HISTORY OF ORGANISATIONS IN POLAND

1. The history of philanthropy
While the history of philanthropy in Poland dates back to XII (twelve) century. 
However civic associations, using professional methods of social welfare appeared at the end of XIXth (nineteenth) century.
The Polish Constitution of 1921, contained a wide range of citizens' rights, including the right to associate, and the Law on Associations of 1932 were the legal basis for establishing associations before the Second World War.

2. Basic characteristics of the association's position in the years 1918-1939:
· at that time organizations were registered by the governmental administration - Ministry of Interior Affairs (there were approximately 10 thousand associations and 3 thousand foundations operating at that time),
· some of them had a special status of a Supreme Public Utility Association given by the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

3. Communist period from 1945 to 1989
During the communist period (i.e., between 1945 - 1989), even though the legal regulations had not been drastically changed and the 1952 Constitution still allowed the citizens to form associations, the practice was somewhat different - the existence of associations and other civil organizations was not possible (that included the existence of independent workers unions like Solidarity). 
In 1952, the government dissolved all foundations and seized their property. 
Just about this time, private ownership was banned. 
All independent associations seized to exist. This was caused mainly by two reasons:
• The Minister of Interior Affairs stopped giving assent to the registry of associations that did not support the communist government,
• The Minister of Interior Affairs granted communist organizations the exclusive rights to cover particular areas (for example, we had only one scouting organization in Poland). All "independent" organizations trying to cover the same field were dissolved.
Thus, there were no NGOs in Poland at that time, since all the existing organizations were practically state-controlled.

4. The transition period from 1989 up to now
The renewal and development of the third sector in Poland was stimulated again by the political transformation in 1989. 
After the "Round Table Talks", that set out the hand over of power from the Communists Parliament passed the Act on Associations. 
This Act, jointly with the 1984 Act on Foundations became the basis for the development of non-governmental organizations in Poland.

Major changes were:
• Nowadays associations are registered by an independent Court, as opposed to the political Ministry (governmental unit),
• The Associations are penalized or dissolved only by the Court's verdict, as opposed to the Minister's decision,
• The notion of Supreme Public Utility Association was abolished.