New initiative aims to strengthen community philanthropy in Europe

ECFI Advisory Committee meets for the first time, May 2016The new European Community Foundation Initiative (ECFI) launched in January 2016. As an umbrella initiative for community foundations it will be active throughout Europe, working to consolidate the loose network of community foundations already existing. In its initial phase, ECFI is aiming to strengthen the sector in Europe by providing direct support to existing umbrella organizations in their respective countries, and encouraging the founding of such organizations in countries where no such institutions exist.

Underpinning its efforts to represent Europe’s growing and dynamic community foundation sector, ECFI will gather information and data on the dedicated work of community foundations in order to better voice their interests on a European level. Additionally, ECFI will have a peer learning strand of work, which will encompass study tours, exchanges and thematic meetings. Every two years, it is hoped network participants will attend the European conference for community foundations, which will be closely tied with that of UK Community Foundations (UKCF)

Testifying to the pan-European nature of the initiative, the ECFI is being hosted by the Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen in Berlin, but will be carried out in close cooperation with UKCF and the Slovakian Centre for Philanthropy. Initial funders include the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Körber Stiftung, and Robert Bosch Stiftung. The GFCF is represented on the ECFI Advisory Committee.