The EFC is pleased to announce that five new members - from Austria, France, Latvia, Switzerland and the US - will join the Centre in January 2012:
ESSL Foundation (Austria)
The ESSL Family is an entrepreneurial group who is active in real estate as well as in the construction and DIY industry in central and Southeastern Europe. In 2007 Martin and Gerda Essl and their children decided to donate a substantial portion of their assets to social activities.
The foundation is active in a diverse range of social and business activities that include a large number of individual projects such as the ESSL Museum, the bauMax Energy-saving Programme and the baumax Humanity Programme.
Their mission is to support people in need and them with the appropriate training. The foundation also awards the ESSL Social Prize and produces the ESSL Social Index (a study which surveys both the legal situation and living conditions of persons with disabilities).
ESSL Foundation is also a Member of the European Consortium of Foundations on Human Rights and Disability.
Levi Strauss Foundation (United States)
Levi Strauss & Co's global giving programme is carried out through the Levi Strauss Foundation, and the Levi Strauss & Co. corporate giving programme. The foundation was established in 1952 to enhance the corporate giving programme, supporting non-profit organisations that address key issues in society and the community.
Through the foundation and the corporate giving programme, Levi Strauss aims to act as a catalyst for positive change in the communities where it operates by awarding grants, encouraging employees to volunteer their time, and standing behind critical, controversial issues. Two issues guide the foundation giving programme: preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and increasing economic development and education opportunities.
The Soros Foundation Latvia (Latvia)
The Sorosa fonds - Latvija (SFL) was established in 1992 as part of the Soros Foundations Network. It is the largest philanthropic organisation funding the development of civil society in Latvia. Its priorities include supporting and strengthening the establishment of a civil society in an independent Latvian state.
The foundation has been a key advocate for the rights of minorities and other vulnerable people and increasing social inclusion and civil participation. The SFL also aims to influence public opinion and shape policy for a more open society in Latvia and for a more open Europe; they recently launched a campaign directed at Latvian youth to overturn prejudice and increase tolerance through cultural productions that celebrate diversity.
The Foundation hosted the 2011 Grantmakers East Forum.
Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer pour le Progrès de l’Homme (Switzerland)
Charles Léopold Mayer was a philanthropist and financier who believed in the progress of humankind and used his entire fortune to create the foundation and a science award in the French Science Academy. In 1982 this legacy led to the establishment of the foundation and in 1996, as a tribute to its founder, the foundation was renamed the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation for the Progress of Humankind.
The foundation is committed to contributing to long-term social changes: it supports the emergence of a global community financing awards or loans, research and other activities that contribute to the progress of humankind through science and social development.
Fondation Agropolis (France)
Agropolis Foundation is a French scientific foundation established in 2007 to promote and support high-level research and higher education (‘training-through-research’) as well as to broaden international research partnerships in agricultural sciences and sustainable development research.
The scientific work supported by the foundation covers all aspects of the plant - from its genes to its environments to its final uses - and concerns temperate, Mediterranean and tropical climates. It supports projects facilitating knowledge exchange and international partnerships such as fellowships, doctoral and post-doctoral grants.
A full list of members and their areas of work is available via the EFC member profiles.