Ecogenia

Introduction & utilization of donation

In February 2024, our Foundation continued its long-term partnership with Ecogenia, making a grant intended to cover part of its organizational and development costs for 2024.

Ecogenia is a growing Greek nonprofit organization that is on its way to building a national climate corps. Inspired by Co-Founder Lia Papazoglou's experience with AmeriCorps and the need to provide opportunities to young people to be a part of climate action, Ecogenia is now in its third year of delivering civic service programs across Greece.

This dynamic team is the first nonprofit of its kind in our country to be offering a paid service term for youth (18-30) that enables them to lead local sustainable development projects and deliver tangible impact, all while receiving professional development and training.

In just three years of being operational, Ecogenia successfully executed 3 pilot programs, which engaged 25 cohort members and an estimated 1,018 community members. In parallel, the Ecogenia team dedicates considerable resources to its organizational growth, advocacy activities, programs refining & scaling, and coalition-building.

It’s worth mentioning that Ecogenia has also been recognized on the European stage, having been selected as the National Winners (2022) of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize and the European Regional Winners (2023) for the Ashoka Green Changemakers Challenge.

This Spring, the Ecogenia crew together with 7 cohort members will be heading to Mount Olympus for a 14-week hybrid program on Fuel Reduction and Ecotourism. This pilot project is part of a strategic collaboration with the US Embassy and the California Environmental Conservation Corps (CCC), the oldest and largest conservation corps in the world.

A group of CCC program and leadership members will be on the field for two months, working with Ecogenia and the cohorts as part of an educational exchange, aiming to integrate best practices from the CCC on ecotourism and natural disaster management to strengthen the local resilience. This process will also give a better understanding of the best way to scale up civic service in Greece.

You may read more about the program here.