Przejdź do:

Financing of statutory activities

In 1991, FNP received as its founding fund the sum of 95 million zloty (part of the Central Fund for Development of Science and Technology, which was liquidated in 1990). From then on, funds for its statutory activities and security for the value of the fund have been obtained principally from actions on financial markets, namely by investing assets in financial instruments, mainly bonds, investment fund units and shares. From the funds accumulated in this way, the Foundation had allotted over 300 million zloty to science by the end of 2008.

At present, FNP allots several tens of millions of zloty each year to support the best scientists and research teams. In 2008 the Foundation launched programmes financed out of the European Regional Development Fund under the Innovative Economy Operational Programme 2007–2013 (Measure 1.2: Strengthening the human potential of science). As a beneficiary of key measures under this Operational Programme, the Foundation will receive 70 million euro in the years 2008–2015. This will enable it to almost treble its annual programme expenditure, which has up to now been financed mainly from its own resources.

Additional funds for the support of science, to a sum of more than 51 million zloty, were provided to the Foundation in 2003 and 2004 under the Act of 29 March 2000 “amending the Act on commercialization of enterprises”, which stated that 2% of funds from the privatization of wholly state-owned companies would be transferred to the Foundation, while under the Act of 1 March 2002 “on changes in the organization and functioning of central authorities of government administration and their subordinate units and amending certain acts” the status of recipient of 2% of the funds from further stages of privatization went to the Scientific Research Committee (KBN). From the sums obtained under the privatization law, the Foundation created a separate fund designated entirely for the financing of domestic scholarships for young scientists (the START programme). Moreover, in 2003 the Foundation received funds totalling approximately 461 400 zloty from the 2nd Marie Curie Common Fund,, for foreign scholarships  in the exactsciences. This fundhad served from 1987 to 2000 as the main source of financing for scientific cooperation between Poland and the USA. In 2004–2007, out of these funds, the Foundation awarded one extra foreign scholarship every year under the COLUMBUS programme.

The Foundation’s financial statements are audited every year by renowned auditing firms and published in the Annual Report, which is available from the FNP office and on its website. They are also sent to the National Court Register and the appropriate ministries.