We create educational projects and provide long-term support to bring about change in deeply entrenched practices and rewrite many individual stories. We introduce Czech society to broader international experience because we strongly believe that better educated people are a promise of a brighter future for everyone.
Renáta and Petr Kellner set up their first family foundation in 2002 to help improve education in the Czech Republic. Seven years later, they merged it with their other philanthropic work under a single umbrella.
The Foundation is transforming the lives of thousands of children and young people by making high-quality education available to secondary-school students who are growing up in difficult social and economic circumstances – in children’s homes, foster care or single-parent families. It helps motivated university students who are eager to push the boundaries of knowledge gain international experience and contributes to deeper, fundamental transformation of the Czech education system by supporting public primary schools that want to adopt better and more meaningful teaching practices.
scholarships for socially disadvantaged Open Gate Grammar School students
support for motivated undergraduates to study at universities abroad
projects such as Helping Schools Succeed, which is changing Czech primary schools for the better
The Foundation also provides support to individuals and institutions to promote projects in education, culture and health. For example, in 2013–2016, the charity sponsored cancer research with multi-year grants. These grants were awarded not only to exceptional scientists but also recent graduates who could then get valuable experience at prestigious institutions and be involved in research to advance treatment options for patients.
Scholarships give children and young people from all over the Czech Republic the opportunity to study at this eight-year grammar school. The scholarship helps them cover tuition fees and costs for accommodation, meals and leisure activities.
The entrance exams for Open Gate are the same for everyone. We help academically gifted children from difficult family backgrounds prepare for these exams so that everyone has an opportunity for the best in life.
The Foundation runs a project called Universities which awards scholarships to promising students from Czech secondary schools so they can continue their education and studies at the foreign university of their dreams. Besides tuition, the scholarship helps cover travel and living expenses.
Every year, around sixty young people get to study abroad thanks to our scholarships. As part of the agreement, we make sure they return to the Czech Republic and bring back the experience that is otherwise missing here.
The Foundation has been transforming the Czech public education system through its Helping Schools Succeed project since 2010. We offer interested primary schools the means, expertise and inspiration to make profound changes in their approach to teaching so that their pupils are motivated and able to thrive.
Over time, we have built up a strong and cohesive network of schools that are learning to teach better by teaming up and interacting with each other. We keep increasing our engagement in this area and believe that we will eventually bring about genuine change in Czech primary school education.
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