Number and type of NGOs

· There are about 45,000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs - foundations and associations) registered in Poland. Using a broader definition of organisations (taking into account trade unions, business associations and churches etc.) the figure would rise to over 90,000. KLON estimates that about 2/3 of the registered NGOs are active.
[GUS / KLON - 2000]

· Almost 1/5 of the NGOs are registered in Warsaw. [KLON - 2000]

· The NGOs claim to be principally concerned with:
- work in health care and rehabilitation (20%)
- social assistance and charity work (17%)
- educational activity (16%)
­- arts, culture, hertiage preservation, traditions (11%)
[KLON - 2000]

· 25% of the NGOs are less than four years old, 80% of the NGOs were set up after 1989. [KLON - 2000]

· Poland comes second in the NGO sustainability index covering 28 countries of the former Soviet block.
[USAID / Freedom House / KLON - 2000]

Membership, employment, civic participation

· Membership : more than half the NGOs have fewer than 50 members.
[KLON - 2000]

· Civic participation : 24% of adult Poles declare working in at least one NGO in their spare time (the question concerns participation in the work of the NGO, not just membership).
[CBOS - 1998]

· Employment : the NGO sector employs over 100,000 staff, which is about 1% of non-agricultural employment in Poland (compared to 0.6% in Romania and 12.6% in Holland).
[International research on the non-profit sector Johns Hopinks University / KLON - 1997]
Almost half (46%) of the NGOs employ no staff.
[KLON - 2000]

· Volunteers : 87% of the NGOs work with volunteers to various degrees.[KLON - 2000]

Funding of the NGOs

· 77% of the NGOs consider public (local and central government) sources of funding to be significant to their work, and 72% mention donations from individuals and companies.
[KLON - 2000]

· The annual budget of 43% of the NGOs does not exceed PLN 10,000 (approximately 2,600 Euro).
[KLON - 2000]

· Ministries and central government agencies planned to spend 0.18% of their combined budgets on tasks delegated to NGOs in 2001.
[Report of the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister - 2001]

· In 2000, 18% of small and medium-sized companies gave donations for various activities (of which 57% for charities). The donations made up between 1% and 50% of the company's revenue. On average, the companies passed 5% of their gross profits to charities.
[Report of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Gallup, KLON - 2001]

· Over recent months, 57% of Poles gave funds to charities in various ways. Over 20% formally gave donations to NGOs (only one in ten of these deducted the donation from income tax). Over 65% would consider giving 1% of their income tax to NGOs.
[SMG/KRC, KLON - 2001]

Problems facing NGOs

· 9 in 10 has trouble in raising funds for their operations

· 76% considers a lack of NGO representation to be a problem

·57% of the NGOs see inadequate legislation as a barrier

· 44% of the organisations feel there is a lack of cooperation with public administration

· 34% of the NGOs mention a lack of public support and public trust
[KLON - 2000]

What Polish NGOs do [KLON 2000 Study]

Main fields of NGO activity	% of organisations
Health care, rehabilitation	9.6%
Social assistance, charity work	16.7%
Education, tutoring	15.8%
Arts, culture, heritage preservation, traditions	11.0%
Sport, recreation, tourism	5.7%
Regional and local development	4.4%
Ecology, environmental protection	3.5%
Human rights, minority rights, equal opportunity	2.6%
Science, technology	2.5%
International cooperation, European integration	2.3%
Rural issues, agriculture	2.1%
Hobbies	1.6%
Protecting the interests of specific professional groups	1.5%
Religion, faith	1.4%
Economy, finances, insurance, labour market	1.3%
State, law, politics	0.9%
Transport, communication	0.8%
Construction, housing issues	0.7%
Mass media, information	0.6%
Public safety, property protection	0.3%
Other	4.7%

NGOs in voivodships

% of all NGOs in voivodship
number of NGOs per 10 000 citizens