Philanthropy Week

The CEU community is hungry to give back. 

That's the takeaway from this year's 5th annual Bake It > Make It Forward fundraiser, held at CEU on Nov. 27. In kicking off the university's first-ever Philanthropy Week, community members raised a record 170,000 HUF ($638) by day's end in support of two great causes.

On November 27, on its fifth anniversary, Philanthropy Day became Philanthropy Week, full of exciting events everyone could get involved in. I had the chance to be part of Bake it >> Make it >>Forward, a very special event that encouraged the members of the CEU community to show off their baking skills by preparing sweet or savory treats or national specialties; and to share their skills which could be useful to their community, such as fixing laptops and more. (This was a twist from last year Bake it forward!)

To cap off Philanthropy Week at CEU, the Student Philanthropy Council and the Alumni Relations office organized a Pub Quiz on Friday night. Philanthropy week, an expanded version of Philanthropy day which has been held annually at CEU, emphasized the importance of philanthropy and expressing gratitude to the people who support CEU.

In today’s world, where there is shrinking space for civil society, young people can transform their concern into opportunities to enable change, according to Franz-Karl Prueller, senior advisor to the board at ERSTE Foundation, a longtime partner of CEU. Prueller addressed the CEU community Nov. 29 in a talk entitled “Advancing Civil Society and Social Innovation in Central Europe: Lessons in Social Investing from the ERSTE Foundation,” as part of CEU’s Philanthropy Week 2017.