The Factory Glasshouses grew out of a relationship of trust built over time between the Banat Mountains Community Foundation and the Make Better Association. After years of collaboration on projects dedicated to the community and local heritage, the two organizations decided to take an unprecedented step for Reșița: to become co-owners of a fragment of a former industrial site and to take on, together with the community, the responsibility for its regeneration.

We believe that industrial heritage cannot be saved by a single organization or institution, but only through collaboration and shared responsibility. That is why, from the very beginning, the project was built as an open partnership, in which each party contributes with its own expertise and resources.

The trust between partners was matched by the trust of funders and institutions who chose to support this initiative.

The Romanian-American Foundation (RAF) supports the project through an innovative financing mechanism, granting the Banat Mountains Community Foundation both a Program Related Investment (PRI), an interest-free loan intended for the acquisition of the co-ownership share in the Factory Glasshouses, and a grant for organizational development and the first investments in the site's infrastructure. This type of support, which combines a grant with an impact financing instrument, reflects the trust placed in the foundation to carry through a complex and innovative project alongside the Reșița community.

At the same time, the project has secured funding through the Raiffeisen Communities program, which will support, over the coming months, the activation of the Factory Glasshouses through volunteering, community engagement, educational programs, and events dedicated to heritage and nature.

Standing alongside us is also the Reșița Municipality, which is carrying out its own process of recovering other important assets on the UCMR platform and is contributing to the gradual opening of this area to the community.

We believe this is the project's most important message: trust generates trust. When people trust one another and come together in civic groups or local organizations, taking on responsibility and shaping a vision, and funders and institutions choose to believe in that vision, industrial heritage can become a common good and a resource for the community's future.

We thank everyone who believes in this project, who chose to support us, through the Timotion donation campaign or individually, and all the volunteers.

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Photo source: Ioana Ciolea, Banat Mountains Community Foundation