Teodora Bakardzhieva and Tsetska Karadjova, from the Bulgarian Donors Forum, speaking with TFN co-founder Sue Gillie at our recent Summer Connector event in London. Photo by Daniel Lewis
Exciting updates from TFN's International Affiliates
14th July 2023
June was a particularly eventful month for The Funding Network's international programme! After working with the Association of Spanish Foundations to help bring the TFN model to Spain, we had the pleasure to witness two live events in the city of Torent and the village of Betxi in the greater area of Valencia. Fundacio Horta Sud and Fundacio Novessendes are established community foundations and the firsts to pilot an event in the country. You can read more about it in this blog post here.
Our lovely friends from Partners Albania hosted their fourth event on June 14th, raising close to £20,000 for three projects supporting the development of social skills for special needs children, a youth centre’s initiative to refresh a national park as well as the refurbishment of a local park to foster social cohesion and intergenerational solidarity. You can take a look at photos from the event on their Facebook Page.
Braunschweig Community Foundation in Germany held their annual giving circle event, on June 22nd, raising over £21,000 for three wonderful projects. One charity is supporting homeless people with sleeping bags and haircuts, another one organizes support from mentors for children and families in need. The third project’s focus is on training Ukrainian social workers living in the city, to develop special trauma therapy skills so that they can help their fellow citizens in Braunschweig and other regions to cope with traumatic events. The event was hosted by EVENTUS, a local tax consultancy company in their offices, which sponsored the reception and donated funds towards the three projects. See photos from the event here.
During TFN's Summer Connector in London we had the pleasure to host Teodora Bakardzhieva and Tsetska Karadjova (pictured above), from the Bulgarian Donors Forum, which is a national forum that advocates for policies on behalf of the non-profit sector and provides learning spaces for foundations to share best practices. Our guests were on a two-day study visit to London to learn about our model and experience the magic of the event in person. The day following the event Teodora and Tsetska met with Chief Executive Eugenie Harvey and the team to discuss the work and preparation that lies behind such events and how it provides a powerful tool to foster the development of a giving culture.
Our partner from Hungary, the Roots and Wings Foundation, has published their annual report, which presents their work and summarises key achievements from the past year. If you are interested in knowing more about the non-profit sector in a country like Hungary, where ‘the environment is less and less supportive of donor culture and grassroots initiatives’ you can read the report written in English here. You can learn more about their giving circle program and how they reached a turning point on pages 25-28.
And finally, Irina Novikova from the Charitable Foundation for Philanthropy Development published in Alliance Magazine an article about the many positive outcomes of a giving circle. Our Chief Executive Eugenie Harvey and co-founder Frederick Mulder had been instrumental in the introduction of Russian community philanthropy organisations to the concept and model of giving circles. Irina brilliantly summarises the impact of such connections in the following quote. “The festive atmosphere, personal participation and energy generated at a Giving Circle event enhances the sense of belonging and aspiration for the common good. They go beyond a one-evening event and turn into a community of people who become acquainted with giving and derive positive emotions from doing so. In other words, the value of a Giving Circle is not only in introducing ‘new money’ into the charitable sector but rather in shaping a local community. Thanks to them, people begin perceiving themselves as a community, learning to trust, opening themselves up to mutual help and feeling more responsible. Giving Circles are proving to be effective for building civil society from the bottom up and for fostering grassroots initiatives – something that our society needs now more than ever.”
The article is published online but may be under a paywall. If you have any questions or request further information, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our International Coordinator, Mihaela Giurgiu, here.
