Interview Questions - Serbs for Serbs Charity

Can you explain the situation and motivations that led you to create this charity organization? Who was initially involved? Did you face any challenges in the beginning? Do young people play a significant role in your charity?

The idea for establishing charity organization Serbs for Serbs arose spontaneously, during online chat between football fans on the famous Serbian web portal Serbiancafe.com in the 2005. While discussing the ideas on how to help and contribute to the Serbian country and their people, somebody suggested raising money online via private Pay Pal account only within their group in order to help a poor family from Kragujevac, Serbia with five children by sending some donation. After raising 300 euro, they went and visited the family, took many photos and posted back to the whole group on the web. Soon after, the web site www.srbizasrbe.org was created, and organization began operating strictly online. Their idea was to help families with many children while they were growing up, so the expectations for a better Serbian society in the future would actually be plausible. The whole group was consisted out of mostly young people, ages 20-35.

One of the biggest challenge then as well as today is fund raising online. We had to change several Pay Pal accounts since the company didn’t let us keep private accounts, receiving few thousand Euros per month. Today, we use Moneybookers module which is very similar to the Pay Pal but with headquarters in London. However, we’re still trying to reopen the Pay Pal account since it’s the easiest to use and it’s very confidential.

What, in your opinion, have been the greatest successes of the charity?

So far, the greatest success of our charity was gathering mostly young people within the organization to volunteer their time and money for doing a greater good. Also, transparent relationship with our donors is very unique within the charity sector throughout the world.

What are the goals of the charity in the next 5 to 10 years?

We have two major goals: to bring more volunteers within the organization and to bring more donors supporting our work. In the next 5 to 10 years, I expect we will be able to register the associations of SFS organization in the USA, Canada, EU, Australia and Russia since those are places where great Serbian diaspora lives and where we expect to receive large support for future activities.

What is the relationship between the charity and the church? The relationship between the charity and the government?

So far, the only direct relationship with Serbian church was in Kosovo and Metohija where we cooperate with NGO Majka devet Jugovica founded by the Serbian church. Also, Serbian church in Cincinnati organized this February a charity dinner where half of the money raised went to our organization. As for the Serbian government, we don’t have any relationship or contact with them. We have applied several times with our programs for offered sponsorship by the Serbian Ministry of Diaspora but those programs were never accepted.

Serbian diaspora living in the United States seem to play an important part in your charity. Can you explain their role and how it differs from the role that Serbians in Serbia have?

Serbian diaspora living in the United States plays very important role, since we have a few people in the managing board of the organization. Also, we are working towards registering organization in the United States, hoping that we’ll be able to raise more funds for our charity work. Serbs in Serbia have more less the same role, whether they are donors or volunteers in the organization, everyone has specific tasks to complete.

How does your charity respond to the current political situation in Kosovo? Does it affect your mission trips?

The present political situation in Kosovo and Metohija affects our mission trips in such way that we have to constantly overcome many obstacles standing in our way. However, those obstacles only motivate us to do a better job each time that we plan the trip and when we actually visit the families in Kosmet. Also, many of our volunteers travel to Kosovo and Metohija on their own time, with close friends and relatives.

What is your opinion on the current government in Serbia?

We believe that the current government and each government in the future should and must do much more for the Serbian families living in deep poverty, especially in the Kosovo and Metohija province. Building infrastructure, opening possibilities for new jobs, and educating young people has to be primary goal for any government in power. Without that, there is no perspective in building qualitative society in the future.

What is your opinion of Serbia joining the EU, especially given the Kosovo question?

Whether Serbia should join the EU or not is the question for politicians and economists. No matter which political or any other group or institution Serbia joins in the future, we will still consider Kosovo and Metohija as part of our country.

What are your hopes for young people in the future of Serbia?

There are many hopes we inlay for young people in Serbia. Pursue of high education, higher involvement in athletics and sport activities overall (living healthier life), while also realizing true values of what life is and responsibilities which goes along with it. Our charity organization carries certain mission within its name - Serbs for Serbs, meaning that Serbian people should constantly help and be there for their fellow Serbian sisters and brothers in need, just as their ancestors did centuries ago. Our organization is open for young Serbian people throughout the world. A goal is to open new doors and perspectives throughout the charity work and culture of giving.