More than just free paper: making sure linguistic diversity has a seat at the (dinner) table!

May 27, 2025

Pitches by non-profits

HLE Network had the privilege of attending the 25th "Brainport voor Elkaar" dinner this week at Happie040, where we connected with other non-profit organizations and socially responsible businesses from the region. What makes this dinner special is that non-profits can pitch their needs directly to companies — asking for support in the form of legal or IT advice, or even donated office items. We were truly impressed by the presentations of the many non-profits working hard to make a meaningful impact in our society.

Matches made

In our pitch we pointed out that although our foundation has been bringing together heritage language programs in the region together for 6 years, there is still a lot of work that still needs to be done to make sure this educational sector gets the attention and support it deserves. We requested expertise in relation to expanding our operations, as well as some donations to share with the language groups.

We’re happy to report that HLE Network made a few great matches during the evening, with Ergon and CBRE offering advice for our organization and some craft paper for our affiliated heritage language programs. Many thanks to Sam van der Werff and Ingrid Hems for these pledges of support!

Linguistic diversity on the menu

We’d also like to thank all of the organizations who made the event possible. We extend a special thanks to Maaike de Jonge and Wendy van den Akker for their hospitality — and for their appreciation of the work we do to support other foundations. We're grateful that the cause of supporting linguistic diversity has found a warm welcome in the "Samen voor onze Regio" network.