The foundations of Kellner family distribute a total of CZK 1.7 billion over past 20 years

Donations from The Kellner Family Foundation in 2021 were given primarily to support:

• 87 students at Open Gate grammar school

• 57 Czech students at foreign and Czech universities

• 2944 teachers providing education for 38,803 students at 113 primary schools

The Kellner Family Foundation has long provided generous support for children and youth studying at public or private schools. The main beneficiaries of support are public primary schools involved in the Helping Schools Succeed initiative, students from Open Gate, and Czech students studying at foreign universities. The foundation is also actively involved in mitigating the problems of current events affecting society as a whole.

“My PPF Foundation colleagues and I reacted very quickly to the Ukraine situation, and we earmarked 100 million crowns for gradual distribution to help Ukrainian refugee children integrate into Czech schools and our society. The whole team is working hard to minimize the consequences of this war for children and people separated from their families in Ukraine,” says Renáta Kellnerová, The Kellner Family Foundation founder and chair of the management board, in the annual report’s introduction.

Twenty years of support for education

The Kellner family has been engaged for the past 20 years in philanthropic activities to support education in Czech Republic. Over the past two decades, The Kellner Family Foundation and its predecessor Educa Foundation have donated CZK 1.7 billion to initiatives for public primary schools, high schools and universities. Even the two challenging years of the Covid-19 pandemic did not break the continuity of projects under the foundation’s support.

Scholarships for students to study at Open Gate grammar school

In the 2021/2022 school year, 87 students studied at Open Gate grammar school under scholarships given by The Kellner Family Foundation. Since the establishment of the school in 2005, the foundation has awarded 1745 annual scholarships for a sum of CZK 730 million. The foundation has given 371 students the opportunity to study at one of the top-rated grammar schools in Czech Republic. With the foundation’s financial support, it has also given 64 children and youth from foster homes (orphanages), living in foster care or from the Klokánek programme the chance to study.

Helping Schools Succeed initiative for public primary schools

After rapid growth in the number of schools involved, the initiative has involved 113 public primary schools across the Czech Republic. This represents a total of 2944 teachers supporting the education of 38,803 students. In 2021, the foundation donated a sum of CZK 40 million to them all. Since the initiative began in 2009, the family foundation has donated CZK 368 million to public primary schools to support education delivered with purpose, especially in teaching reading and writing skills, which are the building blocks for critical literacy.

Grants for university students

For 12 years, the Kellner Family Foundation has been awarding scholarships to Czech university students, mainly students enrolled in bachelor´s degree programmes at foreign universities. In that time, a sum of CZK 105 million has been distributed as grants to 218 college students. In the 2021/2022 school year, 57 university students received scholarships totalling CZK 7.9 million. Around 30% of scholarship recipients gain international experience in technical fields and computer sciences, and 25% study natural sciences. For the 2022/2023 academic year, the management board of The Kellner Family Foundation has decided to increase the amount for college and university student scholarships to CZK 15 million.

No changes in the foundation’s direction after changes in the management and supervisory boards

After the tragic event in March 2021 in which Petr Kellner lost his life, Professor Radek Špíšek, CEO of SOTIO Biotech, a biotechnological company under the umbrella of PPF Group, was appointed as a new member of the board of directors of The Kellner Family Foundation, completing the three-member board at the side of its chair Renáta Kellnerová and member Petra Dobešová.

Petr Kellner´s adult children, Anna, Lara and Petr Jr., are also actively involved in the foundation’s activities as members of the supervisory board. “We familiarised our children with our philanthropic activities during their upbringing. We explained to them why we do this sort of work. Now, they are here with me, and together we continue the work Petr and I started,” says Renáta Kellnerová about the changes in the executive bodies of The Kellner Family Foundation in 2021. The foundation is committed to continuing its long-term strategy of supporting education regardless of the changes in its management and supervisory boards.