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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s biggest annual charity fundraiser has once again broken its record. By the end of Sunday’s colourful, musical grand finale, it had brought in just over 183 million zloty (€43.5 million) in donations, which will go towards children’s healthcare.
The Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), which was first held in 1993, sees around 120,000 volunteers in Poland and abroad collecting donations, often wearing colourful clothing or fancy dress. Many also organise fundraising events while celebrities offer items for auction.
This year’s offerings include a pair of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s football boots and a meeting in his chancellery (with the highest bid currently at 116,000 zloty), a racket that tennis star Iga Świątek used when winning Wimbledon last year (120,250 zloty), and a sleepover with actress and pop star Julia Wieniawa (100,000 zloty).
Shortly before midnight, WOŚP announced that it had raised 183,231,782 zloty in total so far, beating last year’s figure of 178.5 million zloty.
The final grand total, usually announced in spring, will be even higher once all collections and auctions have been completed. Last year it reached just over 289 million zloty.
The money collected by WOŚP is used primarily to buy equipment for Poland’s healthcare system. This year’s focus was on supporting the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in children.
Since its launch in 1993, the charity has raised almost 3 billion zloty, which has been used to supply hospitals with around 81,500 pieces of medical equipment.
Despite this, WOŚP is not popular among some Polish conservatives, who dislike the secular, liberal values of its founder, Jerzy Owsiak, and have accused him and his family of benefiting financially from the event.
In 2021, WOŚP drew controversy by allying itself with the Women’s Strike movement that led protests against a near-total abortion ban that was introduced that year. In 2023, it was accused of supporting the opposition’s election campaign against the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.
During PiS’s eight years in power from 2015 to 2023, WOŚP often received a hostile reception from state institutions. In 2017, public broadcaster TVP decided to stop screening the finale of the fundraiser, which instead switched to private station TVN.
Police have launched an investigation into public incitement of hatred against Jerzy Owsiak, head of Poland’s biggest annual charity fundraiser @fundacjawosp, after he received death threats.
He blames a campaign against him by conservative media outlets https://t.co/aZeX8bbqtv
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 8, 2025
However, since PiS was replaced in December 2023 by a new, more liberal coalition led by Tusk, WOŚP has received strong support from the state. A number of state-owned companies have joined the event as sponsors, including energy giant Orlen and insurer PZU.
Despite being aligned with PiS, former President Andrzej Duda, who was in office from 2015 to 2025, supported WOŚP, including donating items for auction. However, his successor, Karol Nawrocki, another a PiS ally who took power last August, has not done so this year.
His chancellery refused to answer media enquiries about the issue. Last year, when he was running for the presidency, Nawrocki’s spokeswoman was asked about whether he supported WOŚP, to which she responded only by saying that he supports Caritas, the Catholic church’s charitable arm.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Kuba Atys / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
