Fundația Danis

Annual Report

2017

2017 Highlights

148

young people


received support from Fundația Danis, through internship or entrepreneurship education programmes.
28

would-be or young entrepreneurs


were involved in entrepreneurship education or business coaching programmes.
14720

hours


of business coaching were provided to would-be or young entrepreneurs.
83350

euro


were provided as financial support or fellowships to 33 young people, investing in their education, or in the development of their entrepreneurship competencies.
44

managers


from Romanian companies joined our entrepreneurship and social responsibility projects.
39

NGOs professionals


from 10 European countries learned how to conduct workshops for young people, and got access to new educational tools.

Projects

Through Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs international coaching exchanges, we bring extraordinary people and meaningful business experiences in the lives of young entrepreneurs.


23

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs exchanges


were organized by Fundația Danis, in 2017.
77106

euro


were provided as financial allowances to the Romanian young entrepreneurs travelling abroad.

“I fell in love with marketing… and I realized, at some point, I might actually have the right recipe for making my dream come true”.

This is how Elena Tutunaru starts her story in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme. She learned how to develop her business in marketing with the support received from a successful businesswoman from UK  – Michelle Tennens.

72

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs exchanges


were organized by Fundația Danis, since 2012.

Alexandru Seltea plans to develop an agricultural social enterprise with a focus on supporting people who are out of work for long time, from rural areas. He found the perfect environment to learn how to develop such a business, in Tenerife, where Guadalupe Martin runs a successful social enterprise for many years, supporting unemployed people to find a meaning in their life.

In 2017, trusted local partners joined us in co-financing the project. Many thanks to:

                

The exchanges took place within “Entrepreneurs’ Mobility” project (www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.info), which was leaded by Centro Studi “Cultura Sviluppo” (Italy), and co-financed by European Commission.


Through yourKITE project (The initiative to enhance Young people Knowledge and skills on IT and Entrepreneurship and increase their Employability), we developed communication and digital media skills, and entrepreneurship knowledge and competences of young people, while promoting volunteering and professional orientation among youth, in order to increase their employability.


125

Romanian young people


were reached through yourKITE project between 2015-2017, through the educational tools and resources developed on media and communication, entrepreneurship, volunteering and career counseling.
12

young youth workers


were trained, through the yourKITE online training, on how to develop workshops for youth, on entrepreneurship, media and communication, volunteering and career counseling.
16

partner organizations


participated in the yourKITE multiplier event, learning about the yourKITE education tools for youth.

We developed several educational tools that can be used by young trainers in delivering workshops on topics, such as entrepreneurship, visual communication, career counseling and volunteering.

Check here the YourKITE toolkit for young trainers and the YourKITE online training.

We presented the yourKITE educational resources to our main stakeholders – youth organizations, NGOs, youth workers, young trainers, young people – through a multiplier event organized at the end of June 2017.

The project was co-funded by the European Union through Erasmus+ Programme. Fundația Danis’ partners in the project are: Norsensus Mediaforum (Oslo, Norway), Fundacja Rozwoju Wolontariatu (Lublin, Poland), Fundacja Rozwoju Spoleczenstwa Informacyjnego (Warsaw, Poland), and Fundacja Aktywnych Inicjatyw Rozwoju (Warsaw, Poland).


80

students


did an internship in 2017, through Internship Cluj Programme.
14

companies


joined, as partners, Internship Cluj 2017.
1307

students


participated in Internship Cluj programme, since 2006.

Internship Cluj is organized twice per year, during spring and autumn, being adapted to the academic year structure. These are six-week or 12-week internships, during which students work 20 hours per week, testing the knowledge they acquired in school, and developing their work skills for future jobs.

“The program was a  job mock-up, it helped me to learn about how it is to have a a job, to work for a company”. (Diana, one of the students participating in Internship Cluj, Spring 2017 edition)

“The internship program helped me to develop, at the personal level, to be more confident and to plan my future career”. (Bianca, one of the students participating in Internship Cluj, Spring 2017 edition)

Our 2017 partners were: Business Students Association (co-organizer), Cluj-Napoca Municipality, Danis Consulting, “Babeș-Bolyai” University, Technical University from Cluj-Napoca, The College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, and The College of Business.

The internships were provided by the following 14 companies:

                                                                        


CoOp - Cooperate to Operate

12

NGO workers


from Greece, Ireland, Norway and Poland were trained by Fundația Danis on issues related to CSR and on how to conduct research on social responsibility programs of NGOs and SMEs, in October 2017.

CoOp project aims to support youth organizations to diversify their funding sources by educating them in the field of CSR & fundraising from SMEs.

In 2017-2019, together with our partners from Greece,  Ireland, Norway and Poland we will:

  • Develop research-based knowledge on the SMEs’ and youth organizations’ collaboration, and on business’ capacity to invest in youth development, and education.

  • Develop innovative and attractive funding models & tools on CSR and fundraising, which can be used both by youth organizations and SMEs.

  • Identify and promote best practices and success stories on the SMEs’ and youth organizations’ partnerships, with the intention to start an European trend for such partnerships.

  • Propose valuable public policies for boosting the partnerships between SMEs and youth organizations, with the intention to start an European trend for such collaborations.

CoOp team visiting Innovation Norway agency, October 2017

CoOp project started in October 2017 with a training for the team members and sharing of experience among project partners on issues related to CSR, SMEs and youth organizations partnerships, fundraising strategies from SMEs, CSR research tools and visual communication strategies for better partnerships. The five-day training took place in Oslo, Norway.

