POP Fund: A New Approach to Humanitarian Crises

Unique on a global scale, with three grant editions completed and a fourth in the pipeline, the Polish Organizations Pooled Fund (POP Fund) offers a new way to respond to humanitarian crises. The Fund was established to support Ukrainian refugees in smaller towns outside Poland’s largest urban areas. The summary event marking the first year of the POP Fund’s operations was organized in Warsaw.

Over the past year, the POP Fund has conducted three rounds of its grant competition, awarding 8 million złoty to 55 projects. Thanks to this support, smaller organizations from Supraśl to Nowy Sącz and from Rzeszów to Zielona Góra have been able to provide a wide range of assistance to Ukrainian refugees. This includes helping children adapt to the Polish education system, providing food aid, and supporting older refugees.

Aid Across Poland

In Warsaw, representatives of organizations that participated in the three grant rounds and the Fund’s donors met to summarize the POP Fund’s support and present ideas for the future.

– We were keen to help those refugees living in smaller Polish towns. Larger organizations often overlook these – says Dr. Wojtek Wilk, CEO of the Polish Center for International Aid – PCPM initiates the POP Fund.

Foundations, associations, women’s clubs, and other small organizations from smaller Polish towns have participated in the three rounds of the POP Fund.

– We know this type of Fund from Lebanon, where the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund operates. The difference is that this mechanism operates under the UN, and the donors are member states. Here, the donors are corporations, companies, and the private sector, making it a global phenomenon – adds Dr. Wilk.

Google, Meta, the Biedronka Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, and, in the planned fourth round, the PKO BP Bank Foundation and Meta are donors to the POP Fund.

– The POP Fund is proof that there is strength in cooperation and that, in this way, we can do more and help better – said Magdalena Kotlarczyk, Country Director of Google Poland, opening the meeting in Warsaw.

A Specific Goal

An important element of the POP Fund is transparency and targeted action. The competitions have well-defined goals, and donors know the project their funds are allocated to. For example, the Biedronka Foundation has drawn attention to the challenges faced by the older Ukrainian refugees.

– Loneliness, a sense of marginalization, and the experience of loss are the experiences and feelings of older refugees. The place of residence also determines their situation. That’s why we are focusing on this group – said Katarzyna Scheer, President of the Biedronka Foundation.

The POP Fund is managed by a Steering Committee that includes representatives of NGOs, donors, the government, and local governments: the WIOSNA Association, the NGO Forum “Razem,” Google, Meta, the Biedronka Foundation, the City of Lublin, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, and UNHCR (as an observer).

The Next Edition Soon

The announcement of the next 4th edition of the POP Fund, which will focus on post-flood assistance in areas declared disaster zones, is scheduled for October 14.