Bee the Change

Creating social, economic and cultural infrastructure
and innovation for a changing Europe

Inside the Foundation

A look inside ERSTE Foundations’ operating system

The Flight of the Bee

Our principles show us the way

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It’s good to be a funder –
it’s even better to be a founder!
Since 2006, we established…

A BANK FOR THE UNBANKABLES

Zweite Sparkasse (Second Savings Bank) does not aim to make a profit and is committed to the savings bank idea of serving the public good. Its voluntary staff members dedicate time and patience to assisting people in difficult financial situations on their path to a life without debt.

AN ART COLLECTION

Erste Group and ERSTE Foundation founded Kontakt with the aim of collecting and supporting the Central and Eastern European artists who have reflected the social and political developments of recent decades in their work and contributed significant works to European art since the 1960s.

AN ACADEMY FOR NGOS

The NGO Academy supports civil society organisations, their staff and indirectly their beneficiaries and stakeholders through high-quality capacity building.

AN INNOVATION INCUBATOR

Two Next creates innovative technological solutions to solve social problems.

AN ONLINE MAGAZINE

ERSTE Foundation’s magazine for debates on Europe’s hottest issues

A TRAINING CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL LITERACY

The Erste Financial Life Park (FLiP) is a facility for innovative financial education and promotes know-how in money matters.

The Foundation as
shareholder

What is ERSTE Foundation’s
relationship with Erste Group?

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Florian Bauer

Director Social Finance, Sustainability and Innovation
Since 2023, Florian Bauer has been responsible for social finance, sustainability and social innovation at ERSTE Foundation. Prior to this role, Florian worked in the NGO & Social Entrepreneurship sector for more than 13 years. He led the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), an international multilateral NGO that works to accelerate market-based deployment of renewable energy and energy efficient systems in developing countries, and was Managing Director & COO of the Impact Hub Vienna. From 2020-2023, Florian established strategic alliances with key partners and helped to create innovative semantic technology solutions at Semantic Web Company (SWC), a leading IT company in semantic AI solutions.