The project is co-financed by European Commission, within Erasmus+ Programme and Fundația Danis’ partners in this project are: Asset Tec (Greece), Youth Work Ireland (Ireland), Norsensus Mediaforum (Norway) and Fundacja Robinson Crusoe (Poland).


Kite Builders

Training course

27

youth workers


from ten European countries learned how to conduct valuable workshops for young people, on entrepreneurship, visual storytelling, volunteering and career counseling.

Fundația Danis supported 27 youth workers from ten European countries to provide better workshops for youth.

The training course, organized by Youth Work Ireland, FAIR (Poland), Norsensus Mediaforum (Norway) and Fundația Danis (Romania), took place in Poland, at the end of March 2017. The event brought together youth workers from Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and The Netherlands.

During the six-day training course, the youth workers learned and develop essential skills on how to conduct workshops for young people. Then, they learned the specifics of conducting training courses on entrepreneurship, visual communication, volunteering and career counselling. In the last days of the training, in teams, the youth workers conducted small workshops, learning by experience how to put in practice the knowledge and skills gained.

“Having completed the Kite Builders training I feel well equipped to bring the messages and workshops from this training to the young people I work with. The training combined clear and relevant structures on how to plan and prepare a workshop on any topic. This is hugely important for anyone working in the field. It was carried out in a relaxed but well structured environment where trainers made trainees feel comfortable which gave optimum learning opportunities. All trainees were made feel accepted at their level and that any input was valued within the group learning experience. The combined skills, competencies and experiences of the  trainers gave a whole rounded approach to the techniques and methods that can be used to achieve goals when working with young people. This training will hugely benefit anyone looking to connect young people with motivation, skills, hope, creativity and innovation to engage in the labour force and meaningfully in their lives.” (Aisling Reade, Ireland, participant in the training)

The project was co-funded by the European Union through Erasmus+ Programme.


Other Projects

Bridges to ENpower

We take YourKite project experience further, supporting the youth work sector from Ukraine, in 2017-2019. The capacity building project “Bridges to ENpower”, started in October 2017, focuses on entrepreneurship education for young people and it is supported by Erasmus+. Our partners in this project are: Resonance Foundation (Ukraine), Fundacja Aktywnych Inicjatyw Rozwoju (Poland) and Norsensus Mediaforum (Norway).

Scholarships for young people

We invested in the education and professional development of the young people by offering scholarships worth over €6,000. The scholarships covered tuition costs or other costs related to students’ extra-curricular activities.

Digital Skills for Youth – new priority for Fundația Danis

Fundația Danis plans new projects for developing youth digital skills together with partners from Ireland, Norway and Poland. In August 2017, supported by Erasmus+ ProgrammeFundația Danis together with Norsensus MediaforumFundacja Robinson CrusoeYouth Work IrelandKDYS KillarneyTechSpace – Creative Learning for Young People met in Killarney (Ireland) to develop new project ideas for improving or building youth digital skills.

B2B – Humanitarian campaigns

We supported companies from Cluj to get involved in humanitarian campaigns, for people with serious health problems, through our Business to Business program (B2B). B2B aims at supporting entrepreneurs’ social responsibility initiatives, and this year brought together two companies and resources of approximate €5750.

FabHub – creative hub

We provided support to FabHub project of Paintbrush Factory, in the generating ideas process for the revitalization of Feroviarilor Park. We delivered a workshop on social entrepreneurship and evaluated the events and business ideas proposed by those interested in giving life to the old park from Cluj.

Storytelling for entrepreneurs

Invited by Impact Hub Cluj-Napoca, we delivered a workshop on storytelling for businesses to new and would-be entrepreneurs, in November 2017. The workshop was part of the Hubcelerator program developed by Impact Hub for young entrepreneurs from our city.

International internship

For the second year, we provided an internship experience to a Japanese student, from Hosei University, due to our partnership with The College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences (“Babeș-Bolyai” University). During August 2017, the intern supported us in developing CSR and storytelling workshops for young entrepreneurs. Many thanks!

Special Events

Entrepreneurs who change Romania campaign

3400

euro


were used to support 23 young entrepreneurs to receive international coaching through Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme.
11

swimmers-fundraisers


supported Fundația Danis campaign – Entrepreneurs who change Romania.
154

individual donors


supported with money Fundația Danis campaign at Swimathon 2016.

Through our fundraising campaign Entrepreneurs who change Romania, started at Swimathon 2016, €3400 were raised to support the Romanian business environment.

Many-many thanks to the 11 swimmers-fundraisers and 154 individual donors who made possible that 23 young entrepreneurs receive international coaching from experienced business people from EU.

Their valuable contribution was used in 2017 to co-finance the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme, proving the motivation of the local community to improve the business environment in Romania.

 We appreciate every one’s great support, and special thanks to our swimmers-fundraisers: Sanda Anca, Irina Bădescu, Ionuț Chira, Marius Conțiu, Daniel Cornea, Andreea de Graaf, Dan Ionescu, Vlad Ionescu, Iulia Jianu, Attila Kalman și Mircea Miheștean.

Financial data

Income Sources in 2017

Costs in 2017

Contact us

Photos credentials: the photos used in this report were taken by Norsensus Mediaforum team or by Fundatia Danis team, during the implementation of the projects presented.