CF2CF exchanges are designed to improve participants’ understanding of other European communities and the work of community foundations by visiting these regions, entering into a fruitful dialogue, learning from each others’ experience and building long-term professional relations and friendships. CF2CF exchanges have the following characteristics:

Number of participants:  Groups of approx. 3-5 people are normally invovled in an exchange OR for 'joint work' numbers can vary according to learning objectives.

Eligible applicants:  Both the applicant and the partner can be located in any European country, applying organization may be only an organization located in a member country in a broader sense of Europe as a shared cultural and geographical space. 

Reciprocal approach: As is typical for an exchange, the learning results are mutual. When possible, we encourage therefore reciprocal visits where the first visit from country A to country B will be followed by a return visit from country B to country A. 

Repeated visits: A CF2CF Exchange is not limited to one time per year and can be repeated within the same exchange agreement.

Emphasis on practice: Participants are community foundation or community foundation support organization practitioners – staff, board members, founders or volunteers.  

Personal initiative: Participating CFs or CFSOs have to decide on a suitable partner themselves. ECFI team can help in identifying possible partners using its networks and contacts.

Reporting:  Program and financial report are required two months after the completion of the final exchange. Please check some example reports posted as a source of inspiration and quality standard. Commitment to communicate on the exchange using variety of media (video, photo, blogs) and channels is strongly encouraged.

The CF2CF exchange on the average lasts 3–5 days, but is not limited to this. We encourage applicants to be creative and make their own suggestions. Likewise, co-funding suggestions are welcome, since the programme can offer a maximum contribution of EUR 4,000 per application.

Cultural differences need to be considered. There also has to be a common language (not necessarily English) that everyone involved knows sufficiently well. Participants are encouraged to communicate about their activities via video blogs, pictures, Twitter or other social media.