ERSTE Foundation Community
Once a year, in August, some 100 people join the European Forum Alpbach in Tyrol for a couple of days, to listen to the speeches and discussions on foreign policy but also to exchange views and talk with each other about the future. What can we do? What should we do? And how? ERSTE Foundation gathers protagonists of its most important partners, such as NGOs, artists, researchers, all of whom people that have already worked with us on different projects. They come for an interdisciplinary brainstorming 975 metres above sea level.
The ERSTE Foundation Community is a network of engaged organisations and individuals, a group of international experts and activists in civil society and culture that is constantly growing.
Why is there an ERSTE Foundation Community? We openly admit that we also had selfish reasons to set up this community. We are a learning institution and, as a young foundation, still need feedback. We are also a proactive foundation, we initiate projects and, therefore, need the input of those who really know what should be done. We find it even natural to enter into a creative exchange with the partner organisations that already successfully work together with us.
Therefore, ERSTE Foundation is a platform to share ideas and find synergies. We work across borders in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. We are also a HUB for those who want to change things for the better without thinking in strict categories but outside the box. Finding these new ways of engagement for society is easier with a group of like-minded.
And finally: it is a pleasure when cooperation partners become friends. Brainstorming with our fellows of various NGOs, with other foundations and philanthropists, with beneficiaries and bankers, with researchers and artists in ERSTE Foundation’s kitchen is not the worst way to start a new challenging project.
Social Integration Network
Besides the annual ERSTE Foundation Community Meeting in Alpbach, we have established a specific platform for NGOs working in the field of Social Integration, the Social Integration Network.
Here, you can find all shortlisted projects of all ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration Calls of the last years. An interactive database offers descriptions, contact information and audio-visual information on several hundreds of best practise social integration projects. Selected by an international jury out of thousands of applications, this constantly growing list of NGOs provides a view into how the region is fighting social exclusion and is working with marginalised as well as disadvantaged groups, offering a chance to share some spectacular achievements in this field.
