The aim of the Presidency Fund, supported by the Dutch and  Irish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and  in 2007 by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), was to provide financial support to initiatives of NGOs from the ten New Member States to pursue specifically defined short term actions that would build their capacity and enable them to get involved in development policy dialogue, particularly at the level of the EU. With the extension of the EU with two additional Member States, Bulgaria and Romania, in 2007, the Presidency Fund extended its mandate to supporting NGOs in those two countries as well. The Presidency Fund started operating on 1 July 2005 with a mandate to operate for 36 months. This was extended firstly with an additional 6 months, and subsequently by an additional 12 months ending the operating period on the 31^st of December 2009. During this period the Fund provided support to 29 separate initiatives managed by 22 organisations.