The Trefort-kert Foundation has been created by former and today’s directors of institute of the ELTE’s Faculty of Humanities for the purpose of developing the Faculty as a physical environment (the Trefort Garden), a center of education and research, and a spiritual community.

The Trefort-kert Foundation addresses those who wish to help to realise such goals. It is not only assisting the oldest, largest, the most diverse and the best Faculty of Humanities in Hungary according to up-to-date statistics provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture, but also promoting the training of future intellectuals, who set the example by their demand of responsibility and quality, creativity, willingness to think and act collectively.

The primary goals of the Trefort-kert Foundation are as follows:
• renovation of buildings of the Trefort Garden (the site of the Faculty),
• expanding computer network,
• developing cultural life on the campus,
• promoting mobility of students and professors, developing international contacts,
• developing communication between the Faculty and its environment,
• assisting publication for the use of Faculty students and teachers,
• promoting equal opportunity of students,
• sport education,
• Green Faculty Project.

The evolution of societies primarily depends on the development of material and spiritual culture, in other words, on the knowledge created and accumulated by the communities. Thus the most important motor of the evolution of human civilisation is science, the main establishment of creating and disseminating knowledge. The rationalism of the Age of Enlightenment raised great expectations about science; it was invested with authority and placed on an imaginary throne. Those dealing with science, particularly in the second half of the 19th century, regarded their work as a service for their closer community, that is, their nation and the wider community, that is, mankind. The ethos of scientific work has evoked the idea that knowledge holds values instead of interests.

The most important forums of the acquisition of scientific knowledge are universities. Wherever universities are founded, research work and the exchange of knowledge (the highest-ranking institutional education) are established. Therefore universities are the strongholds of science. Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian composer said that “Science is the relentless pursuit of truth that cannot be a servant of theology neither the prostitute of politics.” At scenes of scientific research, ideas must remain free, and the truth needs to be declared. However, in the atmosphere of free ideas, where truth is sought and disseminated, the words “responsibility” and the “demand of quality” are capitalised. The professor and the student, who aspires to become an intellectual, both owe quality and responsibility to their closer community of science and to mankind as well. Loránd Eötvös, who was the student, professor and president of our university, which celebrates its 375th anniversary in 2010, emphasised the importance of personal responsibility: “The university and the education can be called scientific if only scientists are allowed to teach. [...] The question of university [...] is, above all, a personal one; the questions regarding its organisation or regulations are only of secondary importance.” As it is not the desk that makes the person sitting beside it great but the reverse holds true, it is the professors’ excellence, in their professional and private lives, that results in a university of high standard.

Some fundamental questions have not changed even in the midst of the global challenges, the current circumstances and problems of our expanding world. Universities remain to be the institutions of knowledge and tertiary education awarded with great social recognition; the prevalent and constant places of searching and sharing the truth.

We are well aware of the fact that talent and determination are not sufficient for scientific work. For an effective research, a number of vital, external conditions (institutional, infrastructural and financial) are required. This trivial statement may sound more familiar to those working at a university of a country with a deficit of resources, under the regime of a political leadership that does not provide the necessary support for scientific research and education. It was not by chance that Loránd Eötvös put down the following lines: “from faraway lands [...] fabulous stories are heard. Stories of noble lords, who may thank science for the most precious moments of their lives and craftsmen, who found their fortune in the adoption of science; they create new universities and resurrect old ones in the blink of an eye by their donations of millions.” However, the financial support of tertiary studies dates back to older times. In the 18th century, it was not unusual in Hungary either that certain segments of the aristocracy financed, partly or completely, the studies of talented students. The people who provided the money for the scholarships (called alumneum) were named alumni; these early advocates of science set an example, and by following this example the alumni-movement was founded in the West. The movement of the alumnus unifies the virtual community of people supporting their university – driven by the gratitude towards their alma mater.

The affluent segment of the society can aid our universities these days as well, thus the illustrious Faculty of Humanities at Eötvös Loránd University may serve Hungary and mankind more efficiently. The Trefort-kert Foundation primarily addresses who may honour ELTE as their alma mater. Not exclusively though, since it also addresses those who consider it to be of utmost importance to see their donations in service of a noble cause from the point of view of the whole society. The goals set by the Trefort-kert Foundation of ELTE certainly meet these requirements. What they attempt to facilitate is that the Faculty of Humanities – which plays a crucial role in the training of intellectuals in Hungary – should be able to operate under the most up-to-date conditions so that the high expertise of its students can be guaranteed. The very reason for this is to advocate the training of future intellectuals, who set the example by their demand of responsibility and quality, creativity, willingness to think and act collectively, courage for innovation and their constant need for improvement.