2 minute read
Financial sustainability of the Association
AINOA ORDÓÑEZ
Treasurer
One of the main goals of the International Board for this term was to consolidate the uncertain financial situation of our Association. With very recent partners, grants that were not secured and a lack of diversity regarding our sources of income, this year we worked tirelessly to consolidate and expand them.
In order to achieve this goal during our term but also ensure the continuity of our association, all these points were taken into consideration while drafting the Financial Strategy for the terms 2022-2025, aiming at reducing our expenses and focusing on longterm investments as well as diversifying our sources of income.
During this year, we aimed to preserve all the partners we had before, expand our partnerships with Deutsche Jurist Akademie, and gain an incredible number of partnerships that offer our members benefits, such as Grammarly, Speechify, and Diversity Travel, among others.
In addition, we focused this year on applying for grants that ensure project support and support from the General Administration of the Association. With this in mind, we applied for an Operational Grant from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission that would ensure the support for all the International Board and the International Internal Meetings. In addition to this, we applied for grants from the European Youth Foundation, for an Annual Human Rights Campaign Forum, UNECA for the assistance of African Teams to the Final Oral Round of the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition; the City of Strasbourg to support the organisation of the Final Oral Round of the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition; the Legal Empowerment Fund to support the Rule of Law Education Campaign, and we remained with the support from the Council of Europe both for the General Activities of ELSA that promote the values of the Council of Europe and the organisation of the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition.
Last but definitely not least, the International Board has initiated this year a new donors Network - Le Cercle of ELSA - aiming to reach former alumni of ELSA who wish to contribute to the financial sustainability of our Association. Together with Eero Ilmari Rautalahti and Johanna Kauppinen, we contacted Alumni from ELSA to be part of this Network. We are incredibly grateful to Eero Ilmari Rautalahti, Johanna Kauppinen, Fredrik Messel, Agathe Brand Kuipers, Andrew Brooke, Lisa Mead, Bartosz Balewski, Paul Hochbaum, Francesco Bondi, Michael Goeskjær, Anu Matilla and Filipe Machado for their contributions.