360 Stepeni investigation: Around €290,000 in state money for associations and foundations — who are the winners and are they linked to power?

According to an investigation by the newsroom of “360 Stepeni”, around €290,000 from North Macedonia’s budget has been allocated to 36 associations and foundations through the Ministry for Relations with Communities. The public call was announced on 4 March 2026, while three months later the Government confirmed the decision on which organizations would share the amount earmarked in the sub-programme for promoting inter-ethnic relations. This year’s process began and ended during the term of the then minister Ivan Stoilković, who is now Minister of Local Self-Government.

It is no surprise that the largest number of winners is from Skopje — 20 of the 36 supported organizations are based in the capital. But what stands out is that a clear second, well ahead of the rest, are organizations from Kumanovo, with five winning projects. By comparison, Bitola has three, Tetovo and Strumica two each, while Kičevo, Štip, Debar and Delčevo have one each. Kumanovo is the birthplace of Ivan Stoilković, the man who headed the Ministry for Relations with Communities at the time the money was distributed.

One of the winners is the media-information center SRBI.MK from Kumanovo, founded in 2024, with the project “Bridges of language and culture” for preserving and promoting the Serbian language, culture and tradition through forums and workshops in schools in the northeastern planning region. According to Central Registry data, until March this year the association’s listed owner was Miroslav Tričković — the current director of the Administration for the Development and Advancement of Education in the Languages of the Communities, a body within the Ministry from which “SRBI.MK” received financial support. He stated, “under full material and criminal liability”, that at the time of the public call he was not part of the association and had not signed any application.

The cultural-artistic society “Srpski vez” from Kumanovo received €8,000 for promoting the richness of diversity through tradition and customs. Until March 2025, its authorized person was Dalibor Kitanović, the current director of the Agency for the Realization of Community Rights — and the society received money from the relevant ministry in last year’s June call too, just months after his withdrawal. Kitanović said the withdrawal came from the need to separate the public function from engagement in the association, not from any motive linked to financial support.

The investigation found elements of a possible link to power in two other projects as well. The Institute “Pulse of Democracy” from Kumanovo implemented the project “Digital future for the youth of Kumanovo”, with trainings and podcasts; the organization’s founder is Enver Saliu, a former member of the State Election Commission from the ranks of the BESA movement, which is now part of the governing VLEN coalition. The “Serbian Community in Macedonia” from Skopje won with the project “Speak so I can see who you are” — language workshops and a digital magazine in Serbian; its leaders openly defend Stoilković, while chairwoman Gordana Jović Stojkovska wrote that the community “fully stands behind” their reaction. The Youth Forum for Cooperation from Skopje also won with an anti-corruption podcast concept; its author Oliver Romevski is a former director of the hydrometeorological administration, brought in as a cadre of Stevčo Jakimovski’s GROM, and in the proposal praised the current government like no other for the fight against corruption.

The investigation also notes that among the projects are some that, by description, have nothing to do with inter-ethnic relations: the association “Golden Angels” was granted money for a therapeutic bed, a massage armchair for children with cerebral palsy and therapeutic sessions, while the association of renal patients “Nefron” received funds for developing the culture of organ donation and transplantation. Stoilković said the decision went through a Commission with representatives of seven ministries and civil society and that he signed the best-ranked projects, unable to exert influence. Similar doubts had followed his predecessor in the department, BDI’s Artan Grubi — in whose time, according to media, money from the programme was also received by NGOs founded by people close to BDI, appointed or employed in state and local institutions. The Council for cooperation with civil organizations, according to the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCMS), did not take part in the process this year either.