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Budujemy demokratyczną wspólnotę, zdolną sprostać wyzwaniom współczesności. Przyznajemy granty, stypendia i nagrody, które pomagają ją wzmacniać.

Think
the unthought

The Czernecki Educational Foundation is dedicated to supporting the Humanities and the Arts in Eastern Europe, and fostering an exchange of ideas. Established in 2009, we are inspired by the legacy of our patron, Roman Czernecki, a visionary social innovator and educator.

About the patron

Roman Czernecki with students from the Jan Śniadecki High School in Kielce (1930s)
Roman Czernecki with students from the Jan Śniadecki High School in Kielce (1930s)

What we do

We support humanistic thinking and initiatives in cultural and civic education. We work with people, institutions and ideas.

Scholarship holders of the “Horyzonty” program during the holidays (Jastarnia, 2016)
Scholarship holders of the “Horyzonty” program during the holidays (Jastarnia, 2016)

People

We support individuals through a dedicated scholarship programme and awards.

Horyzonty Scholarship Programme

Social Impact Award

Roman Czernecki Award

Press breakfast in Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 2024
Press breakfast in Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, 2024

Institutions

We set up partnerships with institutions, offering grants and fellowships to further our educational aims.

Supported institutions

Andrzej Czernecki (1970's)
Andrzej Czernecki (1970's)

Ideas

We facilitate an exchange of ideas by supporting publications and seminars.

Supported publishers

Our mission

Our hope always hangs on the new which every generation brings (...). – Hannah Arendt

The Inspiration

We draw inspiration from the educational legacy of Roman Czernecki — a teacher and educational activist, organiser of clandestine schooling during World War II and a self-sufficient country boarding school after the war; later dean of the School of Pedagogy in Gdańsk, and lecturer in the history of philosophy at the Warsaw University of Technology. We share his conviction that education must be a socially formative force. 

The values that guided Professor Czernecki inspired his son, Andrzej—a nuclear physicist, entrepreneur, and member of the Polish Parliament—to establish EFC in 2009. Our work is possible thanks to an endowment he set up, the first philanthropic initiative of this scale in Poland.

Today, the Foundation is led by his sons, Igor and Andrzej, with the support of Jan Krzewiński.

We remain committed to the values embodied by the Foundation’s patron, Roman Czernecki and its founder, Andrzej Czernecki, while continuously reflecting on and refining our strategy to keep pace with a changing world.

The team in the Warsaw office (2024)
The team in the Warsaw office (2024)

News

  • The EFC @efc.edu.pl and The Starak Family Foundations’s @starakfoundation Mentors’ Dinner is an annual event and one of the highlights of our flagship Horyzonty Programme @stypendium.horyzonty . Horyzonty is a scholarship and educational support programme that helps talented young people from smaller towns and less advantaged backgrounds pursue their academic ambitions. Beyond financial support, provides a supportive community mentoring and opportunities for personal growth, helping students find their way through education and shape their own paths. The dinner brings together the people who make the programme what it is: students, alumni, mentors, partners and friends of Horyzonty. Students in their final year of secondary school have the chance to host exceptional mentors – accomplished people from fields including academia, public service, business, sport and the arts – whose personal stories help them as they think about their future careers. It is a moment to reconnect, share experiences and celebrate the community we have built together. We are proud to continue this partnership and to keep supporting young people as they shape their futures. • @alumni_efc_frs • #education #edukacja
  • Our study visit to Lviv. • Philippe Sands • Igor Czernecki • Harald Binder • Sofia Dyak • Marjana Savka • Natalie Nougayrède • @jamfactory.artcenter • Ukraine • Ukraina •
  • 🔔 LAST WEEK TO APPLY. Applications for the Czernecki Educational Foundation Fellowship at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination @iii_snfphi in Paris are open until 30 September. Each year, EFC supports an artist, writer, or researcher from Central and Eastern Europe to spend a year at the Institute - developing their practice, pursuing bold ideas, and engaging in meaningful intellectual exchange across borders. If you’ve been thinking about applying, this is your week. Apply via the link in bio. • culture-shaping • civic • humanistic • education • fellowship • CEE • Central • Eastern • Europe
  • Expanding horizons means more than gaining knowledge. It means meeting new people, discovering new perspectives and having the opportunity to see the world differently. 
This summer, one of our Horyzonty alumni took part in the European Forum Alpbach, exploring topics from digital sovereignty and geopolitics to global capital flows - and connecting with leaders including Andreas Treichl, Peter Bosek, Petia Niederländer and others. 
Supporting education enables our scholars to discover new horizons. @forumalpbach • @clubalpbachpoland • @stypendium.horyzonty • @alumni_efc_frs • @starakfoundation • EFC • Horyzonty • education • scholarships • new perspectives • international exchange • Alumni EFC FRS
  • • EFC • Igor Czernecki • the Borderlander Award • education • culture • CEE • Sejny • Człowiek Pogranicza • Borderland / Pogranicze • historia • humanities • @borderland.pogranicze • @small_centers_of_the_world • @thetimothysnyder • Marci Shore •
  • If we had to boil down everything we do — our programmes, partnerships and scholarships — into one sentence, it’d be this ☝️ #education #edukacja • CEE • humanities • civic • culture • sztuka • arts • fellowship • nowa filantropia • partnersko •
  • Let’s keep in touch in more than one way! #education #humanities #culture • EFC • LinkedIn • newsletter • website • education • culture • humanities • CEE • edukacja • kulturotwórcza • obywatelska • humanistyczna •
  • 💛 Hello to the new cohort of Horyzonty scholars @stypendium.horyzonty A new chapter begins - new places, new friendships, new challenges, and new possibilities. Welcome to the Horyzonty community. We’re glad you’re here ✨ 📸 @max_zielinski _____ Horyzonty is a scholarship and development programme run by the EFC in partnership with the Starak Family Foundation @starakfoundation, supporting talented young people from smaller towns across Poland throughout their high-school years. • education • edukacja • humanities • kulturotwórcza • obywatelska • humanistyczna • cultural • civic #edukacja #education #newphilanthropy
  • 💛 Borderlander Award 1. Igor Czernecki with Adam Michnik 2. Krzysztof Czyżewski @borderland.pogranicze 3. At a table with Irena Grudzińska-Gross 4. With @thetimothysnyder 5. With Viktoras Bachmetjevas and Ondřej Liška #pogranicze #boarderland
  • 💛💙 Congratulations to our Ukrainian friends for 35 years of independence! • Ukraine • Independence • freedom • CEE • education • cultural • civic • humanities • EFC •
  • ✨ A little change in the EFC team. Swipe through to meet the @stypendium.horyzonty alumni behind the change. Say goodbye to Dominik @plywacz_d and welcome Wiktoria @w_szczur to the team. 🚀 @stypendium.horyzonty is the EFC’s flagship scholarship programme for talented young people from small towns, enabling them to attend leading high schools and technical schools across Poland. We run the programme in partnership with the @starakfoundation . • EFC • Horyzonty • alumni • team • education • CEE • @alumni_efc_frs •
  • At the EFC, we support Institutions. Our Programme Director Hubert Czyżewski explains, in under 10 seconds. • EFC • institutions • partnerships • education • cultural • civic • CEE • humanities • edukacja • kulturotwórcza • obywatelska • humanistyczna

Friends