Stará škola café saved: how Elpida raised CZK 750,000 in just a few days thanks to a huge wave of support

For more than 22 years, the nonprofit organization Elpida has been helping seniors lead active, meaningful lives. It runs educational centers, the Linka seniorů senior helpline and the well-known social enterprise Ponožky od babičky (Socks from Grandma). Last year it opened the Stará škola (Old School) café in Prague's Smíchov district, where the bar and the kitchen are staffed exclusively by seniors. When it became clear this spring that the café could not survive without help from the public, Elpida launched a fundraiser on Darujme.cz. The result? An incredible CZK 750,000 raised in just a few days. We talked to Elpida's PR manager Iveta Čížová about how the fundraiser reached such a wonderful result and why the seniors in the café are bursting with energy.

Iveta, let me start by quoting the seniors who work in your Stará škola café.

"Right now this job is my top priority in life," says Marie from behind the bar.

"I'd rot at home, because you can't just keep painting window frames or riding your bike forever," adds Jiří.

"My dream has already come true, I've found a friend here," calls Jana, the baker, from the kitchen.

It seems that working at Stará škola means a great deal to the seniors involved. How exactly does working with you help them? (We'd love to hear a specific story, too 😊).

Exactly. Among others, we employ seniors who live alone. It matters to them that somebody is counting on them. The turning point often comes with retirement – suddenly you have no obligations, you drop out of your daily routine and you realize that work was also what gave you enough social contact. That is precisely the point at which seniors come to Elpida and take an interest in our activities and courses.

Thanks to the Stará škola café, we can now offer them a place to put their skills to use, a friendly team, plenty of new things to learn and, on top of that, contact with customers of different generations. They know they have a shift twice a week and that they will be among people whose day they are trying to brighten. Some of them have become friends and spend their free time together, too.

I can tell you more about Marie, whom you quoted. She used to work as an assistant. The turning point in her life was an unwanted and unplanned retirement. That was when she realized how badly loneliness and the total lack of contact with people affected her. Working in the café changed her life – right now it is her priority, and everyone there does what they can. She, for instance, regularly brings fresh mint from the farmers. Her son doesn't say much, but she thinks he is pleased and proud of her.

This job gives her the chance to meet lots of people. Everyone is understanding and waits for their coffee and cake with a smile, because – let's be honest – the preparation does take a little longer than they are used to elsewhere. And when someone tells her how much they enjoyed it, it is a real balm for her soul.

A café staffed exclusively by seniors sounds like a beautiful idea. What inspired you to open it? And what has been the hardest part from the start?

Elpida has been here for seniors for more than 20 years. In everything we do, seniors play the leading role. We say that we are changing the way people see old age, but at the same time we are looking for the ways in which old age shines. That is how our first social project, Ponožky od babičky, came about. Back then we started from what senior women are great at and what other generations appreciate (it has to be said that Elpida is so far visited mostly by women of senior age).

It is exactly the same with the café. We are convinced that everything just tastes better at Grandma's and Grandpa's. This project depended on having the right premises, which is why we started thinking about it seriously in 2021, when the whole of Elpida moved to Anděl in Prague. And we missed having honest cakes and a café with a cozy atmosphere there.

We jumped in head first. Thanks to our enthusiasm, we didn't let ourselves admit that the hardest part is absolutely everything. 😊

We don't know how it would have turned out if Tomáš Karpíšek from Ambiente had not offered to help in the first phase. That was a crucial moment, thanks to which we have professional equipment and expert training. At the same time, it is a specific concept and it was not easy to fill the position of café manager. We fine-tuned the length of the shifts and there was a lot of trial and error. The seniors you can see behind the bar today had never been touched by the world of specialty coffee and how it is made. The first months of training were demanding. Today they draw little hearts in the coffee and we are incredibly proud.

We handled a lot of things ourselves, the interior for example.

🔷 And now to the campaign to save the café.

In the spring you launched a fundraiser on Darujme.cz that passed its CZK 700,000 goal within a few days. Did you expect such a strong wave of support? What did it mean to you?

We didn't. We knew that people enjoyed our concept and that we had already built a small community, but you still never know in advance whether they will click on the fundraiser and actively get involved. As soon as we announced that the café was in danger, it seemed we were the most important café in the world to them. Not only did people donate to the fundraiser, they actively passed it on (an Instagram post, for example, got 400 shares in two days). We received hundreds of beautiful messages. Stories about how essential the time spent in the café is to them. Even other neighboring cafés approached us wanting to help – for instance, they put up posters in their own businesses. An incredible wave of solidarity.

We were deeply moved, and it still means a lot to us. It is a huge motivation for our further work, but also a commitment.

How did you prepare the fundraiser? Did you have a well-thought-out strategy from the start, or was it more of a quick action?

