Dániel Szabó

Dániel is member of the Civic Enterprises Supervisory Board. As an undergraduate, he studied International Business at the Corvinus University of Budapest and currently is enrolled to the Management and Leadership Masters program. Parallel to his university studies, Dániel took part in several projects abroad: he worked in the International Atomic Energy Agency in the UN Headquarters in Vienna, Austria; he spent one semester as an exchange student at the Hautes Études Commerciales in Paris, France and assisted a strategy consulting project in Warsaw, Poland as a Visiting Associate of the Boston Consulting Group’s Budapest office.

In line with this international character, Dániel spent four months in Washington DC, where he interned at the Kauffman Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurship Week project. This one week long celebration of entrepreneurship has worldwide presence; therefore it is also organized every November in Hungary, too. Its goal is to encourage everyone to be creative, entrepreneurial and pursue their dreams via creating their own startup. Following his return from the States, Dániel shares his experience and findings about entrepreneurial culture and startup ecosystems with Hungarian youths through a number of nonprofit initiatives. He likes to spend his free time with swimming, scuba diving and traveling.

Dorottya Igricz

During my 5-month internship period with Civic Enterprises Nonprofit Organization in Budapest I was responsible for coordinating the organization’s main project, named Senior Mentor Program. The program aims to engage people over 55 to tutor students struggling with reading and learning abilities. As being in charge of the recruitment process I was conducting and evaluating interviews as well as organizing training sessions. In addition, I have assisted in launching the Senior Mentor Program in new Hungarian host institutions (e.g. in Salgotarjan) and also in Slovakia. This work experience provided me a chance to observe how the Hungarian non-profit sector works and how to foster social change by using social capital itself.

Thanks to the Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) the second part of my internship program was held in Washington, D.C. where I have spent five months and continued working with three nonprofit organizations. As the intern of HAC, besides supporting the organization’s office in D.C., I assisted in coordinating the Coalition’s Annual Gala event, honoring Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker and The Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris. I also worked with the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit educational institution dedicated to the traditional humanistic practice of architecture, urban design, and the fine arts, where I was involved with fundraising and research activities. My third host organization, the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, gave me the opportunity to support its Sustained Dialogue Campus Network program (SDCN). SDCN’s mission is to develop everyday leaders who engage differences as strengths to improve campuses, workplaces, and communities. While working for SDNC I was responsible for researching and building database of contacts. Having worked for these Washington-based non-profits was exceptional due to their outstanding working environment and vibrant community.

During these five months in Washington, D.C. I also attended several lectures and events organized by prestigious universities (e.g. Georgetown University), research institutions, and think-tanks (e.g. Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies) in the field of international relations and economy, as well as urban culture and regeneration.

Anita Böröcz

Anita is a recent graduate of Budapest Business School, she studies marketing with communications major. Du

ring her college years, she participated in summer camp programs in the United States, where she tried her hands in a diverse international environment and got acquainted with various cultures from all around the world. She also interned at Civic Enterprises, where she coordinated a mentor program, thus she had the chance to familiarize herself with business in a nonprofit set-up.

Anita is spending 5 months in Washington, DC, interning at First Book and Greater DC Cares. She will gain practical experience in marketing, communications, social media and project development. Upon her return to Hungary, Anita is planning to utilize her experience gained in the U.S. by working on event planning, communication strategies and fundraising.

In her spare time Anita likes traveling, cooking, meeting friends, but she also enjoys dancing and playing sports.


Orsolya Meleg

Orsi was interning at Civic Enterprises for a year, being the program coordinator of Senior Mentor Program starting 2008. In 2009 she went to the United States to gain experience in the NGO sector in Washington DC.
During her 5 months’ internship, she spent most of her time supporting Hungarian American Coalition’s Washington based office and its ongoing projects. She also helped organizing the Coalition’s Annual Gala, honoring former Governor George Pataki. In the second half of her stay, she also got the opportunity to be an intern at a social enterprise, Women for Women International. The organization supports women survivors of wars all over the world, providing them trainings on entrepreneurship and human rights. She was interning at the Institutional Advancement Division, working with its fundraising team.

During her time in Washington, DC she also attended several social policy, urban development and NGO management related events at distinguished think-tanks (eg. Hudson Institute, Urban Institute) and universities (eg. Johns Hopkins University), which gave her the inspiration to write her MSc thesis later on charter management organizations in the US.

Benedek Varsányi

During his stay in Washington, D.C. in autumn 2008, Benedek Varsányi was an intern at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) New European Democracies Project and Energy and National Security Program. The internship included participation in conferences, forums, research, panels, workshops. He also got an insight to the life and work of the Hungarian American communities, especially that of the Hungarian American Coalition, and experience how Hungarian Americans are conscious about their ethnic roots and cultural/community values. With the internship Benedek had the chance to follow the presidential election campaign.

The experience gained during the stay in the United States reinforced Benedek’s commitment to his work as a civil servant, as well as to engage in civic activities.

 

Péter Lányfalvi

In 2008 Peter spent five months as an intern at Community Wealth Ventures (CWV) in Washington D.C. CWV is the leading consulting firm in the U.S. for non-profit organizations and foundations. Its core service is classic business consulting, which at first glance might not seem to fit well with the non-profit sector. Many non-profit organizations however are in sever need of unrestricted revenues (funds that the management can allocate more freely without the restrictions of the donor) and often an obvious move is to open their own for-profit business ventures in order to earn such revenues for the sake of the organization’s mission. CWV is helping these organizations to leverage their existing assets and to start or expand their for-profit businesses. CWV is a boutique consulting firm with about twenty permanent staff members, where everyone’s work counts, thus Peter received responsible tasks from the beginning of his internship. Working as member of small teams, comprising of 3-4 people, he had an overview of entire projects – a not common experience for interns at larger companies.

Márton Aichelburg

Community Wealth Ventures
Washington D.C.

Social enterprise consulting

Hungarian Human Rights Foundation
New York, NY

Participated in preparing the Benefit Dinner at the Harvard Club, chair George Pataki