Who we are - Mission and goals
Center for Philanthropy (CpF) was founded in August 2002 as a nonprofit organization providing generally beneficial services in accordance with Act No. 213/1997. The organization was registered by the Regional Office in Bratislava in the registry of nonprofit organizations under No. OVVS-530/49/2002-NO. The founders of the organization are Boris Strečanský, Zuzana Thullnerová and Marcel Dávid Zajac.
Excerpt from the statutes of the organization:
„The aim of this nonprofit organization is to, via its own activities, services, and programs, strengthen nongovernmental nonprofit organizations and their position within society, spread values and models of giving, charity and volunteering which are an expression of mutual solidarity and understanding among people as well as between public and private sectors, support ideas of participative democracy and help increase involvement of citizens in decision making processes regarding questions of public interest. Via its activities and programs the nonprofit organization wants to fulfill the ideals of civic society, human and citizen rights, sustainable development and respect principles of pluralism, freedom, and democracy.“
With respect to change of our seat, in April 2007 we filed a proposal regarding entering of changes in the registry of nonprofit organizations. At the same time we discussed the changing of our Articles of Association. As staff of the Regional Court proposed changes that were unacceptable for us we decided to postpone the changing of the statutes till 2008 and contact a lawyer who would represent us in proceedings with the Regional Court.
The goal of the Center for Philanthropy is to develop philanthropy and civil society. By its activities CpF strives to encourage philanthropic behavior of individuals and companies and strengthen civil society.
In our work we try to fulfill standards and values important for our identity. They are embedded in our basic documents as well as in the information about the Center for Philanthropy communicated to the public. With respect to permanent internal discussion on our mission and fulfillment of our mission we include them in the present Annual Report with the aim to create a starting point for comparison with the actual status.
Standards we observe:
- Transparency of grant providing. Goals, conditions, and criteria for project selection are published in advance. Anybody fulfilling the conditions of eligibility may apply for the competition for financial support. Information on project evaluation is provided both to applicants and the public. We publish the names of project evaluators.
- Accessibility. Support is available to people from various social groups and various regions of Slovakia. We consult draft projects in person, via email or telephone thus helping the applicants increase their chances in grant competition.
- Openness. We draft and run grant programs as open. They are open to a wide variety of eligible applicants.
Values we believe in:
- Solidarity. Solidarity among generations and groups as well as global solidarity is important to us. It is an expression of pro-social behavior and interest in others. The term was and still is devaluated by political often false rhetoric (communist rhetoric in the past), however, its non-deformed content is still valid.
- Social change. Our programs often include changes aimed at individuals and groups, nevertheless, changes on the social level are probably the most ambitious. We therefore appreciate the courage of those who strive to achieve these changes in the spirit of humanism, tolerance, culture and non-violence.
- Active citizens. We perceive the value of active citizenship and initiative as very important for the health of our society.
- Supporting leaders. Even though the never ending dispute between collective and individual does not have a clear solution we consider the role of personal example and courage to be a leader as very important in civil context. This value raises the question of the characteristics of real leadership versus celebrity leadership as presented in media today.
- Listening to the weaker and disadvantaged. We want our programs to be sensitive also to voices of the weaker and disadvantaged who have not had so much luck as the healthy and rich.
We inform the public about our activities and communicate our values. As non-governmental non-profit organization we express our opinion on some of the social issues relating to civil society, philanthropy and environment.