DMF 4.0: Telerik Academy Foundation and the Buki platform - host organization of Kalina Kirova

A strong cause doesn't communicate itself. That is one of the first things that fellow Kalina Kirova learns at Telerik Academy Foundation - and the reason her work there is more complex than it appears from the outside.

With this post, we begin our new series, in which we present the host organizations in the fourth edition of the "Digital Marketing for Meaningful Causes" program (DMF 4.0). Telerik Academy Foundation is the most recognizable private initiative for digital education in Bulgaria and the creator of the free learning platform Buki.bg. Working in its communications team this year is Kalina Kirova, who combines knowledge from Business Administration and Journalism with a curiosity about how marketing can serve socially significant causes. About the host organization: 15 years of Telerik Academy and the birth of Buki The story of Telerik Academy begins in 2009 as the first major private initiative for IT education in Bulgaria - part of the mission of the software company Telerik to open the doors of the technology sector to more young people. Over time, the initiative grew into an independent structure, and its foundation branch - Telerik Academy Foundation - dedicates its efforts to one specific generation: students from 1st to 12th grade. In 2014, the School Telerik Academy launched - a free extracurricular training program in programming, digital sciences, and meta-skills for children from across the country. Three years later (2017), the foundation received its first grant from the America for Bulgaria Foundation, which remains a strategic partner to this day. In the following years, the initiative expanded from Sofia to dozens of towns and cities, reaching thousands of students annually, with its alumni going on to pursue professional careers at leading Bulgarian and international technology companies. The turning point comes on November 15, 2022, when the foundation launches Buki.bg - its own digital platform, developed in partnership with the organization "Technokrati" and once again funded by the America for Bulgaria Foundation. The idea is bold in scope and simple in logic: instead of free schools reaching individual groups of children, why not turn the teacher into a multiplier? Buki.bg provides teachers with 15 comprehensive curricula on topics that are often absent from the mandatory school syllabus - digital literacy, artificial intelligence, financial literacy, STEM and green technologies, social-emotional skills, and "learning how to learn" - along with ready-made lessons, materials, and exercises that have been tested in practice.

According to the foundation's data, within less than two years the platform has reached over 30,000 students in 250+ schools spread across more than 130 towns and cities, with its programs being used by over 1,000 teachers. According to public data from Telerik Academy School, more than 50,000 children have been trained throughout the years of the initiative. In 2025, Telerik Academy wins a grant from the European Regional Development Fund for the development of an AI Coding Tutor - a next step toward personalized programming education with the help of artificial intelligence.

The foundation's contribution to the civil sector in Bulgaria is multi-layered. At the most visible level, there are tens of thousands of children who gain access to modern digital education regardless of where they live or their family's budget. One level deeper - over a thousand teachers who, instead of building their own materials from scratch, receive ready-made programs and a community. And deeper still - a model for how private philanthropy, municipalities, and state institutions can collaborate for real change in the education system. The Fellow: Kalina Kirova Kalina Kirova is 22 years old and in May of 2026 she graduates with a degree in Business administration and Journalism from the American University of Blagoevgard. Marketing is the field that captivates her from her very first university years and around which she builds her education. Before joining Telerik Academy Foundation, she works in the sales department at Coca-Cola Hellenic Bulgaria - an experience that gives her a solid foundation in commercial logic and in communicating with different types of clients.

At her host organization, Kalina works at the intersection of digital marketing, communications, and content for the Buki platform. At first glance, her tasks are familiar - social media and LinkedIn posts, email campaigns, event descriptions, analysis of digital presence, content for flagship events such as Buki Fest. More interesting is who they are intended for: teachers, principals, schools, partners, and donors - audiences with different needs and doubts, whom one and the same cause must reach in different ways. A large part of her work is precisely that - to translate Buki's mission into the language of each of them. Particularly telling is the strategy for attracting micro-donors - the area in which the foundation seeks regular, smaller donations from private individuals. Here Kalina thinks simultaneously about the messaging, the channels, and the way in which the Buki cause can be presented more personally and accessibly. And part of her working days are spent outside the office: she travels to schools in Sofia, Stara Zagora, and Kazanlak to capture stories in the field - the raw material from which the visual content for the platform is later built. In this way, she sees not only how Buki is communicated, but also how the platform is actually used in the classroom.

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"The hardest lesson I have learned so far is that a good cause is not enough on its own - it needs to be communicated correctly. When you work for an organization with such a powerful mission, it is easy to think that people will immediately understand its value. But in reality, every audience has different needs, expectations, and doubts. Teachers, for example, are often very overworked and are already surrounded by a multitude of resources, platforms, and offers, so it is important to clearly show them why Buki truly saves them time and how it can be easily used in the classroom. With principals, the challenge is different - some of them are hard to reach, do not respond to emails, or approach new initiatives with more apathy, which requires clearer, more direct, and more persuasive communication. Donors and partners are not looking for just general promises of impact, but concrete results, personal examples, and success stories that show the real change behind the numbers. And society as a whole needs to understand why it is important for these skills to be taught at school - and why this needs to happen now, rather than at some undefined point in the future." - Kalina Kirova