For May and June we had planned to communicate the topic of employing seniors as part of the campaign

. Just before the campaign launch, there were a lot of meetings at Elpida about the budget. It was clear that the café could no longer keep running at a loss. A loss is common after opening a food business, but Elpida, as a nonprofit organization, could not afford it. We acted almost overnight, without much preparation. We knew what our concept was about and what we needed. It matched what we had prepared for the campaign, so we combined the two.

Which fundraising method (or methods) proved most effective in your case?

At the beginning we only reached out to the community on the café's Instagram account and directly in the café with flyers. These were people who knew or followed the café and knew about us. I have the feeling that they did the rest of the work for us. We bet on intensive, authentic communication – we replied to everyone and responded to how the fundraiser was developing.

We also used Elpida's other social media channels.

We were also lucky to attract the interest of the media, which actively covered the fundraiser.

Can we say that reaching the financial goal means the café is saved for good? How do you plan to work with the people who donated to the fundraiser now?

We can say that, yes. 😊 The loss has been covered and we believe we can manage from now on. Our number of visitors has grown, but we can only handle it thanks to extra staff, which means further costs. We know that we will always have to count every penny – our operation is simply a little more expensive.

We send a newsletter to the people who donated to the fundraiser. In a few days they will get, for example, a recipe for bublanina sponge cake from a grandma from Vsetín. This is how we want to stay in touch with them and keep sharing the story of the café and our team authentically. It is also a channel through which they learn about what we offer and what's new. Right now, for example, they can also support us by buying original UBABI merch.

In the campaign you worked beautifully with emotions, yet it never became mawkish. How did you think about the communication? And what, in your view, proved most effective?

Thank you. 😊 I'm probably going to annoy everyone looking for a universal recipe, but we bet on authenticity. That is how we have communicated for a long time. Humor also comes naturally to us. I think we managed to pass on to people the easygoing atmosphere they can experience with us. We didn't hold back on jokes, even though we were in danger. I assume that is what gave us a chance to stand out in the online world. We involved the seniors who work in the café. It was entirely up to them what they told us and how far they let us in. We just gave it a form.

Thanks to the Babi nebude sedět v koutě! (Grandma won't be sitting in the corner!) campaign, our communication focused heavily on the meaning of work in old age. In other words, we didn't just communicate that there is a café here that needs help; I think we also talked enough about why it makes sense and why it matters.

What was definitely crucial for the success of the fundraiser was the SOS factor – the fact that the café's very "life" was at stake. The goal was clear and everyone could picture it. Supporters can now come to the café they helped us save.

What do you think made the fundraiser resonate so strongly with the public? Was it the topic of old age, the authenticity of the project, or perhaps the visual style of the campaign?

I believe it was a mix of all of the above. It has to be said that the café is part of the nonprofit organization Elpida, which may have boosted trust in the project. At the same time, Elpida is not very active in individual fundraising – we don't systematically reach out to the public in this way – and I think that this time a fairly new group of people donated.

Perhaps our advantage was that the donors themselves benefit from the result – thanks to them, a café will survive that isn't just on Instagram and doesn't only help seniors – they can experience it all themselves, spend time with us and enjoy a great cake.

I believe the campaign visuals may have played a role, too. They were carefully thought through – they build on the year-round Babi nebude sedět v koutě! campaign and we deliberately teamed up with a young graphic designer. Thanks to the contemporary design, we may have reached a younger target group as well.

What did the success of the campaign show you about your supporters and donors? And did it change your view of fundraising in any way?

It showed us that we have managed to create a place people care about and are willing to actively do something for. They donate to the fundraiser, come to us for coffee, bring us flowers… 😊

Whether it changed our view of fundraising in any way, we haven't had time to evaluate yet – in any case, the fundraiser is still active. The target amount has been raised, but we will use every additional crown for improvements to the garden seating, better signage from the street and, looking ahead, it may even allow us to extend our opening hours.

What are your plans for Stará škola now? Are you thinking of working more with recurring donors in the future, for example?

We will do our best to make the café self-sufficient. What matters to us is that guests keep coming and are happy. That means having an offer that is attractive to them, hiring and training staff, and keeping up communication through the newsletter and Instagram, because we enjoy entertaining them. 😊 We want to strengthen additional sales (merch), organize intergenerational events and launch an e-shop where people will be able to reserve our fresh products. As far as giving is concerned, we would welcome more corporate partnerships.

On behalf of Darujme.cz, thank you for the interview.

Iveta Čížová (Elpida, o.p.s.) was interviewed by Martina Vaňková (Darujme.cz).

You can visit the Stará škola café in Prague's Smíchov district at:

Na Bělidle 34, Prague 5

Mon–Fri: 8:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m.