The Final Session

On Wednesday the 13th of July our little group concluded the Budapest 2011 program with our final presentations... After six weeks of diligent, challenging, and fulfilling work we found ourselves out of time. It has been so insanely, unquestionably fun, and we were all sad to see it come to an end. However, before we all bid our farewells as we each went our separate ways, we had one last round of presentations. Joined by our two gracious guests, Aron of Fruit of Care, Daniel of Stanford (yes that Stanford), and Mr. Sandor Koles, we each preceded to give our presentations regarding what work we had accomplished for our respective internships.


After working for Fruit of Care for the past six weeks, Michael and Jordan give their final thoughts and recommendations concerning the path that Fruit of Care should take in the future. Met with great enthusiasm by their guest, their suggestions were nothing short of highly informed and full of potential. They had not only done their job, but with the help of the knowledge gained through the program, they had done their job well.


Next up was our very own Chelsea Bailey. She did an incredible job presenting her work on the Rural Workshop Foundation to not only the class but also to the very attentive Mr. Sandor Koles. Her diligent task of translating the website for the organization was nothing short of daunting but was completed in both a timely and impressive manner. Another point for the students of Budapest 2011.



Next stop was Ms. Sarah Chang. After weeks of working with CEE Web, her recommendations on how exactly to make the organization more efficient were profound in the very least. After a short time explaining the role of the organization in today's world, it became clear to all those listening just how important the work of this organization was to the future of biodiversity and to that of the environment as a whole. Another point for the students.


Last but certainly not least was Mr. Daniel Jakus presenting his findings and recommendations for Habitat for Humanity Hungary. Wearing a fantastic suit and rocking a great attitude, Mr. Jakus saw too it that the program had a fitting conclusion as he talked about all the great work Habitat has done and continues to do. One of the best endings the Budapest program could have had? Maybe... But yest it was probably the best way to end it...


After a quick shopping spree for the products of Fruit of Care, it was time for our farewell dinner. It was now time for one last goodbye (even though we a reflection class in the morning)... It had been tremendously fun. We had met so many terrific people. And we had learned more than we ever thought possible. We had made new friends and acquaintances. It had only been six weeks, but we had done so much... Thank you for following us for the duration of this program. We appreciate your support and you interest! Spread the word about his program! It deserves it!!!

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club (Budapest 2011)

Open Garden at Gödöllő

Today we made a site visit to Open Garden in Gödöllő. Matthew Hayes told us the history of the farm. It began as a university project about community supported agriculture, an agricultural model where the community and the farmers both share the risks of production. The farm would grow crops and the community would pay for the crops they would receive ahead of time, so that the farm would have enough capital to move forward. The advantages of having a small, community garden are that it is better for the environment and better for the local economy. A downside, though, is that the consumer gets less choice about what he or she will receive. This contrasted greatly with Hungary’s trend towards many consumer choices following the democratic transition. This CSA project grew well, but did not turn out to be as successful as intended because of inadequate business planning.

The farm then became an open garden. It worked in a similar fashion, but people had more choices in what produce they could purchase because of partnerships with other gardens. It was interesting to hear about the role this garden played in making community. It provided a place for people to volunteer, to have festivals, and to share recipes.

The garden had also always been used for practical education in agriculture for Saint Stephen University. In recent years, it transitioned to functioning primarily for this purpose, as the open garden project’s scope had become too large. Many of the players had been worn out by the many demanding projects the garden had taken on, and so they decided to focus in on a few key activities. We hear a lot about scaling up, but this was an interesting perspective into why a social enterprise might want to scale down.

The food produced is organic, and the farm vies for financial and environmental sustainability. They keep chickens on the farm to provide manure, and as a byproduct, they also get eggs. They do, however, have to devote a portion of the farm to growing food for the chickens. They get much of their heating in the winter by burning wood, some from the property.

What I found most interesting about this presentation was learning about the progression of the farm through the years. It was clear that as they were acting, they were learning a lot. As they learned, they tried to make changes to best adapt to their environment. I admired this ability to adapt. It was clear that the context of a community plays a big role in the success of a social venture. While the open garden model had been very successful in the UK and Western Europe, certain cultural differences in Hungary made it less effective.

We all felt very honored the rest of the afternoon as we had a delicious Hungarian lunch, met the vice-mayor of Gödöllő, rang the town’s ceremonial peace gong, and got to visit the palace there. It was interesting to learn that the mayor and vice-mayor are not aligned with a particular political party, but are part of a civic group, formed to represent the needs of the town. Gödöllő has been in the spotlight lately because parts of Hungary’s EU Presidency took place here. Gödöllő was a very pretty town, and it was a lovely visit.

On the left is Dr. Terry Blum, Director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, visiting our program.

The Final Speakers

Guest Speaker Paola Greiner on Venture Philanthropy

On Thursday we were fortunate enough to have two speaker presentations. The first was with Paola Greiner who currently works for the EU. Paola has a degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the London school of Economics and is very involved in the non-profit sector. The presentation she gave was focused on Venture Philanthropy in Europe. Venture Philanthropy is not an easy topic to discuss or learn. According to Wikipedia, Venture Philanthropy is defined as "Taking concepts and techniques from venture capital finance and high technology business management and applies them to achieving philanthropic goals." Paola described Venture Philanthropy in Europe as philanthropic giving to social purpose organizations with an emphasis on performance and a combination of expertise and financial support. In Europe Venture Philanthropy is focused at the organizational level because it is seen as a more rewarding style of giving. During her presentation, Paola also spent a few minutes to discuss the European venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) with us. The EVPA has 31 current full members and many more supporters. The organizations involved with EVPA tend to support social welfare initiatives while focusing on expansion and replication. The EVPA is set up in order to help finance small non-profit groups that need funding. The funding is mostly provided through grants, however some agencies do provide loans. The EVPA is not only a financial based organization. Alongside their financial initiatives, the EVPA also provides business plan development, management training, and other programs necessary to running a successful Non-Profit. In total, Paola's presentation was very helpful to myself and the others in the group because until now Venture Philanthropy has been difficult to grasp the general concept of.

