History
The beginnings of the Center for Philanthropy date back to 1992, when the Environmental Training Project (ETP) was launched in Eastern Slovakia. ETP was an educational program for environment management and it focused on supporting practical and management oriented education of local self governments, nonprofit organizations, small and medium-sized enterprises focusing on environment protection. The program was introduced by the University of Minnesota (USA) a financed by U.S. Agency for International Development - USAID. The program organized workshops and courses and provided grants aimed at development of managerial skills and competencies.
In 1995 we founded the ETP Slovakia Foundation with a seat in Bratislava and office in Košice. In their activities, both the ETP program and the ETP Slovakia Foundation applied the following principles:
- development of skills, competencies and capacities of individuals and organizations,
- participative solving of problems involving various sectors of society,
- creation of space for discussion on current social and environmental problems and their alternative solutions,
- support to public participation in the decision making process and application of cooperative approaches to problem solving.
In 1995 we launched our cooperation with the World Resource Institute (USA) on the project called Institutional Tools for Air Protection in the Upper Nitra Region.
In 1997 the ETP Slovakia Foundation transformed itself into civil association ETP Slovakia. The transformation took place due to an approval of the so-called Mečiar’s law on foundations which led to a huge wave of civil protests - S.O.S. Third Sector Campaign. The seat of the ETP Slovakia Foundation was moved to Košice, while the office in Bratislava continued its activities. At that time ETP fulfilled a very important task in the area of grant support to environmental non-governmental organizations in Slovakia.
Alongside environmental issues, in the period of 1996 - 1998, increasing attention was given to community development and supporting the participation of citizens on local level. During this period of time the ETP Slovakia Foundation, the Ekopolis Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and others worked together to introduce the concept of community foundations. The ETP Slovakia Foundation was also one of the authors of the Feasibility Study on the Opportunities for the Development of Community Foundations in Slovakia.
During 1995 - 1998 as many as 50 educational projects were implemented within the ETP program which represented 74 trainings and seminars.
In 1999 we started to cooperate with Orange Slovensko, a.s. (then under corporate name Globtel, a.s.). Following a public call of Globtel at the Stupava conference ETP Slovakia begun closer cooperation with Globtel preparing the first regional open grant program for the company. The program aimed at increasing the quality of life in the regions of Slovakia and ETP helped Globtel to run the program. Following thorough discussions on the needs of people living in the regions, we launched the historically first grant program in Slovakia financed by a large company. The exceptional aspect of this cooperation was that we succeeded in creation of a grant program involving active participation of representatives of regions who helped select projects to be supported. This cooperation led to a long-term partnership that lasts until the present.
In 1999, together with the Ekopolis Foundation, we succeeded in the tender of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the administration of a three year $3 million grant program Tvoja Zem (Your Land). The program focused on increasing public involvement in public affairs administration. USAID is a government agency providing for US help abroad. By 2002 we implemented three subprograms of the Your Land program: 1. Community Philanthropy Development Program, 2. Women, Minorities and Tolerance Program and 3. Special Opportunities Program. We supported 360 non-governmental organizations with grants amounting to 79.6 million Slovak korunas.
In 1999 the team established a branch of ETP Slovakia in Bratislava called Center for Philanthropy and Non-Profit Activities. The center gradually developed its own profile in the context of philanthropy development, for example it served as an incubator for the newly established Bratislava Community Foundation, cooperated with the Ekopolis Foundation on the Community Foundation Development Program, took part in the discussions on new legislation for non-profit organizations.
Because the portfolio of activities within one organization became increasingly variable, in 2002 the governing body of the civil association ETP Slovakia made the decision to split the organization into two institutions. One was to keep the original status of the legal entity and until now is active under the name ETP Slovensko, o.z. with the sub-title Center for Sustainable Development. It focuses on regional development, environmental management, environmental policies and supporting marginalized communities in Eastern Slovakia (for more information visit www.etp.sk).
In 2002, the branch of ETP based in Bratislava established a new legal entity Center for Philanthropy - ETP n.o. with the mission to support the development of philanthropy and civil society and with the aim to serve as inspiration to all who wish to contribute to the development of civil society through financial or non-financial means.
In 2003 we started to cooperate with a consortium of U.S. foundations Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe. The mission of this consortium is to help develop civil societies in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Center for Philanthropy created a consortium with the Ekopolis Foundation. Grant program we submitted was supported by an amount of $2 million which we used for supporting key non-profit organizations and for strengthening their financial and organizational stability.
In 2003 we continued in further development of the theme of community foundations and we organized an educational seminar for the Academy for Educational Development in Zagreb, covering the following topic: Community foundations, the principles of their establishment and their role in local development. Within the frame of partnership with the Baltic American Partnership Project we organized study visits to Slovak community foundations for NGO activists from Lithuania.
In years 2003 and 2004 we were awarded a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central & Eastern Europe for institutional development of our organization.
In June 2004 we won the tender and became a partner of the SPP Foundation. We provide the SPP Foundation with consultancy services in the area of identification of themes and their processing in the context of grant programs, provide assistance in the course of resources distribution through effective and transparent grant programs and support the activities of the foundation.
In 2004 we approached Tatra banka, a.s. and presented our activities in the areas of corporate philanthropy and non-profit sector development to the management of the bank. Since 2005 we cooperate with the Tatra banka Foundation and help with its activities and management. Member of our staff Marcel Dávid Zajac is the administrator of the Tatra banka Foundation which marks the specific quality of our cooperation. The main aim and activities of the foundation focus on education. In 2005 the Tatra banka Foundation supported four projects of partner organizations with a donation amounting to 620 thousand Slovak korunas and an aim to support protection of health, development of education and preservation of natural and cultural values.