Our vision is to create the largest sustainable charity fund in Eastern Europe that supports the development of young people. We want to grow the fund’s assets as efficiently and transparently as possible, constantly providing an overview of the fund’s growth, good deeds and investments.
Supporting the Foundation
The main supporters of the charity fund are students participating in the Southwestern Advantage summer program and alumni of the program. At the same time, we are very happy to see that there are more and more supporters who have no direct connection with Southwestern Advantage, but also want to support young people in achieving their goals.
To date, we have received 120 787 euros in donations to the fund, which is divided by country:
Charitable projects
We are open to support various charitable projects and scholarships that are in line with the foundation’s mission to help young people develop their character and skills that support the fulfillment of their dreams.
As of the end of September, we have donated a total of 19 119 € since the beginning of 2017. This year, we have made donations amounting to 4 600 €. Considering the ongoing charitable projects, this is certainly shaping up to be a record year in terms of donation volume.
In the fall, we plan to award scholarships worth an additional 4 000 €. We plan to once again organize the Entrepreneurial Youth Scholarship competitions in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The purpose of the scholarship is to recognize and support active and entrepreneurial young people, and this year’s scholarship winners will be announced by the end of November.
Additionally, we have decided to support the Junior Achievement project with 3 500 € to release a new economics textbook for high school students. We supported the release of the previous economics textbook in 2018 and wish to continue supporting young people in acquiring entrepreneurial and economic knowledge.
Investments
We have aimed to achieve at least 10% growth in assets every year, which would allow us to allocate 5% of the fund’s volume to the budget of various scholarships and grants every year and at the same time continue to grow the assets of the fund. In this way, the donations of the supporters will continue to do good forever. Our goal is that the fixed costs of the Foundation would be as low as possible, and as the fund grows, these costs will become more and more marginal.
As of the second quarter of 2024, the value of the fund’s assets stands at 116 835 €. The growth in the fund’s asset value from investments has somewhat slowed in 2024, due to a 10% decline in the value of the fund’s stock portfolio compared to the end of 2023. Additionally, the growth of the fund’s asset value has been negatively impacted by higher-than-usual auditing costs and a record year in issuing grants. Despite these factors, with the help of the fund’s supporters, we have managed to grow the asset volume by 6.5% compared to the end of last year.
Investments are divided among various asset classes as follows:
Southwestern Advantage Foundation’s vision is to be the biggest charitable foundation in Eastern Europe that is built on investment principles and helping young people in obtaining knowledge and developing character so they can fulfill their dreams in life. We help European youth get better entrepreneurship education and offer investment knowledge to those who do not have the opportunity. We are working to reduce and prevent poverty.
We only donate money from the fund’s passive income by directing 50% of the return to charity and 50% back to the fund. That is how your good deed will remain giving forever.
Help us help more people: https://swacharity.eu/en/donate/
