SAPTK, which primarily operates the Objektiiv portal and lobbies politicians and others, turned a profit of €75,000 last year, ERR's online news in Estonian reports, and is to acquire office space and launch the Ordo Luris legal center, as well as focusing on Objektiiv, in the coming year.

Premises would primarily bolster video-making capacities as well as forge a stronger organizational identity, SAPTK says, but a suitable location has not yet been found.

SAPTK director Varro Vooglaid told ERR Monday that: "Back of this is also a need to find larger supporters, who could shoulder the burden."

"We have been dealing with legal problems in concert with layers. We are doing this work in a way that an implementation plan is awaited," he went on.

SAPTK took in €386,000 last year in donations from private individuals and a further €8,000 from legal entities, on the back of two fundraising campaigns primarily aimed at continuing Objektiiv.

SAPTK also focused last year on a campaign to get the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman constitutionally enshrined, a project still ongoing after the (unrelated) Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) got the plan into the April 2019 coalition agreement.

This also entails work of lobbying conservative parties on the same program.

"On the other hand, we carried out tests as preparatory work for getting a larger amount of signatures in favor of changing the relevant legislation in future," SAPTK said in its report.

SAPTK spent close to €109,000 on information activities, €17,000 on rents and €21,000 on office expenses, in the past year, and employed seven people to a total salary cost of a little under €100,000.

Varro Vooglaid: Many thanks to donors so far

Writing on his social media account Monday, Varro Vooglaid expressed thanks to: "The many thousands of supporters whose trust and financial contribution have permitted us to continue with our work in standing up for societal ideals which we find important in society, not as a state-run faux civic association, but as a real civic community funded by the citizenry."

Vooglaid went on to say that support to the tune of millions or more would be required for SAPTK's continued work at a higher level, adding that this had not yet materialized, but he hoped that it would do in the near future.

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