How the foundation is structured, and held accountable.
We handle sensitive financial records, psychological assessments, and the personal data of minors. These are the rules we hold ourselves to.
Legal framework
The foundation is established as a Non-Profit Public Benefit Organization (ЮЛНЦ в обществена полза) in compliance with Bulgarian legislation.
The Board of Trustees
Up to five members. The Board meets quarterly, holds fiduciary responsibility, approves annual budgets, and retains final veto power over scholarship lists. It also manages daily operations, reviews anonymised dossiers, conducts interviews, and ranks applicants against the Tri-Arch Framework.
Financial vetting and disbursement
Every applicant’s need is assessed through the Financial Difficulties Index — net family income per capita compared against 1.5× the national financial difficulties threshold, adjusted for medical debt, cost of living, and single-parent or orphaned status.
Funds are never disbursed as unrestricted cash. Tuition is wired directly to schools and universities; stipends are loaded onto a restricted, foundation-issued card mapped to approved merchant categories only.
Data security, privacy, and GDPR compliance
We keep only what we must
Financial tracking documents are destroyed 12 months after a student exits the selection phase or the programme, retaining only anonymised data for statistical reporting.
Records are partitioned
All applicant dossiers are encrypted on a secure server. The selection panel cannot view financial files, and financial auditors cannot view personal or psychological reflections.
Processing is consented and revocable
Applicants and their guardians consent in writing under GDPR before any data is processed, and may request access to, correction of, or erasure of their personal data at any time.
Two lines we do not cross.
We never use a minor scholar’s real name or face in public fundraising materials without explicit, psychologically informed counselling and parental consent. We use composite case studies or pseudonyms instead.
The foundation funds education, not the entire family ecosystem. Funds cannot be diverted to cover household debts unrelated to the child’s development.
Ongoing accountability
We do not abandon our scholars, nor do we write blank cheques. Every six months, scholars submit a Semester Growth Portfolio: an official academic transcript, a 1,000-word reflective journal, and a signed log of 20 hours of peer mentorship or community service.
If academic standing drops or a scholar faces a personal crisis, the Safety-Net Probation Protocol begins with intervention and mentorship, continues through a supported probation period with funding intact, and ends in a formal review. Funding is only ever revoked by majority Board vote, and only after support has been tried first.
Month one — intervention
The scholar is assigned a dedicated senior mentor and a psychologist, and a tailored recovery plan is designed.
Months two to six — supported probation
Funding continues. The scholar’s effort and emotional wellbeing are tracked monthly.
The review
If progress is made, probation is lifted. Only in cases of sustained disengagement or ethical misconduct is funding permanently revoked, by majority vote of the Board of Trustees.