OUR HISTORY

This is how we have grown and evolved so far:

1997

The Civil Society Foundation is established.

1998

We organise the first year of Via Bona Slovakia Awards and motivational campaign Rock the Vote (Rock Volieb) at the occasion of the ’98 parliament election.

Due to the Rock the Vote (Rock Volieb) election campaign, the number of first-time voters increased by 60% compared to previous elections.

2001

We transform and change our name to the “Pontis Foundation”.

2003

The first endowment funds are established.

Cuban dissident Oswald Paya during his visit to Slovakia.

2004

We found the Business Leaders Forum and organise the first Corporate Responsibility Conference (today’s BLF Summit).

2007

We organise the first corporate volunteering event “Our Town” (then called “Our Bratislava”).

“Our Bratislava“ transformed into an event called “Our Town“, the biggest corporate volunteering event in Slovakia.

2008

We hold the first year of the Corporate Philanthropy Forum.

The Corporate Philanthropy Forum was first held in 2008.

2010

We launch the first development cooperation project in Kenya and an individual donation programme called DobraKrajina.sk.

2011

We launch the Pro Bono Attorneys initiative and the Heart for Children charity project.

The aim of the Heart for Children project is to help improve lives of children with serious health and social disadvantages.

2012

We organise the first edition of the Development and Democracy International Conference and establish the Fund for Transparent Slovakia.

2014

We co-found the Association of Corporate Foundations and Funds (ASFIN).

2015

We create a Map of social innovators who contribute to changing Slovakia for the better.

The Business Leaders Forum has become an administrator of the Charter of Diversity Slovakia.

2017

We launch the Generation 3.0 programme to promote innovative approaches to education and the Diversity Charter initiative. We are becoming an ambassador for GivingTuesday, the international good deeds day.

2018

We launch a unique non-profit accelerator called MentorExpress: Generation 3.0 Accelerator which is designed for non-profit education projects and schools.

Finalists and winners of the Generation 3.0 Awards became a part of the pilot year of MentorExpress.

2019

From September, the Pontis Foundation has two executive directors. Its leadership is taken over by the current programme directors – Martina Kolesárová and Michal Kišša. The previous head of the foundation Lenka Surotchak decided to resign from the post of executive director and become a member of the board of directors in autumn.

Lenka Surotchak has led the Pontis Foundation strategically and executively since 2002.

On the 26th of November 2019, the Pontis Foundation in cooperation with the Town of Trnava presented a unique extra-curricular centre Open Future. In its first year, it opened its doors to 25 children who experienced a world of unknown innovation and technology which they would not be able to access otherwise. The aim is that the centre helps pupils develop different skills, which they acquire by working on their own projects. Top personalities of Slovak business accompany the children throughout the process.

2020

In cooperation with the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights and the TRIAD agency, we launched an online campaign titled For Nice Mondays. The online campaign aimed to point out the problem of prejudice at work on the part of colleagues and leaders. We have also started to organise informal Impact Talks evening discussions on philanthropy.

2021

We exchanged the traditional Via Bona Slovakia gala for a unique documentary film broadcast by RTVS. In it, we presented the concept of responsible entrepreneurship to the general public and highlighted the most inspiring projects of companies. In Zvolen, we opened the second centre of the Open Future programme.

2022

We celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Pontis Foundation with an event for our people. In addition, we presented the Map of Social Innovators, which we prepared in cooperation with the international organisation Ashoka. There are 461 personalities on it – starting and established innovators and their business and public administration supporters. They are united by the desire to change Slovakia for the better.

2023

We have launched Impact Lab, a unique programme in Slovakia to support civil society organisations. Over three years, we will redistribute 2,2 million euros to up to 70 organisations from all over Slovakia thanks to European support. The programme includes an incubator for smaller organisations and an accelerator for established organisations. In addition, we have launched a podcast about philanthropic stories called Impact Talks in collaboration with Aktuality. In December, we organized the first Impact Summit, an event on social innovation that connects people from civil society, business, and public administration.

The podcast is hosted by Milan Zimnýkoval and the first guests were Irma Kisková and Andrej Kiska.

2024

We have launched a new Open Future center in Prešov and the second year of the Impact Summit event welcomed even more guests than the last one. For the first time, we organised the Impact Talks event in the Eastern Slovakia, in Košice. Together with the Open Society Foundation and the Taipei Representative Office in Slovakia, we helped to rebuild Ukraine. All year we fought to preserve the allocation mechanism for NGOs and to protect democracy.