From the 2026 budget audit
16 billion Ft in civil-society grants routed through a government committee
The National Cooperation Fund provides 16,042 million Ft to civil organisations through published calls and committee awards — the rules are more structured than the discretionary pool, but the mechanism is the same: involuntary tax replaces voluntary support.
About 4,023 Ft per taxpayer per year — disbursed to civil organisations through award bands of 500,000 to 4,500,000 Ft per organisation, allocated by a committee rather than a market.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: hundreds of local associations and civil organisations receiving NEA grants, with published criteria and award bands. The unseen: the worker whose tax funds organisations whose own members could fund them through membership dues, donations, and the SZJA 1% channel — with the committee's selection replacing those four million individual choices.
Objection
"The NEA uses transparent criteria and published calls — this is structured, accountable funding, not political patronage."
Answer
A published rubric replaces an open political selector with a committee one. It does not change the underlying transfer: involuntary tax to organisations whose own supporters could fund them voluntarily. The three-year phase-out respects the reliance of small local associations on current award cycles — giving them three budget cycles to migrate to membership funding and the 1% channel. The voluntary route already works; the NEA adds a compulsory layer on top of it.
Share if you think civil associations should be funded by their own members — not by a committee's award budget.
The analyst's verdict
National Cooperation Fund
Rationale
The National Cooperation Fund is the structured grant programme for civil organisations, administered through collegiate bodies and the Bethlen Gábor Foundation Management, with published calls and award bands — operating support of 500,000-3,000,000 Ft, combined professional-and-operational support to 4,500,000 Ft per organisation.[^3] It is the more rules-bound sibling of the discretionary pool above, and the rules-bound structure is precisely why it is a Phase-Out rather than an Immediate Cut: a substantial number of small local associations have built operating plans around NEA award cycles, and abrupt removal would strand commitments those associations reasonably relied on. But a published award rubric does not change the underlying mechanism. The state still has no way to know whether the civil activity it funds is worth its cost; it has only replaced an open political selector with a committee one. The Fund channels involuntary tax to organisations whose own members and supporters could fund them voluntarily — and the 1% SZJA designation route already exists for exactly that.
Transition mechanism
Linear three-year wind-down. The protected party is the population of small associations on current multi-year award commitments; the linear glide gives them three budget cycles to migrate to membership funding, donations and the 1% channel. Net saving rises from 5,347.3 millió Ft in year 1 to the full 16,042.0 millió Ft from year 3.
Affected groups
Civil associations on current NEA awards; none holds a contractual entitlement beyond the current cycle.
Free Society Institute
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