Congratulations to the Berezani Community Foundation on its anniversary! Decades of the foundation's work are many valuable projects that have changed and improved the community step by step, close cooperation with the network of community foundations of Ukraine, and international cooperation!
A special thanks to the chairman of the board of the foundation, Ali Novik, for her tireless work. Your zeal, ambition and experience are invaluable.
Right now, we are all working towards victory and overcoming the consequences of a full-scale invasion. The network of philanthropists directs its work to help foundations meet the needs of the community. We believe that thanks to your experience and close cooperation, it will be possible to make improvements.
The charitable organization "Berezany Community Foundation" was registered on July 5, 2012, although the path to its creation began long before official registration... In 2009, an initiative group of active residents of Berezany, Kyiv region, started many ambitious projects, they had many ideas. In the process of implementing the outlined plans, they realized that they could achieve more only by uniting in a public association. Having studied the best Ukrainian and world experience, the "Berezani Community Foundation" was created.
Since that time, the Foundation works exclusively for charitable purposes, and promotes the development of local philanthropy by involving community members in charitable activities. During this time they have learned to work with many sectors of the community, business, government, and various stakeholders. The foundation's team gained a lot of experience, learned to identify problems, find ways to solve them, find non-standard solutions and implement the most daring projects. The organization is a center of public opinion and a generator of local initiatives.
The scale of the Foundation's work has gone beyond the city of Berezan. They started cooperation with the community of villages that were part of the Berezan territorial community and based on a number of projects, they extended their activities to the Kyiv region and the city of Kyiv.
Since 2019, they have started an interesting cooperation with the British Council in Ukraine.
For 5 years in a row, the Berezani Community Fund has participated in the National Rating of Philanthropists, which is conducted by the Ukrainian Forum of Philanthropists. There are about 18,000 charitable organizations in Ukraine, and only 37 of them participated in this rating in 2021, opening their reports, including tax reports, thus confirming their reliability, accountability, and transparency.
In 2017 and 2019, the Fund became the winner in the nomination "Expenditures in the field of art and culture" in the category up to 1 million.
10 years were active and full of events. These were years of new opportunities and new achievements. As the experience of the Foundation has shown, the greatest success in the work of the organization is social capital. There are people - there are ideas! There are ideas that unite the community - there will certainly be funds.
The founding of the youth wing of the organization in 2014 was a fundamental decision regarding the life of the foundation for the next decades. In 2017, the "NEW WAY Youth Bank of Initiatives" practice became the winner in the "Supporting the formation of new public leaders" nomination in the "Best practices of youth work in Ukraine" competition, which was held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine together with the UN Development Program in of Ukraine and the State Institute of Family and Youth Policy. The Youth Bank Initiative is a unique group of young people who, of their own accord, will make positive changes in their lives, their city, and in Ukraine! The Foundation is proud of the youth wing of the organization - the Youth Bank of New Way Initiatives.
The wisdom of the organization is the women united in the "Malva" women's club, who are the vanguard and reliable support in the implementation of socially significant initiatives.
In total, the foundation has implemented more than 300 projects, events, and actions, including the "Safe Community" program aimed at cooperation between the community, the police, and the authorities.
The foundation established a picture gallery of Ukrainian artists and a library with more than two hundred books on organizational development and fiction with autographs of public figures.
The years 2020-2021 were stormy for the Foundation and the whole world, a test of the strength of the organization. And while the unexpected challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a real test for the foundation's programs, they have also highlighted the resilience of the systems already built-in communities. This time was also marked by new ideas and projects, events that forced us to act quickly, relying not only on experience but also on the ability to analyze and predict. In addition, new resources were stimulated and improved to achieve even better results in 2021.
2022 was the year of new superhuman tests. When the war with its numerous social and economic consequences began to march across Ukraine, the Foundation understood that the time had come to be patient and do everything possible for the victory of Ukraine!
