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Healthy City Community Foundation and the SDGs: Sustainability as a part of community foundations’ DNA

Posted on June 26, 2023 Posted By: ICF FRI Categories: Case Studies ICGAP
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26.06.2023 / Case studies

Authors: Stefan Cibian Ph.D and Lutz Drieling M.A. Candidate

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The Healthy City Community Foundation (HCCF) in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, started in 2022 to engage with Agenda 2030 and is currently considering a more strategic engagement with the SDGs. HCCF connects to sustainable development discussions based on its experience with activating local communities in its region and enhancing community resilience.1 Currently, HCCF is exploring how to make sense of Agenda 2023 in their local context.

HCCF is the first community foundation established in Central and Eastern Europe.2 After the fall of communism, the local Rotary Club of Banská Bystrica wanted to renew its activities. They decided to start a foundation in 1992. The Foundation’s first project was a playground that failed because of the suspicion and lack of support from local community members. After visiting American community foundations, the Healthy City Foundation was transformed into the Healthy City Community Foundation, which distributed its first grant in 1994. The mentioned playground was finished five years later through community participation.3  Twenty years after its establishment, HCCF continues to bring the community and its members closer together and strengthen collaboration and the motivation to participate within the community.

How does HCCF work?

By focusing on small grants, HCCF engages multiple local actors in their grantmaking practice, becoming a trustful partner for the community. In 2022 HCCF offered 12 grants in the local community. Over the Summer of 2023, the HCCF offers grants up to 500€, focusing on the participation of families and women who fled Ukraine after the Russian Invasion. Occasionally HCCF also offers higher grants. Grantmaking calls are mostly focused on specified topics. Resources for grantmaking are sometimes generated through live-funding events and activities like ‘Soup of Aid.’4 Here donors are invited for soup and are asked to donate the money they usually would have spent for lunch. Partner NGOs then distribute the donations to families in need.5

In recent years, the HCCF has seen more and more informal groups applying for grants connected to diverse events and more regular activities, especially in local neighborhoods. The trust of the community in HCCF grew. While the character of these events did not change over time, the focus did. Initially, activities were strongly connected to environmental issues, then shifted to social issues, and now are more connected to active neighborhoods. Young people are especially active. A specific topic does not dominate HCCF-funded projects. The Foundation is proud to be one of the community foundations that works with Roma communities in Slovakia.6

In addition to the concrete outcome of the projects, the HCCF tries to bring the community closer together. After a clean-up project, community members identified the reason for garbage in the surrounding nature. A follow-up grant solved these issues by investing in new dumpsters. Environmental pollution became a topic for further projects in the local community.7

Central factors for HCCF’s persistence in the local community is owning a building and financing one staff member from endowment revenues. Additional staff members are financed through specific projects. An essential part of the HCCF sustainability strategy is to build strong partnerships with NGOs and civil society actors and to engage youth.8 Given the history of the region characterized by reduced social capital. 9

Through HCCF practices, the community became more resilient and active in crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this ability was demonstrated. While governmental actions were delayed, the network around HCCF was able to engage and provide support. The Foundation also adapted its way of operating digitally.10 Similar was the community’s response at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.11

The Healthy City Community Foundation and the SDGs

In recent years, HCCF has explored a stronger connection with Agenda 2030. HCCF’s work on “diverse, inclusive, and cohesive communities” is recognized as good practice by the Global Challenges Local Solutions (GCLS) grantmaking program.12 While it sees potential for engaging with the SDGS, HCCF also encounters challenges.  Beyond their partners, it is complicated to communicate the SDGs and make them accessible to community actors.

Overall, people aware of the SDGs take them quite seriously, while people who do not, tend to be overwhelmed by the amount of new abstract information. Larger and bigger foundations in Slovakia also struggle to communicate the SDGs within their networks of partners, donors, and recipients. The HCCF sees the need to offer information about Agenda 2030 in a more straightforward and more accessible way to its community, focusing on SDGs that are relevant to the local community.

