Europe: Non-Youth-Specific Funders 2

• Regions:     Africa | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean

Regional Youth Funding in Europe

ROBERT BOSCH FOUNDATION

http://www.bosch-stiftung.de

The Robert Bosch Foundation has spent €900 million on funding socially useful projects. It receives its funding from contributions from the Bosch company, which the foundation owns. The Robert Bosch Foundation acts as both an operating and a grant-making foundation. Its program focuses on several issues relevant to youth, including health and humanitarian aid, international relations, Central and Eastern Europe, education and society, and society and culture. In addition, within several of its work areas, the Bosch Stiftung has “in foundation” projects focusing on youth in Germany and other countries and regions:

Freiwilligenkolleg—Advanced Training Program for Young Volunteers

The project, Young People and Voluntary Services: The College, which the foundation launched in 2004 in cooperation with the Förderverein für Jugend und Sozialarbeit in Berlin, supports 20 young adults every year who have displayed special skills and extraordinary commitment in their voluntary work. The college focuses on teaching practical skills that prepare young people for assuming responsibility in their working lives and in their continuing civic commitment.

Integration of Young Migrants (Germany)

Almost one-third of all children and youth in Germany are children of immigrant families. Many of them experience greater difficulties than their peers in developing their talents. They need special support, encouragement, and a community that can deal with cultural and social diversity for the benefit of all. To this end, the foundation instituted Integration of Young Migrants (Integration junger Migranten), a program that supports promising project ideas for integrating these young people in kindergartens, schools, and leisure activities. Since fall 2007, Stiftung Mitarbeit has administered this program.

Youth and Culture

The aim of the program, Youth and Culture, of the Robert Bosch Stiftung is to inspire sustained interest in culture among young people and communicate the joy of reading and attending cabaret, theater, and museums to them. The program’s cultural activities and initiatives are designed to sensitize young people to aesthetic experience and foster their creativity. To do so, the foundation supports projects that arouse enthusiasm for culture among youth and encourage them to form durable relations with cultural institutions. Alongside promoting stronger engagement with galleries, museums, cabaret theaters, and literature centers, the foundation promotes the involvement of young people with opera houses, orchestras, and theaters.

Quifd—Youth and Voluntary Work

The Robert Bosch Stiftung has supported voluntary services by young people, not only in Germany, but also in exchange programs with Central and Eastern Europe, since 1999. Support is provided for social and environmental projects, youth work, and initiatives in the education sector. The program culminated in the establishment of Quifd, an agency for quality in voluntary services. In cooperation with researchers and professionals, Quifd developed guidelines and standards for voluntary youth services. They help providers of voluntary services in their quest for better quality, while also serving as the basis for procedures to award quality certifications. Quifd is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung together with the Förderverein für Jugend und Sozialarbeit e.V. in Berlin.

The latest financial information can be accessed at http://www.bosch-stiftung.de/content/language2/html/10644.asp.

ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND (RBF)

http://www.rbf.org/grants/

The RBF tries to strengthen constituencies of citizens actively engaged in building democracy through, among other strategies, the promotion of civic engagement among young people, including leadership development activities and efforts to insert fresh ideas into public life at all levels of society. Grants represent the core of RBF’s operations.

The fund awards grants throughout the year to support a variety of charitable projects in the U.S. and abroad, including in the Western Balkans. The RBF’s grant-making is limited in relation to the large number requests it receives. In 2008, the fund received approximately 1,100 grant requests and made 329 grants, totaling US$33,226,279. The average grant was for $86,056 over a 17-month period. Five projects in 2009 responded to a search on the keyword “youth” in the project database.

Following a record-high US$958 million endowment in 2007, the market value of the fund’s investment portfolio fell by 25.9%, to US$668 million, as of December 31, 2008.

ROTARY AND LYONS CLUBS

http://www.rotary.org
http://www.lionsclubs.org

While they originated in the U.S., the Rotary and Lyons clubs are widespread in Europe. In the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 they have been active in supporting young people’s initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe. Rotary and Lions clubs are organized locally and, therefore, are known for funding local initiatives of young people. Rotary maintains a strong connection to youth and young adults. Besides occasional funding for youth initiatives, Rotary clubs sponsor Youth Exchange programs, youth service clubs such as Interact, Rotaract, and RYLA and offer career development and mentoring programs. Rotary Youth Exchange is open to young people ages 15-25 worldwide. There are two basic types of exchanges: short-term and long-term. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) is Rotary’s leadership training program for young people. RYLA participants can be ages 14-30, but most clubs and districts choose to focus on a narrower age range, such as 14-18 or 19-30.