The activities of the Foundation, its employees, and volunteers have been repeatedly recognized with numerous certificates, thanks, and awards for their significant contribution to the development of public society and the youth movement in the city and region, including:
2017 - the head of the board Alla Novikova and the coordinator of the program "Youth bank of the initiative "NEW WAY" Tetyana Kovalchuk became the winners of the city-wide competition "Person of the Year" in the nominations "Public figure", "Young person of the year" (the competition was held through open voting by the city community ).
2018 - Iryna Lishko, head of the Foundation's projects and programs, and Karim Andrusevich, a volunteer of the organization and participant of the youth bank program of the "New Way" initiative, received thanks from the mayor for their active public activities and the implementation of socially significant projects.
2019 - the head of the board Alla Novikova won the city-wide competition "Berezan is you" in the nomination "Leader of public opinion" (the competition was held through open voting by the city community).
2019 - the founder of the Foundation Alla Novikova was awarded the medal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church "For mortality and love of Ukraine" for her assistance to the National Guard of Ukraine.
2019 – Alla Novikova, the head of the board, was awarded the thanks of the Department of Youth Policy and National Patriotic Education of the Kyiv Regional State Administration for her significant contribution to the implementation of youth policy in the Kyiv Region.
2019 - participants of the Youth Bank program "New Way" initiative, volunteers of the organization Victoria Vynnychenko and Daria Kalashnyk received thanks from the mayor for the implementation of socially significant initiatives in the city of Berezan.
2022 - Alla Novikova, the head of the board, was awarded the Badge of Honor of the Brovary District Council of the 3rd degree for her significant contribution to the provision of comprehensive assistance during the martial law in Ukraine.
In 2020, representatives of the Fund took part in the creation of the Map of Legal Reforms, in meetings on the implementation of the interest mechanism in Ukraine by participants of the Mentoring Program to strengthen the advocacy capabilities of CSOs and other events held by the Center for Democracy and Sovereignty Rights as part of the project of the Sectoral Support Initiative for Civil Society of Ukraine.
2021 - practices "Safe community", "Children's film festival of amateur short films "Love is" dedicated to Valentine's Day" appeared in the "Collection of stories about the best joint projects of CSOs and authorities" of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MKIP) as part of the information "Power" campaign. and civil society - best practices of cooperation".
The purpose of the information campaign is to show the successful cooperation of the public sector and executive authorities, their effective practices of communication, and joint work for the development of a society of conscious and responsible citizens.
In 2021, the Berezani Community Foundation implemented the project in partnership with the NGO ISAR "Unification", the Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research (UNCPD), and the Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law (CEDEM) thanks to the sincere support of the American people, provided through the United States Agency for International Development. The general goal is to improve the conditions of civil society activity and strengthen the institutional capacity of the organization of public society to increase the self-sufficiency of the public sector in the Kyiv region.
As part of the "Sectoral Support Initiative for Civil Society" activity, the Berezani Community Fund involved a wide range of stakeholders, and experts in the development of civil society for analytical and research work. The involvement of representatives of local organizations strengthened the process of developing regional plans for the development of civil society in Ukraine by involving regional expertise. Two representatives of the foundation took part in the Strategic Session to develop the Agenda of the Civil Society of Ukraine." In total, more than 70 public organizations from all over Ukraine took part, as well as representatives of business, government, local self-government, and donor institutions. Together they brainstormed ideas, analyzed previous regional studies, and worked out common next steps. We created the "Public Sector Agenda" - vision and operational documents. They outlined the main challenges facing the public sector and ways of its development, taking into account the peculiarities of the regions. The document includes the vision part, implementation plan, responsible parties, and indicators of goal achievement.
On March 25, 2022, the head of the board had the honor to speak at the non-governmental forum of the 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations, which was held on the initiative of the National Council of Women of Ukraine and with the support of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations, the International Council of Women and the European Women's Lobby. There was a discussion on the significance of the invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the tragic consequences of the total war that the Russian Federation is currently waging against the Ukrainian people.
The charitable organization "Berezani Community Foundation" continues to confidently grow and develop. But, in addition to its own development, there is another task - to share its experience and knowledge with others. Foundation specialists conduct training, encourage community members to take responsibility for their own social needs, and help acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and experience to solve them.