22/12/2015

GREEN FOUNDATION was established officially in the form of an institution.

However, our story began much earlier thanks to the philanthropic activities of the founder, Mr Boris Zelený, whose motivation was and still is to give something back to our society and contribute to its sustainable development. The foundation’s vision is a society in which we can live, prosper and progress in line with the modern world whilst simultaneously being inseparable from nature. Green Foundation acts based on its core values: integrity, respect, honour, cooperation, courage, resilience and perseverance. Moreover, we support curiosity and the constant desire to learn, improve and embrace bold thinking.

2016

We started the foundation’s activities by implementing smaller projects.

We were grateful for the opportunity to be part of the IFF Ekotopfilm festival and, whilst there support the visions and ideas of sustainable development for the general public and the younger generation participating in the junior part of the festival. During this year, we also initiated the Budkova community garden project, which continues to this day. In 2016, we also brought the Roots & Shoots program to Slovakia.

Roots & Shoots is the foundation’s educational program for elementary and secondary schools, inspired by the global program of the Jane Goodall Institute. It stimulates young people’s interest in their communities’ problems and challenges. It teaches them to implement their projects by actively seeking and solving problems by bringing real solutions. The Roots & Shoots program builds compassionate leaders who are able and willing to bring positive changes.

2017

This year was a year of acceleration under the leadership of Mr Honza Kurka.

Thanks to his team of more than ten specialists and project managers, the foundation introduced five interconnected foundation programs: an educational program, a social innovation development program, Future Urban Living, Attitude Tank and Villa Budka 22 – a place for social and eco-innovation institutions. That year, in cooperation with Ashoka and Svatobor, we also conducted a deep dive into the social innovation ecosystem in Slovakia, where our research identified many barriers to and burdens on the successful development of social innovations.

2018

Based on the research mentioned previously, preparations for the Academy of Social Economy (ASE) project commenced.

The founding members of ASE are our foundation, the Foundation of Slovenska sporitelna and Slovenska sporitena. ASE is a platform of organisations whose goal is to support the development of social entrepreneurship in Slovakia. In 2018, the foundation participated in developing the Social Economy Act and its implementation.

2019

In 2019, the foundation completed its final phase of testing the Roots & Shoots educational program.

The program’s methodology was successfully adapted to reflect the requirements and needs of community-based education in Slovakia. As such, the program was now ready for expansion throughout the country. In the same year, we also launched the Blumentalska Partia project, which followed the activities implemented in 2017 as part of the revitalisation project of Kollarovo Square in Bratislava. The Blumentalska partia was established thanks to ten founding institutions and organisations from the wider city centre. The Blumental church acted as the central zone, representing the private, public and non-profit sectors.

2020

This year, we expanded our activities to support global communities during the challenging period of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.

At the very beginning, in the spring of 2020, due to the lack of protective equipment against coronavirus, we provided masks and other protective equipment to medical and elderly care institutions in the Bratislava Self-governing region. We redirected most of our efforts to support activities related to solving the pandemic. During the pandemic, we participated in a project to increase capacities for 24-hour psychological support and crisis intervention. We were engaged in organisational, administrative and managerial activities and provided the necessary premises to operate supportive telephone lines. Despite this, we fully implemented the Roots & Shoots program online and continued to support its teachers, students and their communities.

2021

Despite the pandemic, we expanded the Roots & Shoots program to 20 primary and secondary schools throughout Slovakia.

We also implemented a pilot Roots & Shoots program for university students. As a successful and committed part of the Roots & Shoots program, we started to provide accredited, innovative education for educators that applied the latest knowledge and practical experience in the field of environmental education and training, as well as education and training for sustainable development and community teaching. Twenty-five teachers graduated from this program in the first year alone.

2022

The beginning of 2022 was connected mainly with the war in Ukraine.

That is why we joined with other partners, namely Kiwanis Children’s Fund, Vojcik & Partners, United Hatzalah, Usmev ako dar and DCO and founded the non-profit organisation HelpU. During the first 100 days of the conflict, we delivered 600 tons of food, medicine, hygiene products, educational aids, generators and other necessary equipment to the war zone.
In the spring of 2022, we successfully launched a project to restore wetlands in the Slovakian region, Zahorie. Norwegian grants and Slovak national budget financed the project ACC04P01 Wetlands for life and wellbeing. This project aims to stabilise the biodiversity and ecosystems of local wetlands, raise awareness of the importance of wetlands for people’s health and wellbeing, and advise on the sustainable agriculture and slow tourism of these areas.

This year we are continuing to successfully roll out the Roots & Shoots program to primary and secondary schools and universities. Moreover, we introduced a Roots & Shoots pilot project to private companies with Zurich insurance. The aim is to connect students and the private sector via joint community projects based on sustainable development. In 2022, we have also successfully launched activities in the field of social innovation, namely in the area of civil protection. After cooperation with Dobrovolna civilna ochrana (DCO – www.dzbco.sk) on the HelpU project at the beginning of the year, we started planning and implementing projects which will serve civil protection.

2023

We are about to expand the Roots & Shoots program to other primary and secondary schools and universities in Slovakia while offering accredited, innovative education to their teachers.

We will continue to create a safe space for university students and the private sector to enable the acquisition and onboarding of new talents. This project is based on the Roots & Shoots methodology and students and employees’ cooperation on small-scale sustainable development activities. We also plan to introduce sustainable development and circular economy educational programs for the general public. In the area of biodiversity protection and restoration, we will continue to restore wetlands thanks to the project ACC04P01 Wetlands for life and wellbeing. Moreover, cooperation with DCO and joint activities in the field of civil protection will become strategic for us.