It was under exactly this title that a round table organized by the Political Science Club took place in the city of Lutsk on November 7. The event was held in room 46 of the History Faculty of Volyn State University. The actual pretext for holding this event was the visit to Ukraine of the well-known American financier George Soros and a certain commotion raised around this issue by some politicians and the media. The participants of the PSC meeting were primarily political science students and their colleagues from the History Faculty and the Faculty of International Relations of VSU. Of course, representatives of public organizations that receive assistance through foreign grants were also present. Among them were O. Stirko from the Volyn Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, V. Stemkovskyi from the Center for Civic Education and Information "Our Cause," O. Latsenko from the Association of Ukrainian Cities, and representatives of Plast and AMoRe. Although it should be noted that representatives of the largest "grant recipients" in the region, unfortunately, did not come to the round table. The event was also ignored by representatives of the SBU, who had been invited to the meeting in advance. However, it was not without representatives of the authorities. B. Kalish was present at the Club meeting from the Department of Internal Policy. In addition, political science lecturers and journalists from various publications, who were somewhat intrigued by this topic, were of course present. During the round table, various opinions could be heard regarding the topic of the event. Some expressed the view that with the assistance of Ukrainian NGOs that "sit on grants," foreign intelligence services or other agencies obtain the secret information they need. And although espionage methods have undoubtedly improved today compared to the times of the Soviet Union, one should still not dismiss this method of obtaining information. Moreover, much more important is the factor of influence on the internal situation in the country through public structures financed from abroad. That is, the negative of such a phenomenon undoubtedly exists, because if they give — it means you will have to give back someday! The participants of the event also expressed ambiguous views about study programs abroad for Ukrainians. Acknowledging that the state does not properly care for the younger generation, it was pointed out that Ukrainians return from abroad with an imposed foreign mentality and traditions, which undoubtedly also affects Ukrainian society. However, the participants of the Club meeting did not avoid the positive aspects of this issue either. The first of these is that if it were not for financial assistance from outside, the Ukrainian third sector as such would not exist, or would be in a deplorable state. It was also noted that it is precisely thanks to the existence of a number of public institutions created with the assistance of foreign grant providers that the process of public control over the activity of the state is taking place in Ukraine. It is precisely thanks to foreign grants that many socially useful programs and projects have been implemented in our country, which have helped or are helping to solve real problems of today. And the list here could be very long. The participants of the meeting also did not conceal such facts when obtaining projects sometimes turned into "grant-eating," that is, a phenomenon when receiving money becomes an end in itself, and writing a project merely serves to pull the wool over people's eyes. As the public activists themselves noted, this phenomenon is inevitable, but it should be fought. And first of all — through higher-quality implementation of one's own useful projects. Then the negative image of NGOs living on foreign assistance will be dispelled, and the non-governmental structures themselves will become a powerful player on the public arena and will work for the benefit of the Ukrainian people, and not foreign money-givers. And here the state should also take care, because national sources of funding for organizations are extremely scant. And without public organizations, it will be impossible to build a democratic society in any way.