About Us

HIGGS is the 1st Incubator & Accelerator for Non-profit Organizations (NPOs) in Greece. It was founded in 2015, aiming to reinforce non-profit organizations, through capacity building (training, mentoring, networking, surveys and events). HIGGS provides the organizations with the necessary skills, tools, knowledge and support, in order to operate effectively to the full of their capacity and maximize their social impact.

HIGGS main capacity-building programs, are the Accelerator and the Incubator. The “Accelerator” is a program, which lasts for 6 months, designed for small and medium-sized NPOs that require support in developing a project proposal for funding, in implementing projects as well as in creating a business plan.
The “Incubator” is a program, which lasts for 12 to 24 months, directed to newly established NPOs or to groups of people that have an idea for setting up a new NPO. It provides capacity building support and guidance related to organizational, financial and operational issues experienced by Greek organizations. 16 NGOs have participated in this program.

Both programs offer training on the following thematic areas:
Volunteer Management, Marketing Techniques, Digital Footprint-Social Media, Funding Sources, Project Life Cycle, Designing a Project, Proposal Writing, Project Implementation, Project Monitoring Techniques and Funding from International Donors-European Funds etc.

Since 2016, HIGGS has offered capacity building to 121 greek NPOs and 228 staff members.

Vision

Our philosophy and the way we plan and implement all our initiatives and programs are driven by the principles of philanthropy, solidarity, cooperation and trust. Our vision is that HIGGS evolves into a hub of creativity and open dialogue aiming to promote collaboration and innovation in the NGO ecosystem as well as to provide a meeting place for all interested parties, both literally and symbolically. We believe in the power of ordinary people who have good intentions, nice ideas, and willingness to make a valuable contribution to our society. We want to help them become better, we want to help those who help!

Why HIGGS

Our name comes from the exciting world of physics, the Higgs boson, named after Peter Higgs. The famous experiment in CERN aimed to show that there is no void in space and any small power generates energy, movement, new “invisible” forces. This is how we were inspired to use HIGGS (Higher Incubator Giving Growth and Sustainability). This is the purpose of HIGGS, to mobilize the “invisible” forces in the NGO ecosystem in Greece, to stimulate ideas, people and organizations, to activate initiatives.