ERSTE Foundation is active in Central and South-Eastern Europe with projects initiated or supported within three programmatic
areas: Social Development, Europe and Culture. In 2015, the Foundation’s total budget was 7,697 million Euros (for funding and
expenditures). Since 2005, ERSTE Foundation has allocated over 70 million Euros to about 1300 projects.
For more information about these projects you can go to the website:
www.erstestiftung.org, and below are just
few examples:
“Willkommen in Österreich: weil jeder Mensch zählt” / “Welcome to Austria: because everyone counts” is a joint initiative of ERSTE
Foundation, Erste Group, Erste Bank and the Savings Banks to support the refugee cause in Austria. ERSTE Foundation has
established a refugee fund worth EUR 500,000 to finance local initiatives organised by the staff members of the Erste Group, Erste
Bank and the Savings Banks. The initiatives aim at facilitating the reception of refugees in local communities and at increasing
their acceptance among the general public.
www.weil-jeder-mensch-zaehlt.at
The ERSTE Foundation NGO Academy contributes to strengthening the civil society sector in 13 countries of Central and South-
Eastern Europe. It provides capacity building programmes to NGOs in order to advance their expertise, and to support them in
acquiring new skills and building networks.
The budget of the 2015/2016 programme is approx. 780,000 Euro.
http://www.erstestiftung.org/project/erste-foundation-ngo-academy/
“Tu was, dann tut sich was” / “Throw the ball to get things rolling” is Austria´s first social festival, aiming to maximize the
common good at community level, with regard to social participation and inclusion of minorities. The festival supports ideas that
improve the social glue of living together through diversity, dialogue of generations and well-functioning rural communities. The
current edition runs from March 2015 to January 2017 and takes place in the LEADER region Mostviertel-Mitte, with 39 rural
communities and around 30.700 inhabitants. It is the fourth time that this festival takes place in Austria, financed by a
consortium of Austrian private foundations, among them also ERSTE Foundation. In 2015/2016 ERSTE Foundation contributes to the
initiative’s budget with 140,000 Euro.
www.tu-was.at/
The ERSTE Foundation Roma Partnership is an informal alliance of committed organisations that aim to sustainably improve the lives
of Roma people in Central and South-Eastern Europe. The platform was created out of a common concern and interest: to support the
development of social entrepreneurship, income generation activities and educational programmes for job creation opportunities at
community level, while enabling and reinforcing long-term collaboration between Roma and non-Roma. The budget of the 2015
programme was 450,000 Euro.
http://www.erstestiftung.org/project/roma-partnership/
The Social Impact Award is an idea competition for students who are challenged to try to solve current social problems in an
innovative way, using entrepreneurial skills. The projects can address different issues, like poverty reduction, health,
education, environment, energy, technologies, human rights, equal opportunities and many others. In 2015, the initiative took
place in 10 European countries. ERSTE Foundation has been the regional partner for the CEE region since its founding in 2009.
ERSTE Foundation supported the Social Impact Award 2015 with 80,000 Euro.
http://socialimpactaward.net/
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