TPF at ISTR Conference in Istanbul

Turkish Philanthropy Funds will be organizing a panel on transnational philanthropy and its effects on social development at the ISTR Conference on July 8 from 4:00-5:30 pm at Kadir Has University. Panelists include Lou Anne King Jensen, Dr. Banu Onaral, Haldun Tashman, and Senay Ataselim. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Mark Sidel.

For more information about the conference, visit www.istr.org.

More Good News from Caykisla!

The new school built in Caykisla in honor of Esat Egesoy and Bedia Basgoz by the Porcaro Education Fund at TPF had its official opening ceremony on May 24, 2010. The children of Caykisla and their families, as well as many supporters of the school were present to celebrate this day.

Tweet for TPF!

USA Today will give one charity a full-page, full-color ad valued at nearly $190,000. The competition continues till Friday, April 16th, 11:59 pm (ET).

How can you help?

1. Post a tweet that reads "#AmericaWants Turkish Philanthropy Funds to get a full-page ad in USA Today. Please RT!"

2. Follow @tphilanthropy on Twitter and re-tweet our posts related to USA Today contest.

Please continue spreading the word and encouraging others to tweet.

Thank you for your support of TPF and we hope to see you on Twitter!

Return to TPF website.

Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society 2010 International Fellows visited TPF!

2010 Emerging Leaders International Fellows of the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Anna, Jennifer, Zeynep, Bernadette and Alexandra visited Turkish Philanthropy Funds to learn about TPF, and discuss civil society and community foundations.

Since its inception twenty years ago, the International Fellows Program has sponsored 142 fellows from 54 countries. TPF's Chief Operating Officer, Senay Ataselim (2005), and TPF's former board member Filiz Bikmen (2006) are among the former fellows.

The three-month Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program provides training to young scholar-practitioners from overseas, as well as from communities of color under-represented in the U.S. grantmaking sector, through applied research, seminars with scholars and practitioners, and professional networking opportunities. This year’s program will focus on community foundations examined through a comparative framework of philanthropic trends and civil society development in a global context.

The Fellows, who are at the Center this year are: Ms. Anna Gulevska-Chernysh from Kiev, Ukraine; Ms. Jennifer Litchfield from Winnipeg, Canada; Ms. Zeynep Meydanoğlu from Istanbul, Turkey; Ms. Bernadette Hellmann from Berlin, Germany; and Ms. Alexandra Nayeli Jiménez Martínez from México City, México.

In addition to writing an original research paper, Fellows will participate in seminars on US and international voluntary-sector activities; learn about the work of key agencies through readings and site visits; meet with leading nonprofit representatives and scholars in the field; and attend workshops relevant to their areas of interest.

TPF is proud to be one of the funders of the 2010 Emerging Leaders Program along with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and The Winnipeg Foundation.

Return back to TPF's website.

Elazig Earthquake

In an effort to provide assistance to the victims of the earthquake in Elazığ, Turkish Philanthropy Funds has reached out to leading nonprofit organizations in Turkey to find the most feasible way to support the disaster relief efforts.

We learned that the center of the earthquake is the district of Başyurt at Karakocan however the most devastated area is the town of Kovancılar. A crisis management desk has been established at the District Governor’s Office in Kovancılar, which collects and distributes the assistance.  About 2,500 people in Kovancılar were affected by the earthquake. The most needed relief products are: baby food, children clothing such as shoes, coats, sweaters, socks, etc., and personal hygiene products.

All relief products can be sent directly to:

Kovancılar Kaymakamlığı

Kriz Merkezi

Kovancılar /ELAZIĞ/TURKEY

Tel:        +90-424-611-7679

                +90-424-611-3001

+90-532-788-3047

As Turkish Philanthropy Funds, we won’t be collecting relief products in the US.  If you would like to send money  from the US to support the disaster relief efforts, please call us at 1.646.530.8988.

Visit TPF's website.

Seasonal Migrant Workers Youth Program Successfully Completed!

TPF Grantee Dr. Zeynep Simsek's project "Seasonal Migrant Workers Youth Program" supported through the Sabanci Foundation Grant Program of the UN Joint Program to Promote and Protect Human Rights of Women and Girls has recently been completed. The purpose of the project was to reduce social exclusion of seasonal migrant workers from the rest of society through the training of 25 peer leaders in a five-day workshop. The participants in the training were then asked to relay the information they have learned to at least 25 other peers in their communities so as to create a multiplier effect.

