Sometimes, you might want to organise a European event within AEGEE, but your budget doesn’t allow you to at that moment. Instead of having to go to the bank, AEGEE (contact) antennae can apply for a loan from the FATF. To understand what the FATF is, the AEGEEan decided to sit down with Theijs van Welij and Anita Kalmane, president and secretary of the FATF, and Jorge Sánchez Hernández, who speaks on behalf of AEGEE-Dresden.

The AEGEEan: Could you explain to everyone what the FATF is?

Anita: FATF is an abbreviation of our full name, Foundation AEGEE Trust Fund, which is an independent NGO founded for the reasons you can see on the website and/or previous articles written by The AEGEEan.

What precisely makes the FATF a relevant part of AEGEE? 

Anita: FATF is not a part of AEGEE per se. We are an independent NGO which is linked to AEGEE. FATF was founded by former AEGEE members and all of its aims are related to helping AEGEE – thus we wouldn’t exist without AEGEE, as our ultimate goal is to help the association.

AEGEE-Dresden, when and why did you apply for a loan of the FATF?

Jorge: We applied for our first international event: “Develop Yourself! Get what all enterprises look for”. We were still a Contact Antenna, and didn’t have enough money yet to advance the amount of money that we had gotten granted, but that we would get after the event. We also applied for our TSU this year, but we weren’t accepted by FATF.

What is the highest amount of money the FATF can provide to an antenna?

Theijs: The maximum amount for a bridging loan available to an antenna organising a European event is € 5.000.

AEGEE-Dresden, for how much money did you apply for a loan from the FATF, and how much did you have to pay back?

Jorge: We paid back around 500€.

Has any antenna already repaid the FATF for their support? 

Anita: Yes, all of them – as we are only lending, not giving away money, we are signing contracts with all antennae before lending them money to stress the importance of it. Furthermore, we are always asking for more information (e.g., budget and sponsorship letters) to make sure that antennae will get money in the next months and there are serious reasons why they haven’t got it yet – as we are only there to support them till the moment they get the expected money from their sponsors and/or participants.

Does the FATF ask an interest on their liquidity support or loans? 

Anita: No, we are non-profit organisation and we don’t ask charge any interest rate. All we care about is that the antenna is able to organise the event they have planned and that they have done everything they could to secure the money for it before the event. We are there for them in case they haven’t been able to do it due to unforeseen circumstances, but are sure that the money will come in – just delayed.

How did the FATF raise all that money to support AEGEE antennae in the first place?

Theijs: The successfully managed project ‘Europe and the Euro’, about the introduction of the Euro turned out to have a profit. This profit can only be used as a facility for other European projects.

AEGEE-Dresden, would you ever consider applying for a loan from the FATF again?

Jorge: Yes, if we ever have many events going on or the risk to need a big amount of money in the near future. Also, we will consider applying if we have a grant that we will only receive after the event is finished, since we don’t have that much money in our accounts.

Is there anything else you would like to be included in this interview?

Anita: We are looking for the next board members! Each board is serving two years, and our board term is over at the end of the year, thus we are looking for a new Secretary and President. They need to be experienced (old) members with no other current involvement in AEGEE projects, as well as have had former European management experience with large international projects; and been active in AEGEE at the European level in any form for more than two years and have left the Comité Directeur for at least six months (in case they have been a member of the CD); and can only be a member of the FATF board if they do no longer have any major responsibility within AEGEE (in order to avoid conflict of interest) and have proved they have knowledge of the current situation and status of AEGEE.

For more information on the FATF, please check out www.fatf.info or contact Anita or Theijs.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

We all love AEGEE, because it’s a multidisciplinary organization, which allows each and every one of us to bring up an idea, create a project and bring it on with the help of AEGEE members from all over the Network, with the aim to get AEGEE involved in a new field and increase the internal knowledge. However, every project has to deal with finances.  How do you deal with the budget when your project got a grant, but you won’t get the money until the project is over?

That’s why we have FATF! Let’s ask the current Secretary, Anita Kalmane, to give us more information about it.

The AEGEEan: What does the acronym FATF stand for? Faith Trough AEGEE Fighters?

Anita: Nope, FATF is the acronym for “Foundation AEGEE Trust Fund”.

Anita Kalmane

The AEGEEan: How is it connected with AEGEE? Where and how was the idea born?

Anita: FATF was founded by the Project Managers of “Europe and the Euro” back in 2003 with two main aims. The first one is to prevent liquidity problems in case AEGEE doesn’t get General Subvention and due to possibly not getting other grants needs to go bankrupt. In case this unfortunate situation happens, the money in the FATF bank account can be used to start AEGEE from scratch with the first start-capital. The second one is to provide more certainty and guarantees for carrying out European Projects and Events successfully and as originally intended – in other words, if a local has applied for a grant and has got accepted for it, but hasn’t got it yet and the event is about to start, FATF can lend the necessary money to the local which should be paid back as soon as the grant has been received. That ensures that good ideas and projects can be realized even if financial grants arrive late.

The AEGEEan: What are the differences between FATF and the AEGEE Social Responsibility Fund granted from the Comité Directeur to members for attending the Statutory Events?

Anita: Actually both funds have no similarities as FATF is lending money to locals to organize events, while AEGEE Social Responsibility Fund gives money to individual AEGEE members to attend statutory events. However, as discussed in the last FATF board meeting in March 2014, as of now, FATF will be more involved in AEGEE Social Responsibility Fund in two different ways.  Donations will be going through the FATF bank account to ensure both transparency and the possibility for a donor to receive a tax deduction. And the FATF board will be involved in selecting people who will receive the funding to ensure more objectivity as FATF board members are not holding any other positions in AEGEE (except two members who are also members of AEGEE-Europe’s board).

Theijs Van Welij

The AEGEEan: Who is representing FATF?

Anita: FATF is represented and taken care of by four board members – two of them are appointed CD members (Treasurer and Board Member), while the President and Secretary are elected every two years by the previous board and should have either CD experience or former European management experience with large international projects. The current board is composed by Theijs Van Welij as President, me as Secretary, Anna Gots as Treasurer and Pavel Zbornik as Board Member.

The AEGEEan: Who can be a member of FATF?

Anita: FATF doesn’t have any members per se, you can see the structure here. However, if you have experience in project management, in AEGEE or in any other International Non-Governmental organization, and you wish to support FATF and its work, you can contact the board to become a member of our “Commissions of Experts”, a team which support and helps project teams and event organizers in any way needed.

The AEGEEan: Some numbers: how many projects/activities have been granted last year? And how many since FATF has been created?

Anita: In the last two years there weren’t a lot of applications, so obviously there weren’t a lot of events supported. Most of them were rejected as there were different possible funding solutions found. Only one event was supported – lending money to AEGEE-Chișinău for organizing their Summer University.
You can see the total numbers from the previous years here.

The AEGEEan: Who and how can contact FATF?

Anita: Anybody can contact FATF. We can be contacted by writing to info@fatf.info

Wrapping up: if you have an idea for realising a project, and you need a valid support for writing grant applications, if you need a loan, or need help in managing and reporting a project, you can count on FATF. Now it’s up to you!

Written by Alfredo Sellitti, AEGEE-Salerno