sides (the grantee’s and project partner’s official seats do not necessarily have to be located within the 40 km limit).

Keep in mind that projects applying as cross-border cooperation (by ticking the field in our application system) will be evaluated based on the rules applying for this project type. Should your application not comply with these criteria, the application will be automatically considered non-eligible.

Please note that only the following partner combinations are possible:

Polish and Czech partnership

Czech and Slovak partnership

Hungarian and Slovak partnership

Slovak and Polish partnership.

A: Visegrad grants support regional partnerships among civil society organizations, public institutions and municipalities, private companies and non-profit organizations as well as education and research centers that contribute to cooperation in the Visegrad region.

Conditions for applying:

Projects must develop meaningful cooperation and active participation of organizations from at least three V4 countries.

Projects must address at least one of the objectives of the grant program´s seven focus areas.

Maximum duration of project implementation is 18 months.

A: Any non-governmental legal entity from any country can be an official partner. As a general rule, however, all projects supported by the Fund must have at least three organizations from three different V4 countries in the consortium. You are, however, encouraged to seek full V4 participation or give reasons if not including all four countries. Logically, if the applicant has its seat in the V4, only two more partners are required (e.g. the applicant is a Polish organization, the partners are from Czechia and Hungary). If applying from outside the V4, however, make sure that you fulfil the condition of having three V4 partners. We recommend having the whole Visegrad region covered in the partnership and, therefore, proposals with a full V4 consortium will have preference.

From 2024, applicants whose country of origin is one of the EaP or WB6 countries enjoy an exception from the rule stated above. For such projects, the applicant has the option to either follow the “3xV4” rule as described above or create a consortium including at least two partner organizations from two different V4 countries and one additional partner from an EaP or WB6 country different than that of the applicant (“2xV4 + 2x EaP/WB6” rule).

The selection of relevant partners is fundamental for a successful project bid. In principle, all partners within the consortium should have experience in the area your project is dealing with and show commitment to joint action. To show the benefits of working as a consortium, you need to describe the role of each partner in the application and the specific tasks that they will carry out.

Please note that the role of the partners cannot be limited to simple logistical help or participation in project events. We expect our applicants and their partners to actively work together throughout the project’s implementation and share their skills and know-how for the benefit of the whole region.

Bilateral cross-border projects are an exception from the “3xV4” rule but only in proposals that directly benefit a specific border area between two neighbouring V4 countries (see section 1.10). Exceptions may also apply in cases when projects respond to concrete calls for proposals published by the Fund.

A: Natural persons (individual citizens) or institutions of state administration (ministries, government agencies, regulatory agencies, embassies, state-funded cultural institutes, etc.) can neither apply nor be valid project partners.

Private entrepreneurs are not eligible to apply or be partners.

A: The results of each call are published on the Fund’s website. All applicants—whether your project is approved or rejected—are also informed by e-mail.

A: We evaluate each proposal individually based on the following guidelines:

Project relevance/context clarity

Visegrad substance

Quality and Impact

Transparency and Accuracy

Experience and Mission

Detailed explanations of the selection criteria can be found in Grant Guidelines section 3. Project Selection, subsection 3.2 Selection criteria.

A: These are all the events, products or activities that you will carry out during your project. The outputs are the main means by which your consortium reaches the specific goals you set in your application form. They bring you closer to the desired “outcome” and, ultimately, to the bigger solution to the problem/issue chosen.

Please note that the maximum number of outputs that can be created within a project is 10.

When completing the IV. OUTPUTS section in your online application, keep in mind that for each output (publication, events, data collection) of the project you have to give an estimated cost. This shall be realistic and respect the “value-for-money” principle. All cost estimates shall be in EUR (€) based on average prices at the site of delivery. Always indicate the unit cost of respective expenditures (hotel price per night, transport per person per specific distance, expert fee per hour, page, etc.).

The Fund can cover the total costs of the project according to your estimates but may also choose only some specific outputs to be supported. Therefore it is important to adhere to the list of eligible cost categories, i.e., costs that can be covered by the grant

A: To apply for Visegrad and Visegrad+ Grants, your project must fit into one of the seven focus areas eligible for funding. Specific thematic priorities may apply to Visegrad+ projects that target the countries of the Eastern Partnership or the Western Balkan countries (see section 1.7.). For Visegrad Strategic Grants, distinct strategic priorities are defined on an annual basis (see section 1.6.). Each project proposal should be identified with one focus area and one concrete objective which best corresponds with the project’s aims. The focus areas and objectives to each grant program can be found on the Fund’s website.

A: When planning your project, make sure that you properly identify and describe the problem or issue that you wish to address and name the most relevant target groups that this project will affect (both direct and indirect targets). It is crucial to see the logical connection between the proposed outputs (the events or products of your project) and their short-, medium- and long-term impacts.

In assessing the application, the Fund also considers these balancing criteria:

Relative strength of the application compared to other applications received for the same program area.

Geographical balance of the projects seeking support.

A: The Fund can cover the total project costs estimated in each proposal but may also choose concrete outputs to be supported by the grant. Additional support from actors other than the Fund is highly encouraged – be that support financial (contributions by the applicant, partners and/or other donors or sponsors) or non-financial in nature (in-kind contributions of the applicant or partners such as volunteer work or use of own premises, etc.). Project budgets shall be realistic and respect the “value for money” principle. All cost estimates shall be based on the project’s expected expenditures in EUR (€) based on average prices at the site of delivery. It must be clear from the budget what the unit cost of each expenditure is.

A: No, the partners confirm their participation in the project directly in our online system, through an online link sent to their e-mail address once your project is approved.

A: No application form printouts or accompanying documents in hard copies or electronic version are required when submitting the proposal. Any such attachments (e-mails, letters, promotional materials) will be disregarded by the Fund during evaluation.