In this direction, the Community Foundation is trying out modalities to bring more capacity on SDGs both within the Foundation and in the broader community. One example refers to an HCCF Board Member that participated in a European Community Foundation Initiative (ECFI)13 learning experience on climate change. The insights gained will be shared with the HCCF Board and disseminated to local communities and the broader public.14

The HCCF is also aiming to streamline the SDGs in its grantmaking practice. While relying on the SDGs is envisaged, the Foundation is aware of the complexity of the SDGs and that it may discourage local initiatives from applying for funding. The Foundation hopes to show the importance of the SDGs for the community while making the SDGs more accessible.15

The HCCF also considers how to ensure that the city administration takes SDGs and the Agenda 2030 into account. One step is to bring professionals into the municipality’s committees who are aware of the relevance of the SDGs for the local communities.16

Challenging here is the need for more capacity within HCCF. Agenda 2030 is already part of the Foundation’s strategic documents and Management Board discussions. However, it is difficult to implement the SDGs in daily operations and to make them part of all levels, from the management board to the applicants.17

HCCF uses Vital Signs18 to implement a survey together with the local universities. Since 2014 surveys have been conducted in the local community. Even though data about the HCCF community is available, it is not yet connected to concrete Goals which could be instrumental for grantmaking and actions.19

Beata Hirt, the HCCF Executive Director, sees that the Community Foundation has been working on SDGs-related topics since its founding. Furthermore, a more strategic connection to the SDGs would empower the community to see how their local actions have a global impact and might open opportunities for additional funding for the HCCF from larger companies, institutions, and professionals.20

Conclusion

The Healthy City Community Foundation is strongly engaged in its local community. HCCF empowers leaders to become impactful in local communities. HCCF and its community are at the beginning of considering a more sustained engagement with the SDGs for planning, implementing, and evaluating their impact. Nevertheless, sustainability is a part of the DNA of HCCF. The Foundation engages with its community and maximizes its impact beyond the scope of specific projects by constantly strengthening the community, bringing people together, and creating strong and resistant local networks. The over 20 years of local engagement of HCCF speaks for its mission and mode of operation, which will be further strengthened by a more profound engagement with Agenda 2030.

Endnotes

  1. Bevan, Joanna (2013) Resilience Rainbow: What role can community foundations play in increasing community resilience, Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and the Graduate Center at City University of New York. Accessed at
  2. “O Nadácii: Poslanie” (Komunitná nadácia Zdravé mesto, ), https://knzm.sk/o-nad%C3%A1cii/index; Hirt, Beata (1998) Banská Bistrica – Eastern Europe’s first community foundation, Alliance, accessed at. Sacks, Eleanor W., (2000) The Growth of Community Foundations around the World: An Examination of the Vitality of the Community Foundation Movement, Council on Foundations, accessed at
  3. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  4. Soup of Aid is also analysed as Cause-Related Marketing by Vitálišová, K., Borseková, K., Vaňová, A., Rojíková, D. (2021). Project “Soup of Aid” as a Cause-Related Marketing Campaign. In: Galan-Ladero, M.M., Galera-Casquet, C., Alves, H.M. (eds) Cause-Related Marketing. Classroom Companion: Business. Springer, Cham.
  5. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  6. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  7. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  8. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  9. Knight, Barry and Andrew Milner (2013) “Restoring Trust in Civil Society: Healthy City Community Foundation, BANSKA BYSTRICA, SLOVAKIA,” pp. 24-29 in What Does Community Philanthropy Look Like? Case Studies on Community Philanthropy – Vol. 1. Global Alliance on Community Philanthropy. Accessed at
  10. European Community Foundation Initiative, n.d., Healthy City Community Foundation, Banská BYstrica, Slovakia – Adapting in-person programs to online delivery, ECFI. Accessed at
  11. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  12. Accessed at
  13. The European Community Foundation Initiative.
  14. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  15. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  16. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  17. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  18. Vital Signs,
  19. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.
  20. Beata Hirt, interview by Stefan Cibian, May 19, 2023.

This case study was developed as a part of the project Increasing the Contribution of European Community Foundations to the SDGs, supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. We are grateful to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and all interviewees and partners who made the development of the case study possible.

Departments: Policy Analysis and Outreach Department, Research Department, Center on Global Affairs and Post Development, Society, Crisis, and Resilience Program

Regions: Europe

Themes: Sustainable Development Goals, Philanthropy and Community Development, Civil Society, Democracy and Democratization