Perm University Herald. Juridical Sciences. 2021. Issue 4 (54)

Podgórska-Rykała J., Pedagogical University of Krakow

DOI: 10.35757/STP.2019.47.2.2
DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0014.1029
DOI: 10.17072/1995-4190-2021-51-186-197 

Kępa M., Pedagogical University of Krakow

Introduction: Introduction: foundations, although categorized by Polish law as ‘typical’ non-governmental organizations, are, however, entities which must be treated more widely. On the one hand, they are relatively autonomous from the state, instituted at grassroots level, and characterized by voluntary participation. On the other hand, their existence is inseparably related to the realization of socially and economically useful objectives – those firmly embedded in the objectives of the state. This makes foundations the entities which are difficult to expressly categorize. Purpose: the article aims to characterize the current state of the institution of a foundation as established in Polish legislation based on the rules of Polish law and statistical data related to the selected aspects of the functioning of foundations in Poland. We focus on four constitutive features inherent in the current concept of a foundation: legal personality; qualification as a corporate legal entity; the presence of a purpose, assets and an appropriate organizational structure, all these enabling the fulfilment of the founder’s will; exclusively socially or economically beneficial goals being set and pursued.  Methods: as the study mainly lies in the legal field, the primary research method used was legal analysis. Apart from that, we also relied on the methods of political science and administrative studies, thus the research is interdisiplinary in nature. Results: the interdisciplinary analysis of the institution of a foundation in Poland is embedded in the broad discussion related to the framework of the functioning of such types of institutions within the state and civil society. Research findings include the identification of the barriers to the functioning of foundations and to the development of this legal institution in Poland, as well as the identification of its main strengths and weaknesses. Conclusions: the equivocality of the institution of a foundation makes it an interesting and challenging research object, which cannot be analyzed without interdisciplinary methodology being applied – comprising not only legal analysis but also other methods centered on the study of practical issues related to the activities of non-governmental organizations of various types. The topic discussed in this paper is not sufficiently explored yet in professional literature, thus this study enables further in-depth research, including studies from the comparative perspective. The article is not comparative in nature; however, it may constitute an important voice in the ongoing discussion.

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