FUNDATIA THE OPEN NETWORK FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Their core work

FUNDATIA T.O.N. is a Romanian civil society organisation based in Iași that works on social inclusion, community dialogue, and communication around migration and integration. In EU research projects they contribute local community engagement capacity, facilitate multiperspective dialogue between different social groups, and apply art-based methods to bring research findings to non-academic audiences. Their work sits at the intersection of civil society advocacy, narrative communication, and participatory research methodology. In practice they function as the partner that grounds academic research in real community contexts, particularly providing an Eastern European civil society perspective that most research consortia lack.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (RE-InVEST, 2015-2019) the organisation worked on broad themes of social investment, solidarity, and inclusive European values — foundational civil society work with no specialist focus visible in the keyword data. By 2021, with OPPORTUNITIES, their focus sharpened considerably toward migration communication: narrative dynamics, social media attitudes, multiperspective storytelling, and art-based dissemination. The shift suggests a deliberate move from general social inclusion advocacy toward specialist expertise in how migration stories are told, framed, and received across European publics.

This organisation is moving toward a specialist role in migration communication and narrative methodology — a growing area given EU policy pressure on integration, making them a likely fit for future projects at the intersection of media literacy, migration policy, and participatory research.

How they like to work

FUNDATIA T.O.N. has participated in EU projects exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with a small NGO contributing specific civil society access and community engagement capacity to larger research consortia led by universities or think tanks. Their 28 unique partners across 13 countries from just two projects indicates they join sizeable, internationally diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral collaborations. Working with them means gaining an Eastern European civil society voice and community reach in Romania, not a project management lead.

Despite only two projects, FUNDATIA T.O.N. has collaborated with 28 unique partners across 13 countries, reflecting the broad multi-country consortia typical of P3 Society RIA calls. Their network likely spans Western and Southern Europe given the social policy focus of both projects, while they themselves anchor the Eastern European civil society node.

What sets them apart

FUNDATIA T.O.N. offers something genuinely scarce in EU research consortia: a practice-oriented civil society organisation from Eastern Romania that can mobilise local communities, run participatory dialogue, and translate academic research into art-based formats for non-academic audiences. For projects on migration, integration, or social cohesion that need credible non-institutional voices from Eastern Europe, this organisation fills a role that universities and think tanks cannot. Their methodology around multiperspectivity and Level Telling — structured approaches to fair narrative and equal voice — is a differentiator in an otherwise crowded social science landscape.

Highlights from their portfolio

• OPPORTUNITIES
  Their largest and most recent project, with a distinctive methodological focus on narrative dynamics, social media attitudes, and multiperspective storytelling around migration — demonstrating a sophisticated and current communication methodology.
• RE-InVEST
  Their entry into H2020 research collaboration, contributing to a European-wide study on social investment and solidarity that established their credentials as a civil society partner in P3 Society research.