Zdeněk and Michaela Bakala have donated nearly 75 million Czech crowns through their foundation over the past 10 years, providing funding to more than 50 organizations and individuals across a wide range of fields including education, culture and healthcare.
The Bakala Foundation’s motto is “Education is the best investment” and that is why it mainly focuses on furthering the education and skills of students. The Foundation supported the high school debate competition The Student Agora, an international conference on oral history IOHA (the International Oral Hygiene Association) and the emergence of the think tank IDEA for the promotion of free academic research at Czech think tank CERGE. It has also co-funded the project Better School for All, which aims to help teachers reach disadvantaged children. The Bakalas have contributed to the reconstruction of schools in Ostrava city and the town of Odry and co-funded a number of other projects focused on education.
Michaela and Zdenek Bakala also contribute to DOX Center for Contemporary Arts, and have supported the Strings of Autumn, Ostrava Days, Trutnoff and NODO festivals.
The Foundation also contributes in the area of healthcare. It helped purchase equipment for the diagnosis of pulmonary disease, used in the Na Homolce Hospital in Prague. It helped finance therapeutic aids for disabled children and helps fund long-term remedial stays for adults with disabilities. The Foundation also supports Church parishes and has helped pay for the restoration of the organ at Prague’s Church of St Salvator, the reconstruction of the pilgrimage site at Prague’s Church of Our Lady Victorious and the completion of the training center at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ostrava-Zábřeh.
