Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) was established in 2001 as a public benefit foundation.

BCNL is part of the network of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) which operate in more than 100 countries around the world to protect the right of association and develop the legal framework for civil society organisations.

Our mission is to improve legislation and the sectoral environment in Bulgaria, so that people can freely associate and be civically active. Our top priority is the well-being of civil society organisations, which are the engine of any prosperous civil society.

We pursue our mission, believing that civil society organisations can be sustainable and independent while protecting rights and freedoms and playing a leading role in the development of society.

Our strengths are that:

• We have key expertise in a variety of areas important to the sector and can advise, train and/or develop the potential of civil society organisations;
• We are driven by principles and values that are the foundation of our stability;
• We continuously learn because an organisation is something that is constantly evolving.

Our values are: expertise, non-partisanship, and willingness to work for the whole sector.

Our main objectives are:

• to support the development and consolidation of a favourable legal and political environment for an independent civil society, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bulgaria;
• to promote the development of rules for transparency, accountability and an appropriate governance structure for NGOs and state institutions;
• to support better cooperation between the State and the NGOs;
• to support citizen participation in decision-making;
• to support the development of professional skills, knowledge and capacity appropriate for improving the legal framework for civil society, including for NGOs in Bulgaria;
• to provide support to NGOs to address legal issues;
• to provide support for civil society legal reform in other countries and promote international cooperation;
• to carry out activities to achieve other objectives determined by the Board of Trustees that do not conflict with the Foundation's objectives and identity.

We believe that social entrepreneurship is one key solution for any civic organisation to become increasingly financially sustainable and independent. Therefore, we have created the first Bulgarian online platform of its kind, uniting products and services – the work of social enterprises from all over the country – with products with a cause.