The 2022 Learning Lab group consists three CFs and CFSOs practitioners Iwona Olkowicz from the Federation of Community Foundations in Poland,  Zuzanna Komornicka, the Snow Mountain Community Foundation in Poland and Elena de Carandini Raventós,  the Raimat Lleida Community Foundation in Spain. 

The ECFI Learning Lab is a distance learning program available to practitioners from the CF field in Europe who are interested in advancing their development work skills through individual engagement with a CF field relevant topic and regular interaction with their peers and the program staff. The 2022 Learning Lab is focused on the topic of SDGs. Collaborators have been selected via an open application process in the Spring 2022 and their engagement in the Lab lasts until end of December. In combination they bring to the table variety of experiences, skills and backgrounds in community development, philanthropy promotion, social work and business administration.

Iwona Olkowicz, Poland
Federation of Community Foundations in Poland

Iwona has been a Board Member of the Federation of Community Foundations since 2018. She has been involved in the community foundation field since 1998, initially as the coordinator in the Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland. She coordinates a project aiming to develop the Federation. She is also involved in a local NGO that promotes youth participation in primary schools in north-eastern Poland.

In the Learning Lab, Iwona will focus on implementing the SDGs in the strategic management and communication of the Federation as well as anchoring them in member standards and internal mechanisms. The question that Iwona seeks answers to is 'How to adapt the internal mechanisms and management methods of the organisation to effectively implement the SDGs?'

Zuzanna Komornicka, Poland

Communication & PR Specialist 
The Snow Mountain Community Foundation 
The Federation of Community Foundation in Poland

For 15 years Zuza has been educating, delivering creative solutions, connecting people and building cross-sectoral partnerships. She works as a project coordinator, marketing strategist, certified trainer, university lecturer, and collective impact enabler. She creates and is involved in many projects, movements and workshops that engage and support the NGO sector, business leaders, policymakers and the academic community. Most of those initiatives focus on her specialization: marketing and promotion, design thinking, and social entrepreneurship. In 2009 she participated in the Emerging Leaders International Fellows Program at The City University of New York.

In the Learning Lab, Zuza wants to find answers on how to create a dynamic and effective ecosystem on shared values, sustainable development goals. A system involving all actors including NGOs, businesses, local governments and media.

Elena de Carandini Raventós, Spain

President of the Raimat Lleida Community Foundation 

Elena de Carandini is an entrepreneur with experience in the ecosystem of Social Impact, Innovation and Sustainability, managed from businesses and the third sector. Elena has a strong strategic and proactive vision on how to create synergies and alliances so that projects are born, evolve and multiply their economic, social and environmental impact. She declares herself a fan of the #17 SDG of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, focused on the creation of alliances.

Elena will explore how the SDGs offers a framework for action for the Raimat Lleida Foundation to connect with local action and improve the impact of the foundation in the community and which contribute to revitalizing the territory in a sustainable and resilient way.