The focus of the third day of the seminar “Leadership, Organization and Communication” was on “Philanthropy as part of the value system of the modern leader”. Special guest-speakers were Mr. Ivan Stancioff and Mr. Aleksey Hristov. Mr. Stancioff told the participants the stories about the two foundations established by him. “Gavroche” association supports homeless children and provides complex social care and services to children and youth at risk. “Karin dom” is a center for children with special needs, training and resource center. The aims of the foundations are to offer professional services in a non-residential setting and to help achieve social inclusion for a better quality of life. For 16 years 1,600 children have visited “Karin Dom”. Mr. Alexey Hristov from the American Foundation for Bulgaria highlighted that measures and initiatives for supporting charity should be developed. The Program participants received the books “Inspired Philanthropy – Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan and Leaving a Legacy” and “Philanthropy in Contemporary Bulgaria”, which were published under the project “Promoting Philanthropic Culture in Bulgaria”, funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Another accent from the day was the role of the Internet as a communication tool during the election campaign. Mr. Robert Philips, who is a lecturer in Political science at the American University in Bulgaria, analyzed the use of new media in the current election campaign for president of the USA. The Program Director of the Center for Liberal Strategies Mr. Georgi Ganev presented the on-line tools “Glasovoditel” and “Glasosleditel”, with which the voters could test their attitudes before the upcoming elections in Bulgaria. The tools will be further elaborated under the project “More Citizen Participation and More Reason in Elections: Online Tools and Public Debates for Engaging Citizens with National and European Elections in Bulgaria”. It is implemented by the Bulgarian School of Politics “Dimitry Panitza” in partnership with the Center for Liberal Strategies and funded by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

In the morning the trainees had team building activities and a lecture on “Conflict Management”, delivered by Mr. Ivelin Nikolov.