Country profile
Poland
Definition
There is no explicit legal definition of a foundation in Polish law. Foundations are understood as easily manageable assets dedicated to some social cause and registered as a foundation and are established with the sole aim of serving a public-benefit purpose. A vast majority of Polish foundations do not have an endowment and are used as a vehicle for collecting external funding for their activities. Additionally, a significant source of their funding is public money (provided for public utility services contracted by local governments). The basic act that regulates the principles for the establishment and operation of foundations is the Law on Foundations, which is part of the administrative law.
Poland’s philanthropy profile
No data
Pool of assets
No data
Total expenditure
No data
Total employment
Poland’s foundations
21,000 (2023)
foundations
In the public register, there are 35,476 foundations. It is estimated that 60% of these are active, which equates to approximately 21,000 foundations. There are a small number of foundations with significant endowments but there are no data on their number, assets and expenditure.