The project was successfully completed and here are some remarks the participants had to say about the program and how it impacted their lives:

"In the morning when I saw the bus that would take us to the training my excitement doubled. I had never entered into a university before. The trainers met us, some of the students were looking around in awe. I asked myself, "What am I doing here?" When I met the trainers, my shyness and anxiety went away with their attention and interaction with us. They gave us so much value that I was beginning to see myself valued as well. Until now I had been a shy person. After this training I have become more sociable. Today is the last day, everything will be different from now on."

"This training has increased my self-confidence. We learned side by side the things men and women need to know. The boys and girls, we got along so well. We spoke about the things we couldn't even tell our doctors. We learned."

"If I had known studying would be this beneficial for me, I would have never dropped out of school. It is never too late to turn back."

"I didn’t know half the things we learned in this training, now I know. 25 people means 25 generations."

"When we first came on the first day all the boys and girls sat apart from each other like we were enemies. How could I have known that mixing up with them would have been a good feeling. Living together like brother and sister is a great thing."

"We didn't get training in this program, we became a family and learned about respect, love and brotherhood. How did all of this happen in five days? On the first day I didn't know anything and I was afraid to speak or hear but now I am telling others. My friends started telling me "Songul, where did you learn all these things! Oh my god!" and I replied "I learned and taught you, now you tell others: for you to be healthy, your environment must be healthy". These days were my best days ever."

"The biggest problem of Sanliurfa is family planning. No one knows about it. My sister has 5 children, all girls. She gets pregnant before she stops breast feeding the newborn so that she can have a boy. It's all ignorance. I wish everyone could go through this kind of training. I understand girls better now."

"We asked my father, why did you have so many children. He said from ignorance, we didn't know what to do and we were embarrassed to ask or talk about it."

"This empty sheet is filled with thousands of girls’ cries for help. When you gave it to me it was clean, and I was sick of everything in life, including myself. When I was little, I wanted to become a teacher but because I was a girl, they allowed only my brother to go to school but he dropped out. I don't want my life to be like my mother's. I expressed my cries for help here, until this day I never told anyone these things before."

"Now I say no to male-female inequality. Man and woman are both humans."

"We learned about our rights in this training. We learned what a man is, what a woman is.We learned enough information to last us a lifetime. I wish the program was not just 5 days but 1 month."

"She was one of the unfortunate women of Southeastern Turkey. In that region, loving someone, running away from home and not listening to your family means death. The things that we live are all ignorance. But we will overcome this ignorance with the help of people like you. The solution is for the tribal system to be gotten rid of. Its not too late for anything."

Read more about the project here.

Scholarship Program with Toplum Gonulluleri Vakfi (TOG)

TPF's Scholarship Program with Toplum Gonullueri Vakfi (TOG) was all about giving back and a need to level the playing field.


Nick Porcaro's speech inspired guests and showed that "everyone can be a philanthropist." Nick said:

"Through a friend I met Ibrahim Betil who had built the ENKA School in Adapazari and who offered to introduce me to the Sakarya Governor. After that fateful visit Caykisla never left my focus. However, completion of the funding was still the issue and it was not progressing as planned. I started to think that we should put this project on the shelf until the economic crisis passes or we should aim at a lesser target. Certainly 2008 - 2009 were not the best years to be seeking funds to build a school. But the sparkle my wife Ayse and I saw in the eyes of the children of Caykisla during that visit in July 2008 would not let go nor would the thought of these children spending another ten years in their expired temporary school structure. We needed to make it happen."

Nick & Ayse Porcaro's dedication and commitment show that "DAMLAYA DAMLAYA GOL OLUR." That is the way Caykisla got built. From the student who could only donate $5, a company who gave $130,000 and from all the drops and the cups and the pales in between, slowly a realization happened. And, as of February 8, 2010 first classes took place at the new CAYKISLA School.

Yusuf Guvenc and Burcu Haylaz from Toplum Gonulluleri Vakfi (TOG) showed us all how we must teach the younger generations by word and deed. Rhetoric will not make the changes happen. And, that we must lead by example. Their examples show us that TOG Scholarships have been making a difference in the lives of young people. Watch what scholarship recipients have to say about their experiences.