Welcome

Who is the HRF

The ESA Humanitarian Relief Fund is an initiative taken by ESA employees . The Fund was founded in 1979 and is affiliated with the Social, Sport and Cultural Committee (SSCC) in ESTEC, but is not part of the corporate organisation. The Fund is fed with voluntary contributions from ESA employees, families and friends.

The ESA Humanitarian Relief Fund was originally known as the Natural Disaster Fund with the initial objective of providing immediate and direct funds to victims of natural disasters. In 2009 the name and objectives of the Fund were amended to allow to support a broader scope of relief projects encouraging auto sufficiency, like building schools, supporting educational programmes, hospitals or housing projects, while maintaining .

Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

How HRF works

The ESA HRF has a committee of about ten ESA employees who manage the Fund (voluntary and in their free time) by reviewing help requests and granting donations. One of the great benefits of participating to this ESA-wide initiative is that your contribution will not be anonymously left on the big pile of the larger charitable organisations. We strive to, within the available funds, to select sustainable projects that encourage autonomy of the affected groups. We seek smaller projects with local management and with mínimum overheads. In this way, it is possible for the organisation to report back to the committee and explain how the money was used. Such reports are published in our newsletters to explain how contributors' donations were spent. The donations for natural disasters are granted to well-established relief organisations that have the size and logistic capabilities to quickly react.

Follow these HRF activities in Facebook

How to participate

You can help by becoming a regular contributor making regular contributions (eg monthly transfers) to the HRF fund account and if possible also joining the Committee voluntary work to help manage the Fund. All donations, occasional or regular are welcome. Often the Fund receive collects from special occasions like birthdays or farewell parties. The HRF Committee promotes regularly the HRF and initiates special events in ESTEC to collect extra funds, plus it participates also in events from the SSCC in one of the ESA sites.

Please get in contact with the HRF Committee if you are interested and want to participate in one way or another.

If you wish to contribute in the form of single or regular donations, click here for information.