Conversation With Student Social Entrepreneurs of The Volunteer Construction Camp

Here is a link with some background on the student Organization I will be discussing below.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=102178413186846

The second presentation on Thursday was by a small student organization from the college for advanced studies in Social theory. The student organization consisted of board members and other members in charge of running the Social Housing Reconstruction Camps in Hungary. The Social Housing Reconstruction Camps is a program based in Hungary which focuses on helping poor families reduce their rent in exchange for growth in the value of government properties. The program focuses on getting small local governments to agree that if the poor community work to improve the status of their government provided housing, they can in turn reduce their rent. The program believes that the main outcomes of the program will be that those involved in the re modification of the housing projects will gain a sense of pride in where they live and they will also learn to basic working skills. The main project that the group has been working on is focused on a slum community called Ligetvaros which is in the city of Nagykanizsa. Ligetvaros is a slum of 110 council flats which were originally built as military hospital barracks. Sewage and plumbing was added to the community in 1989 and there has been no reconstruction since. Because of thee help of the Social Housing Reconstruction Camps, the Ligetvaros has been able to improve the condition of their community and almost 70 community members have been able to reduce their rent and completely eliminate their debt. The success of the Social Housing Reconstruction Camps is reliant on a lot of outside help. Through the cooperation of many corporate sponsors such as Dewalt and other tool, and home improvement companies, The SHRC is provided with the tools necessary for housing reconstruction. The SHRC is also partnered with habitat for Humanity which provides them with volunteers and supplies in order to further their accomplishments. Along with tool donations and other essential supplies the SHRC also receives funding from Norwegian Grants. While the program is very new, the student group emphasized that they have already learned many valuable lessons about how to run a successful charity organization. The SHRC is currently waiting to hear back from local government if their application to become an officially registered Non-Profit has been approved or not. The meeting ended with a round of Q&A and then we were finished. In all I was able to tell that the SHRC has the ambition needed to become a great organization and I speak for myself and my colleagues when I wish them the best of luck in the future.

Harskut Center for Renewable Energy

Another early morning. Another group of students with bright and shiny faces. With one of our group members under the weather, the group took off with an additional guest, Mr. Joel Cowan. As you may know he has done everything that anyone could possibly do including the founding of a city (Peachtree City to be exact). The group was off for a 2 hour bus ride to Harskut, Hungary and a day of unexpected and intense learning and fun...

After 2 hours of sleeping, conversation, and stories from Mr. Cowan himself, the group arrived at Harskut to meet our host Mr. Willy Benko. As the co-founder of the Center for Renewable Energy, Mr. Benko, who speaks both English and Hungarian absolutely flawlessly, graciously took us on a tour of his property in Harskut and showed the group all the interesting and sophisticated steps his organization is taking to further the sustainably of our natural resources through solar and wind power. Through his farm, Mr. Benko is striving to provide a working model that other individuals can visit, see, and hopefully copy as a feasible and environmentally sustainable way of living. After seeing multiple high tech devices contrasted by traditional Hungarian fire places, it was time to explore the rest of the extensive and gorgeous property.

After loading the entire group into a single truck (with 6 of us sitting in the back), we journeyed deep into the property to learn about the horses, the sheep, and the overall day to day life of how things were done. And yes, the animals were all just as cute as you would expect.




After a short period of petting adorable horses and sheep, and after an exciting time of off roading all over a farm which some of us found quite enjoyable and others found terrifying (Dori), we arrived at a grove of cherries. The cherry trees surrounded the remains of a building which had unfortunately been ravaged by fire not too long before. Regardless of this tragedy, the cherries were delicious as well as some other unusual berries which grew on some bushes not too far from the grove (they weren't poisonous don't worry). However, it was now time to depart and make our way back to the main building. After another adventurous journey off roading in the truck and a quick stop at a wood chipper (the wood chips are used as a sustainable fuel source), we headed into town for a very delicious lunch.

Sadly, with this lunch came the departure of our host, Willy Benko, and our special guest, Mr. Joel Cowan. However, the day was far from over. After a visit to the Herend Porcelain Factory as mentioned earlier, we went on a very quick and rainy excursion to Lake Balaton. While we only had a short while to this lake which is in fact he largest in Eastern Europe, we still had plenty of time for smiles, laughter and wet shoes. As you can see, some of us (the extraordinarily brave and handsome ones as featured in the corresponding picture) were able to test the waters personally. Speaking first hand, they were quite pleasant and most certainly worth a return trip (with sunshine of course).


After a long day of learning, off roading, and valiantly exploring the deep and warm waters of Lake Balaton, the group was headed back to Budapest. A 2 hour return trip filled with sleeping and more sleeping, the group had yet another great day exploring all that Hungary and the field of social entrepreneurship has to offer.