Bucharest Community Foundation started out from a rewarding meeting. In 2010, a group of ten young people met to create a space where people and companies in Bucharest could come together and get involved in the local community. Their target was to bring together 300 founding donors, but they have manage to find 301.

The foundation was legally established in 2011 and the team’s mission was to invest time and resources to create a community in which the people of Bucharest feel at home. The first year was about the Auerbach Fund, whereby a couple of newlyweds wanted to donate the wedding gifts to the foundation; about YouthBank, a program providing young people with a framework to work and make decisions for their community, or about funds supporting young people and children in education or health.

2012 saw the creation of the Mega Image Community Fund and the first edition of Swimathon – the first swimming fundraising event, by which the foundation supported 20 organizations of all sizes to raise funds from 550 donors.

Bucharest Community Foundation provided constant philanthropic advice to the city’s donors – both individuals and companies – with whom they have created named funds. IKEA Fund for the Urban Environment, Mega Image Community Fund, Mobilize Excellence, Micro-Grants for Community Projects, Being a Good Neighbor are just a few of the funds managed by the Foundation.
In parallel, Swimathon Bucharest was organized every year and reached its sixth edition. From 550 donors in the beginning, it reached 2,567 individual and corporate donors, with an average donation of 157 lei in 2017. A year later, the sum raised from donations was 65% higher than the one from previous year, well above the team’s expectations, thus 25 projects received, in total, 676,695 lei from 4.310 individual donors and companies.
To encourage volunteering in the city, Bucharest CF organized 8 hours’ overtime for a good cause – a program which brings together volunteers with expertise and NGO projects that have no budget but are in need of creative solutions.
"Bucharest is a place where you want to enjoy living, where people care about each other and everyone in the city. We believe that, no matter how hard or poorly managed a city is, if it can be saved, it will be saved by the stubbornness of informal leaders, involved in the community because of their belief. Provided they have access to resources and are encouraged not to give up "(Vision of the Bucharest Community Foundation)
Seven years later, in 2018, the foundation’s team is still working in Bucharest – a bustling city with many issues, but also many ideas on how it could get better. They have funded over 320 projects in Bucharest and Ilfov. The amount they have invested in the community, together with the generous donors is one million EURO.

“There is much to do in the city. It does not change with a scholarship, not even with the funding of over 50 projects each year. It takes a lot more people to get involved. Much more private money invested. Better connection between those who do the same thing. Better strategy for projects to have impact and sustainability. We have work to do for a whole lifetime. And if we stay here, let’s work together to make Bucharest a place where people care about each other and everyone from the city. Instead of leaving, this is the significance we choose to give to our lives", said in 2018 Alina Kasprovschi, Executive Director of the Bucharest Community Foundation.