Giving back to community
Several Estonian founders have founded or supported projects which solve various social challenges by sharing their knowledge or funding with a wider goal of giving back to community.
Several Estonian founders have founded or supported projects which solve various social challenges by sharing their knowledge or funding with a wider goal of giving back to community.
- The lack of appeal of the profession of teaching as the average age of teachers is constantly increasing.
- Quality of school leadership (recruitment, leadership, culture and goal setting; empowering parents board).
- The youth drop-out rate after the mandatory level (9 years); not graduating from the next education level.
- The low levels of STEAM skills acquired from school.
Founders: Taavet Hinrikus ja Martin Villig and supporters from Founders Society: Alari Aho, Ahti Heinla, Martin Henk, Taavet Hinrikus, Norris Koppel, Martin Rand, Risto Rossar, Tõnu Runnel, Ragnar Sass, Martin Tajur, Sten Tamkivi, Priit Vaikmaa.
Private donations: 3 million Euros
kood/Jõhvi is a new generation self-study and platform based coding school for adults. The school opened in Jõhvi in autumn 2021 and currently teaches ca 350 students per year.
In addition to offering IT learning and developing top professionals, the school aims to develop local business and create new jobs in the area. The establishment of the school offers relief to the shortage of thousands of software developers in Estonia and offers an innovative solution alongside the promotion of mainstream schools and education, contributing to the internationalization of the region and the development of digital competences.
Founders: Taavet Hinrikus, Marek Kiisa, Mari-Liis Kitter, Maarja Pehk, Merlin Seeman, Rainer Sternfeld, Ede Tamkivi ja Martin Villig + supported by society members: Ahti Heinla, Martin Henk, Magnus Hiie, Taavet Hinrikus, Märt Kelder, Kristjan Maruste, Carlos Paniagua, Andrus Purde, Martin Rand, Rainer Sternfeld, Sten Tamkivi, Taavi Tamkivi, Jaanus Tamm, Priit Vaikmaa, Martin Villig, Markus Villig.
Private donations: 5 million Euros
Eesti 2.0 is an NGO to inspire students to choose more tech related careers by introducing and joining various technology projects and bootcamps.
Eesti 2.0 aims to bring more practical STEAM activities to Estonian schools, by offering different tools and curriculum materials. Eesti 2.0 has supported ca 42 000 students in 80 Estonian schools.
Founders and supporters: Hardi Meybaum, Rainer Sternfeld, Ede Schank Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus, Markus Villig, Kaarel Kotkas jpt.
Noore Õpetlase Stipendium
Scholarship of Young Teachers (SYT) is an initiative by Estonian founders, Ministry of Education and Archimedes Foundation to annually give out scholarships to young and talented students for studing in global top universities. Each year 20 students can get 4000 Euro scholarships and total over 200 students have been supported over 10 years.
Founders and supporters: Tõnu Pekk, Taavet Hinrikus, Kristo Käärmann, Ahti Heinla, Sten Tamkivi etc.
Private donations: 400,000 Euros
Nature has formulated several principles that are familiar in business, but perhaps even less common in environmental projects, such as:
- We are always positive, happy and show good solutions for nature
- We focus on doing things that protect nature as quickly as possible, not talking
- We offer solutions for positive change and implement them ourselves
- We act fast, always experiment and learn from it
- We are measurable, goal-oriented and analysis-oriented
Private and society member donations: +50K euros
www.worldcleanup.org
www.teeme2008.ee
Let’s Do It World is a global movement where more than 180 countries have cleaned trash within their countries.
1st "Let's Do It" actvities started in Estonia in 2008, where more than 50K Estonians volunteered and came out one Satruday to clean Estonian forests and other locations. Startup like initiative was started by Rainer Nõlvak and software for trash mapping was written by volunteers lead by Ahti Heinla.
Founders and supporters: Rainer Nõlvak, Eva Truuverk, Ahti Heinla, Juha Olavi Korhonen, Vambola Moldov etc.
Museum of Occupations and Freedom Vabamu is a place that tells the story of the Estonian people from occupations to freedom, inspires people to keep and stand for freedom. We educate, involve and encourage Estonian people and visitors to think about the recent past, to feel the fragility of freedom and to stand for freedom and justice.
There have been many oppressed peoples and occupied countries in world history, but the story of Estonian rebirth stands out among them: a closed Soviet state and a developed digital society. With the exposition opened in 2018 and the growing list of side activities, Vabamu also makes sense of the personal, creative, free speech, business and other freedoms that enabled this turn.
Founders and Supporters: Olga Kistler-Ritso, Sylvia & Andy Thompson, Mike Keller + Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus, Andrus Purde jt.
Private donations: 4+ million euros
Robotex is Estonian based, but globally operating foundation to promote engineering and robotics. Robotex International is biggest global robotics fair foudned in 2001.
As of 2020 Robotex pre-events have taken place in 9 countries, including Armenia, China, India, Colombia, Greece, Cypros, South Korea, Finland and Turkey.
Supporters: Ahti Heinla, Mart Laul, Sander Gansen jt.
Estonian Student Satellite Foundation supports space technology research and development in Estonia, initiates and participates in space missions, and supports the launch of satellites or parts thereof developed in Estonia into space.
Foundation supports the training of future space scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs, providing students with practical experience in the development of space technology. The activities of the foundation are intended to contribute to the space discoveries of humanity.
The ESTCube-1 satellite has been in orbit on our planet for over 7 years, the ESTCube-2 satellite will be launched into orbit in 2021.
Supporters from our society: Priit Salumaa, Ahti Heinla, jpt
Private donations: 130,000+ euros
Solaride is a non-profit student project that brings together students from all Estonian universities to give them a unique experience, increase their knowledge and bring the Estonian renewable energy sector to the world map. Solaride team has more than 70 people to build a solar powered electic far for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The car will have power capacity of just two teapots which should drive over 3000 kilometers of ultra hot Australian terrain at an average speed of 95km/h. The goal is to finish the competition in 2021 and win the race in 2023.
Supporters: Priit Salumaa, Kristjan Maruste, Martin Villig, Ragnar Sass, Martin Henk etc.
Tamkivi Science Fundation
Tamkivi Science Foundation is a fund operating under the Estonian National Culture Foundation (ERKF), aiming to support the studies and research work of young Estonian scientists. The Tamkivi Science Foundation has been operating since 2013. The foundation was founded in 2012 by the family, friends and the Tallinn Rotary Club in memory of the father and son, Paul and Raivo Tamkivi, who left us at short intervals.
Master's and doctoral students whose research field is real or natural sciences in a broader sense are invited to submit scholarship applications to the ERKF. In the case of equal candidates, preference will be given to physics (especially energy), mathematics, medicine (especially cancer research), engineering and computer science, and to candidates with a significant international dimension.
Founders and supporters: Sten Tamkivi, Alar Tamkivi, Taavi Tamkivi + Rain Rannu, Anton Litvinenko, Taavet Hinrikus, Kristjan Lepik, jpt.
Private donations: 70,000 Euros
Math textbook
With the math "evening textbook", we would like to make math easier and more interesting for everyone. The evening textbook supports school lessons and a real math textbook, but is also suitable for everyone else who would like to discover or rediscover mathematics on their own.
Here you will find various intuitive explanations of each topic and concept mentioned in the syllabus of the most important high school, as well as their history, interesting facts and applications. It is one of the best-selling popular science books in Estonia. In addition, the Math Evening Textbook can be downloaded free of charge from the book's website.
Authors: Juhan Aru, Kristjan Korjus, Elis Saar