03.09.2018
First official 'Family Foundation' meeting
Foundations run by families or which were established by family members and which work mostly thanks to family funding, deal with common challenges. This is why we decided to create a space, where the members of such non-profit organizations could meet and get to know each other. A space for those family members, who are actively involved in making decisions and creating the profile of their foundation. Their foundations do not support other family members. They are dedicated philanthropists, whose work concentrates around social issues.
We hosted 22 representatives from 11 family foundations - our own EFC Foundation, the Starak Family Foundation, the Jerzy Juzon Educational Foundation, the Amicis Foundation, the Maciejko Family Foundation, the TDJ Foundation, the DOZ Foundation, the Waksmundzki Family Foundation ‘Projan’, the Nissenbaum Family Foundation and Janina and Jan Putka’s Foundation “Spread your Wings.” Members of the Polish Donors Forum, the Foundation for Poland, as well as the Polish Business Roundtable were also active participants of the meeting. We invited a special guest, Jakub Wygnański, Prezes Pracowni Badań i Innowacji Społecznych „Stocznia”. He’s a fantastic speaker, who facilitated the establishment of numerous civil society organizations. He briefly described the social and financial context, in which family foundations in Poland have to constitute themselves. Wygnański shared his knowledge about the history and modern characteristics of the civil sector in Poland. He underlined the importance of non-profit organizations and presented the Polish philanthropy model in its individual and corporate form. Family foundations are a specific mix of those two models. Wygnański also mentioned the most important political accomplishments in the domain of NGOs and several institutions crucial for the development of the civil sector, such as the Polish Donors Forum. Finally, he gladly observed that the trend in modern philanthropy has shifted from simply “giving money away” to careful social investments and forming a creative strategy aimed at real, positive results.
The participants discussed ways of becoming more involved and how to find motivation in their daily work. They shared their personal experiences in being philanthropists, the challenges they face and how they shaped their foundation’s path, as well as their own.