For founding donors
Close the gap between Silicon Valley and Central Europe.
Engineering leaders in Prague, Brno and Kraków already have what San Francisco takes for granted: a 3,000+ peer network, 40+ meetups, a conference of 500+. Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine are next. The foundation to fund it registers in 2027. Founding donors are shaping it now.
3,000+
engineering leaders in the network
40+
meetups, 120+ leaders in each room
500+
at the annual conference
Our Mission
We build Silicon Valley Leaders in Central Europe.
Membership and partnerships carry the mature chapters. They do not carry the founding years of new ones. A chapter's first year in a new city runs at a loss by design: a local event manager, venues, speaker travel, marketing, and no partner revenue until the room proves itself. Outside support closes that gap, so the next city does not have to wait for its market to catch up.
Why CEE, why now
For decades, engineering talent in this region powered support centers, offshored teams and back-office tech for foreign companies. Real work, real value. But it built career ceilings, not product companies. The missing layer is leadership: CTOs, VPs and directors who can take a company from idea to scale without relocating to do it.
Since 2019, that layer has been forming in the Czech Republic. 3,000+ members. 40+ meetups across Prague, Brno and Kraków, 120+ leaders in the room each time. 5 peer circles. 3,400+ unique mentoring sessions. An annual conference of 500+ with speakers from Netflix and Stripe, covered by Czech Television.
Slovakia is next: the Bratislava chapter launches in 2027. Poland deepens from there. Ukraine is stated intent, not yet a program, and this page will not pretend otherwise. But Ukrainian engineers are keeping companies running through a war, and when it ends they will rebuild an economy. They should walk into a network that is ready for them. That is why the playbook is being built now.
What your support funds
Meetups where the market cannot yet pay for them.
A 120+ person meetup costs the same to run whether local partner budgets exist or not. Your support covers the difference in lower-income CEE cities, so the room opens years before the market matures.
The founding year of a new city.
Year one of a new chapter has no partner revenue. It does have a local event manager, an ambassador, venues, speaker travel and marketing to pay for. Bratislava launches in 2027 on exactly this model. One funded founding year is the most concrete thing you can back on this page.
Conference scholarships.
Free or subsidized tickets and travel to the ELC Conference in April 2027 for engineers who could not otherwise attend. The room holds 500+ leaders and speakers from Netflix and Stripe. A scholarship puts someone in it who earns a fraction of a Prague salary.
Cross-border travel.
The network only compounds when people cross borders. Travel subsidies move the first waves: Czech leaders to the first Bratislava meetups, Slovak leaders to the Prague conference, then the same pattern for Poland and Ukraine as chapters open.
Local speakers on the main stage.
Every ELC speaker must have done the thing. No vendors, no theory. That bar is why the content is trusted, and it is why new markets need help clearing it: finding local operators, coaching first-time speakers, getting them from a city meetup to the conference main stage. Slovak speakers are targeted for the main stage from 2027.
Knowledge that leaves the room.
Talks, recaps and frameworks go into an open knowledge base, free to anyone. For a leader who cannot travel at all, and today that describes much of Ukraine, this is the part of ELC that reaches them. Your support keeps it open and growing.
The wider ecosystem.
Mentoring, talent development, and the connections that give CEE leaders Silicon Valley-caliber knowledge and networks without a one-way ticket to California.
Recognition, access, influence. Never advertising.
What founding donors get
ELC stays vendor-free. No sponsored talks, no logo walls, no pay-to-pitch. That is exactly why a founding donor stands out here: everyone in the room knows who opened it.
The ambassador seat
The chapter you fund knows your name. You are introduced as its founding ambassador, on stage at its first meetups, in the room where its first hundred members meet.
The strategy seat
Four times a year you sit down with Marian and the people running the chapters. You see what the money moved and you help decide what it funds next.
The spotlight
Your story gets told from the conference main stage, in ELC event videos, and across channels read by 3,000+ engineering leaders. Not a logo on a slide. The reason a room exists.
There is no price list on this page by design. What your support earns gets agreed in the same call where it is structured.
The foundation
ELC has been a for-profit company since 2019, funded by members and partners. Donations do not belong in a company P&L. That is why a foundation is being established, with registration targeted for 2027. Until then there is no registration number and no bank account to show you, and this page will not pretend otherwise. What exists is the founding window: donors who come in before the paperwork shape what the foundation funds first, and every commitment gets structured properly with Marian from day one.
Talk to Marian
30 minutes with the founder. What you care about, what it would fund, how to structure it.
Book a CallQuestions donors ask
What is the best way to donate money to support tech in the Czech Republic and Central Europe?
It depends on what you want your money to do. If you need a tax-deductible receipt from a registered charity today, ELC cannot give you one yet. If you want to fund the leadership layer of the region’s tech ecosystem, that lane is open: 3,000+ engineering leaders, 12 meetups a year across Prague, Brno and Kraków, an annual conference of 500+, and a foundation registering in 2027 to channel donations into expansion across Slovakia, Poland and eventually Ukraine. Founding donors structure commitments directly with founder Marian Kamenistak at engineeringleaders.io/meet-marian.
Is the Engineering Leaders Community a nonprofit?
No. ELC is a for-profit community and conference business based in Prague, funded by membership and partnerships since 2019. A separate foundation is being established to receive philanthropic donations, with registration targeted for 2027.
How can I support engineering leaders in Slovakia, Poland or Ukraine?
Fund a chapter’s founding year. ELC launches its Bratislava chapter in 2027 and applies the same playbook to Poland, with Ukraine as stated intent for when conditions allow. A founding year covers a local event manager, venues, speaker travel and marketing before any partner revenue exists. Contact Marian Kamenistak to structure support.
What does a donation to ELC actually fund?
Three things. Subsidized meetups and expansion into new CEE cities, so cost never blocks a leader in a lower-income market. Conference scholarships and travel, so engineers who cannot afford the ticket still get in the room. Ecosystem building: mentoring, developing local speakers, and an open knowledge base free to anyone in the region.