EUROPEAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION
The foundation named ‘Instytut Europejski Pro Futuro Europae’ (European Institute Pro Futuro Europae) was established by a notarial deed by a notary public conducting a Notary Office in Katowice on 24 June 2005, Rep. A No. 3555/2005. The Foundation operates on the basis of the provisions of the Act of 6 April 1984 on foundations (Journal of Laws of 1991, No. 46, item 203) and the provisions of its statutes. For the first ten years of its activity, the Foundation had its headquarters in Katowice, then in Krakow, and currently, due to the expansion of its activities, the Foundation has its headquarters in Warsaw and registered regional branches in Katowice and Krakow, as shown in Section 3 of the National Court Register. The local branches do not have legal personality.
The European Institute Foundation is an initiative created by people interested in European and international issues, as well as Poland's development in Europe. Educational programmes, including non-formal education, play a key role in the Foundation's activities, as one of our goals is to strengthen civic engagement in Poland and Europe, as well as to develop entrepreneurship.
The history of the Foundation's nearly 18 years of activity has its roots in the Polish Youth Council – an umbrella organisation for large youth and student non-governmental organisations, which operated between 2003 and 2005, and in whose creation the Founders were involved. (This was during the years when Poland was joining the European Union, and the first attempts to create a forum for cooperation between youth organisations ended a few years later with the establishment of the currently existing structure: the Polish Council of Youth Organisations). We used the experience we gained to effectively build a permanent organisation – a Foundation that is not involved in politics and provides opportunities to implement a variety of projects related to civil society.
The history of the Foundation's nearly 18 years of activity has its roots in the Polish Youth Council – an umbrella organisation for large youth and student non-governmental organisations, which operated between 2003 and 2005, and in whose creation the Founders were involved. (This was during the years when Poland was joining the European Union, and the first attempts to create a forum for cooperation between youth organisations ended a few years later with the establishment of the currently existing structure: the Polish Council of Youth Organisations). We used the experience we gained to effectively build a permanent organisation – a Foundation that is not involved in politics and provides opportunities to implement a variety of projects related to civil society.
Among the many possible methods of action, it is worth mentioning those that have become the Foundation's specialisation over the course of more than a decade of operation: organising lectures, seminars, conferences and meetings aimed at transferring knowledge and gathering data and information related to the Foundation's activities; conducting information, promotional and training activities, organising informal education, especially for young people, organising student internships, traineeships and volunteering. Particularly noteworthy is the cooperation with national, foreign and international foundations and associations with the same or similar profiles.
The Foundation has a network of international contacts and partnerships developed over many years of activity. The most important partners come from Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, and Cyprus. We also have partners in the Czech Republic, Turkey, Croatia, and outside the EU in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Israel. This represents enormous potential for future projects in the field of international cooperation and an opportunity to share experiences and promote the Polish point of view abroad.
In Poland, the European Institute Foundation has established very good relations with organisations that activate citizens in social and entrepreneurial areas. These include, for example, Academic Business Incubators and the Association of Regional Initiatives in Tarnów, as well as smaller entities such as the Olszynka Foundation and the Artistic Institute for the Development of Children and Youth. We also cooperate with local governments: currently, together with the cities of Mysłowice and Imielin in the Silesian Province, we are implementing projects under the Obywatel.IT programme, which aims to improve the digital skills of people over 25 years of age living in the Silesian and Opole provinces. Our partner in the implementation of projects in Silesia was also the Chamber of Crafts and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Katowice.
The scope of its activities covers the whole of Poland. In recent years, the Foundation has implemented projects in such diverse locations as Warsaw, Krakow, Ustroń, Wetlina and Krynica Morska. The people involved in the Foundation's work live in Warsaw, Krakow, Tarnów, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk. However, the Foundation's activities have focused particularly on the provinces of Silesia and Lesser Poland. This is where the Foundation's history began, and despite the Foundation's headquarters being located in Warsaw, the issues affecting these provinces are currently closest to the hearts of the Institute's experts.
The Foundation has received several grants from EU programmes in the field of education and youth: ‘Youth’, ‘Youth for Europe’, “Erasmus” and ‘Erasmus+’. The International Visegrad Fund was also one of our grant providers. Among the projects implemented, it is worth mentioning those focusing on youth participation in public life, including local and regional government: e.g. the ‘Youth Participation in Local and Regional Life’ project and the activation of young citizens up to 35 years of age: ‘Architects of Change’, ‘Entrepreneurial Skills Academy’, ‘IT Skills for Youth Participation’, ‘Video and Social Media for Youth Participation’. Other international projects also constitute an important achievement in the Foundation's portfolio: ‘Education in peace through sport’, ‘Let's meet again’ (with Israel), ‘Open yourself to dialogue’ (with Ukraine), ‘Green culture’, ‘3 x Yes!’, ‘Ecopower’, ‘Languages of cultures’, ‘Tell me your story’. All of the above-mentioned projects involved dozens of participants, including those from European Union countries and Eastern Partnership countries. We estimate that during the Foundation's existence, over a thousand people have been the recipients of our activities, and this number is certainly higher when it comes to indirect beneficiaries. We have the necessary expertise in preparing grants and implementing projects financed from public funds, in accordance with reporting and accounting standards.