The ECFI Study Visit 2025, hosted by the Roots & Wings Foundation, took place in Hungary, bringing together 20 delegates from across Europe. The visit’s core objective was to facilitate deep learning from the Hungarian community foundations’ context and foster peer-to-peer exchange, enabling participants to gain practical insights and actionable ideas for their own organisations and national context.
Among the topics explored throughout the four days were: how to encourage civic participation, foster solidarity, promote youth engagement, implement new fund development techniques, succession planning and leadership renewal within the organisation.
Getting a sense of the field and the community foundations on the ground
In Hungary’s increasingly challenging political environment, where civic space faces significant restrictions, community foundations (CFs) have emerged as vital hubs of local engagement. These organisations are anchored in trust, creativity, and a profound sense of shared responsibility.
The Roots & Wings Foundation has played a pivotal role in this transformation. Since 2014, its Community Foundation Support Programme has offered strategic assistance, including tailored grants, comprehensive capacity-building initiatives, and immersive study visits across Europe. This sustained support has been instrumental in the establishment and growth of CFs nationwide, strengthening local fund development capacities by fostering foundational income from businesses and citizens, while also nurturing meaningful civic participation and collaboration. (Further details on Roots & Wings Foundation’s efforts can be found in their latest annual report.)
The Hungarian community foundation field currently comprises 11 established organisations, distributed across the country. The study group had the opportunity to engage directly with three of the earliest established CFs based in Budapest neighbourhoods:
- Kétker Community Foundation: Located in the affluent 2nd district, Kétker focuses on critical social issues, including migrant and elderly support, and climate action. They facilitate monthly gatherings, awareness-raising campaigns, and concrete projects (e.g., on fast fashion impact), empowering residents to enhance their knowledge and develop local climate solutions.
- Ferencváros Community Foundation: As Hungary’s first community foundation, operating in one of Budapest’s largest and most diverse districts, Ferencváros has consistently championed social cohesion. They provide crucial support to marginalised communities during crises and beyond. The foundation acts as a platform for emergent community-led initiatives, exemplified by programmes like ‘Idea Courier’, and fosters new community narratives, notably through its support for the establishment of a local radio station.
Jóbudá Community Foundation: Situated in the 3rd district, Jóbudá is dedicated to supporting and nurturing community-led actions. Beyond providing financial resources, the foundation runs a tutoring programme for children in need and raises awareness of the community’s people and places through a compelling storytelling project.
Eger Community Foundation
Located in north-east Hungary, Eger Community Foundation, with a city population of approx. 50,000, demonstrated a strong commitment to cultivating a local culture of philanthropy and civic engagement.
Main takeaways from the community foundation’s presentation:
- A strong commitment to develop a culture of local philanthropy and civic engagement. The Eger CF successfully raised €4,000 through crowdfunding. However, they highlighted cultural obstacles, such as a traditional preference for in-kind donations over monetary contributions, and the challenge of positioning the community foundation as an investor in long-term community development rather than solely a project deliverer.
- Nurturing micro-communities: The ‘Happy Street’ project exemplifies the foundation’s innovative approach. This initiative provides microgrants to neighbours to undertake collaborative activities, fostering social cohesion. What began with a few projects has grown significantly, becoming a landmark programme with over 12 streets now participating.
- Youth engagement: Eger Community Foundation actively empowers young people by supporting gatherings and creative experiences, including slam poetry nights and picnics. They have also been the beneficiary of an annual charity ball organised by young people and collaborated with them to create an escape room themed around EU values.
Miskolc Community Foundation
As the youngest community foundation in Hungary, the Miskolc Community Foundation’s enthusiasm was palpable. Its mission is clear: to transform Miskolc by strengthening the deep connection residents have to their city and rebuilding ties within and among the community.
The board members shared some key insights:
- Being always in connection with others: The foundation’s headquarters are in a larger shared space for other civil society organisations, fostering cross-sector contamination and exchange.
- Activating the community through dedicated funds, like the Downtown fund, supporting community-based solutions that would make the city downtown more beautiful, renewed, and vibrant with diverse, colourful, creative ideas and community initiatives. Also, the Avasi Fund aims to foster initiatives that would raise the profile of this vineyards-focused neighbourhood, which remains neglected.
- Donor engagement: They employ gamified experiences, such as the ‘Goldfish’ campaign, a contest inviting business owners to attract more donors than their peers, to engage both existing and new supporters.
- Future challenges: Key challenges identified include developing innovative fund development strategies, retaining donors, increasing youth involvement in activities, and building new leadership within the community foundation itself.
Key Takeaways and Reflections
The study visit offered a rich and varied exchange, prompting significant reflections among the participants:
- Youth agency and involvement: A shared challenge across many of the visited CFs was finding effective ways to foster youth leadership and participation. There was a recognised need to integrate intergenerational perspectives within boards and activities.
- Fund development with a local business focus: Building robust relationships with diverse local stakeholders is crucial for a community foundation’s credibility and long-term sustainability. The visit particularly highlighted strategies for engaging local businesses, drawing inspiration from existing models (e.g., Serbian shops committing a percentage of income on specific days) and sparking new ideas (e.g., rounding up bills for CF donations).
- Beyond financial metrics: A pertinent question raised in the final session concerned how we measure success beyond purely financial resources. While essential, CFs demonstrably do much more: they build relationships, forge connections, nurture trust, foster social cohesion at various levels, and ultimately make tangible differences at the community level.
- Unity strengthens us: The overarching sentiment was that being part of both a national and broader European context provides significant strength and collective support for the community foundations themselves.
Appendix – List of participants
- Öznur Akkaya Aktaş – Bolu Community Foundation (Turkey)
- Csenge Balogh – Odorheiu Secuiesc Community Foundation (Romania)
- Patrycja Brodowska – Stowarzyszenie Wiatraki Mazur (Poland)
- Elisaveta Djurnovska – Centre for Research and Analysis NOVUS (North Macedonia)
- Alrun Luise Dr. Schoessler – Wiesbaden Community Foundation (Germany)
- Katya Dyankova – Stara Zagora Community Foundation (Bulgaria)
- Nicol Gastaldello – Community Foundation of Vicenza (Italy)
- Mariia Gorbonos – Charity Community Foundation of Kharkiv “TOLOKA” (Ukraine)
- Diederik Martens – Streekfonds East Flanders (Belgium)
- Mariam Mtchedlishvili – Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (Georgia)
- Leonard Olli – Korçartë Community Foundation (Albania)
- Martina Perić – SOLIDARNA Foundation (Croatia)
- Anna Puixeu Palou – Vall de Camprodon Community Foundation (Spain)
- Giles Ruck – Foundation Scotland (UK)
- Aleksandra Samardžić – Community Foundation Pančevo (Serbia)
- Nikola Sedláčková – Trencin Community Foundation (Slovakia)
- Kees Sietsema – Landelijk Vereniging van Kleine Kernen (Netherlands)
- Patricija Siliņa – Valiera Region Community Foundation (Latvia)
- Christian Skerlec – CF Initiative Zukunftsstiftung Floridsdorf (Austria)
- Quentin Strubbe – Fondation de Lille (France)
- György Hámori – Roots and Wings Foundation (Hungary)
- Gabriella Benedek – Roots and Wings Foundation (Hungary)
- Axel Hailing – Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen (Germany)
- Kamil Szlosek – ECFI (Europe)
- Francesca Mereta – ECFI (Europe)