TRUST FOR CIVIL SOCIETY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE (CEE TRUST)

http://www.ceetrust.org

The CEE Trust exists to support people and organizations in Central and Eastern European countries to take strategic steps with long-term benefits, toward three mutually reinforcing and intersecting objectives:

  • to create a supportive environment for civil society, which includes legal, fiscal and political environments favorable to a strong civic life;
  • to strengthen the nonprofit sector through capacity building, advocacy, intrasector, and cross-sectoral cooperation and partnership;
  • to enhance the financial sustainability of nonprofit organizations by developing public and private sources of support for the nonprofit sector and by supporting the operational and strategic development of nonprofit organizations.

CEE Trust has several programs of relevance to young people and youth organizations:

In-Country Programs: The CEE Trust announces each year in October an open call for proposals that offer to civil society organizations the opportunity to address the critical issues in a creative and effective way. Unsolicited proposals (out of the regular call) are accepted if they address a critical problem that demands urgent support.

Cross-Border Initiatives (ongoing): The Cross-border Initiative supports leading organizations working regionally and strategic regional initiatives of domestic NGOs in CEE. Eligible initiatives come from:

  • CEE regional NGO resources and infrastructure organizations;
  • CEE regional advocacy, watchdog, and public policy initiatives or networks;
  • CEE regional networking and information exchange initiatives or organizations (context in which CEE civil society functions);
  • CEE regional cross-border grant makers;
  • CEE regional initiatives linking civil society actors with policymakers and public authorities (local, regional, national, and EU levels).

A maximum grant amount has been set for up to US$25,000. CEE Trust is flexible in regard to the size and duration of grants when an exception is justified. Supported initiatives would preferably include significant co-funding from other sources.

Fellowship Opportunities: The CEE Trust provides a limited number of individual fellowships aimed at developing leadership capacities of NGOs and foundations in the region. Currently there are two fellowship opportunities:

1. Individual grants for young leaders as well as senior managers and executives under the International Fellowship Program (IFP) managed by the European Foundation Center on a competition basis within an open call for applications. Such persons are given the opportunity to work from three to 12 weeks in another organization throughout Europe to gain valuable insights and experiences.

2. Individual support is available to individuals for participating in big civil society events, conferences, seminars, or workshops upon request. The individuals should be invited as speakers, moderators, or active participants in discussions. The applicants must submit their motivation letter, the relevant agenda, and their request for funding to the CEE Trust at least one month prior to the event.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: Central and Eastern Europe

SOURCES OF FUNDS: Diminishing endowment contributed by a consortium of foundations.

FINANCIALS: The latest financial information can be accessed at http://www.ceetrust.org/about-us/annual-reports.html.

VISEGRAD FUND

http://www.visegradfund.org

The Visegrad Fund provides support for cooperation projects among the Visegrad countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary) in the form of small and midsize grants and fellowships for young leaders.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary

SOURCES OF FUNDS: Contributions from the governments of the four Visegrad countries

FINANCIALS: The latest financial information can be accessed at http://visegradfund.org/about/budget/.

Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft, acronym EVZ)

http://www.stiftung-evz.de

The Foundation EVZ was established as the outcome of an initiative launched by German industry and the German Government for individual humanitarian payments to be made to former slave and forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism. The disbursement of these payments commenced in 2001 and was completed in 2007. EUR 358 million of the Foundation’s capital was allocated to a grant-giving foundation in order to provide project funding. Around EUR 8 million is generated by the Foundation’s capital each year. The Foundation uses this income primarily to support international programs and projects in the following activity areas: A critical examination of history, Working for human rights, and Commitment to the victims of National Socialism. It has some projects directed particularly at youth:

EUROPEANS FOR PEACE is the largest German funding program for international youth projects between Germany, the countries of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe, and Israel. Since 2005 approx. 280 projects have been promoted with funds amounting to over EUR 3.5 million.

Scholarships
Together with AFS Interkulturelle Begegnungen e.V. (the German branch of the American Field Service) and the Deutsches Youth for Understanding Komitee e. V., the Foundation EVZ awards scholarships for pupil exchanges between Germany and Central and Eastern Europe.

In cooperation with the Central Welfare Office of the Jews in Germany and the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Foundation “EVZ” issues calls for applications for the scholarship programs for young Jewish immigrants from the CIS states.

The scholarship program for Roma in Eastern Europe who are studying in their home countries. The aim of the program is to help talented and socially committed young Roma to acquire a university education, to become part of an international network of well-educated Roma and to give them the skills needed to represent the interests of Roma in society.

GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE: Germany and countries of Central and Eastern Europe

FINANCIALS: The latest financial information can be accessed at http://www.stiftung-evz.de/publikationen/taetigkeitsberichte/.