Business plays a role in solving social and environmental challenges - sharing the best of what they have to help meet the needs of humans and our planet.
The biggest impact PwC can make comes from our day-to-day work helping clients navigate many of the complex systems – capital markets, taxation and the economy – that underpin society. We help these systems function and clients to operate effectively within them.
Our community investments are an important part of our efforts to help build trust in society and solve important problems. By sharing PwC’s greatest assets – the skills, knowledge and talent of our people – we focus on education, building the capacity of NGOs and supporting social and micro enterprises around the world.
We focus on
Education
Jobs are changing, driven by the impact of breakthrough technologies. What and how we learn needs to transform.
We support the development of young people who are at risk of social exclusion (e.g. from Orphanages, difficult environments, with disabilities), through cooperation with the following Foundations: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Program Pomocy Pierwsza Praca (Getting your first job assistance program), Szczęśliwej Drogi (Happy Journey Foundation) and Teens Matter. We help children with educational and social difficulties. As mentors, PwC employees meet individually with a chosen child/youth, PwC volunteers also arrange meetings with inspiring people and organize workshops.
An example of our own educational programme is PwC Tutoring - English Classes For Children from Child Care Homes. 14 PwC volunteers from Gdańsk provide English lessons to 25 children.
This year we also started a new initiative - Dojo digital club for children at risk of social exclusion, beneficiaries from NGOs that work with PwC.
Our volunteers ignite children with their passion for new technologies - programming, coding, computer graphics -writing their own programs and games! For children, it is almost like being endowed with superpowers!
In the Business vs Smog programme, PwC volunteers (over 50 people this year) conduct workshops about air quality and smog in schools and kindergartens.
PwC supports young scientists under the E(x)plory programme. The best projects are awarded with the PwC mentoring programme for personal & business development.
Maximizing the potential of NGOs
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are entrusted to provide support when and where society needs it most. Working alongside NGOs, we are helping to build a stronger, more transparent sector.
240 PwC employees were volunteers and spent more than 2 5oo hours volunteering in FY18. As coaches, mentors and trainers, our volunteers strengthen the potential of both social organizations and their leaders enabling them to be more effective in helping those who are in need as well as individuals who need such support, e.g. children and young people. In FY18 we carried out pro bono audits worth almost PLN 0.5 million for NGOs. We have allocated PLN 228 160 for social purposes.
The Two Sectors One Vision programme has been implemented by the School for Leaders Foundation and the PwC Foundation since 2010. It is based on the individual work of an experienced PwC manager with a selected social leader. Thanks to the programme, social leaders are better able to identify their goals and strategy, effectively manage processes and people in the organization. Their professional development improves the effectiveness and scope of activities of their NGOs.
Social enterprises, startups & innovations
Using the power of the marketplace to solve society’s most pressing issues, social enterprises have the ability to transform systems.
PwC is a long-time Partner of the Competition for the Jacek Kuroń Social Enterprise of the Year award. We support the competition financially and with our knowledge and experience, and we also award social leaders selected by the Jury giving them the opportunity of participating in the mentoring programme. Experts – PwC volunteers work with the awarded enterprises, supporting their development in specific areas. The goal of the programme is to improve the enterprise’s operating efficiency through the social leader’s and the PwC mentor’s joint efforts to resolve the enterprise’s key management issues.
In 2018, in the 8th edition of the Competition, the Jury awarded 10 social enterprises with the mentoring program implemented by 31 PwC volunteers.
The Business Class Academy is implemented by PwC, Objectivity, UBS and the Responsible Business Foundation, The Lower Silesian Centre of Social Policy and The Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. The Business Class Academy prepares social enterprises to operate more effectively on the open market and to implement innovative products or services. The programme won third place in the Equality-Friendly Initiative of the Year category in the Emerging Europe Awards competition in London.
In the Małe Wielkie Zmiany (Small-Big Changes Incubator), we support innovative solutions enabling people who have difficulties in finding a job to enter the labour market. The programme provides innovators with financial (subsidies) and substantive support and networking, and the possibility of using the space, equipment and office infrastructure of the Incubator. It is implemented with the Association for Social Cooperatives. In FY18, we supported 16 projects, and 79 people attended the events accompanying the programme.
The aim of the Transfer HUB Incubator is to build the best environment for creating and testing social innovations. The incubation programme lasts 3 years. The Transfer HUB is implemented in the PwC partnership by the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives and the Foundation for Research and Social Innovation ‘Stocznia’. In FY18, we supported 31 projects; in addition, 114 people took part in meetings and workshops organized as part of the programme.
Small-Big Changes and the Transfer HUB are implemented under the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development, co-financed by the European Social Fund, Priority IV Social innovation and transnational cooperation, Measure 4.1. Social innovations.
PwC is also a partner of Masovian Startup, an acceleration programme for startups organized by the Masovian Voivodeship as part of Innovative Masovia, and implemented by Youth Business Poland. Twenty-one startups and socially engaged businesses will take part in specialist training and individual meetings with experts, investors and business analysts. In the final stage of the project, participants can win a prize of PLN 20 000.
Our projects
"Business vs smog" - We are raising awareness among children and young people about smog and clean air
The “Business vs smog” programme was initiated by PwC in cooperation with the Krakow Smog Alert and the ASPIRE Association in 2018.
Find out more about the programme
Two sectors – One vision - coaching programme for social leaders
The programme has been run by PwC and School for Leaders since 2010. The idea of “Two sectors – one vision” is that PwC professionals coach social leaders. All coachees have to set goals related with improvement for community, own organization and personal skills. During 6 months they meet for sessions and in pairs: coach – coachee work together to achieve these goals.
The aims of the programme are: experience and knowledge sharing, building intersectoral cooperation, supporting the third sector and corporate social involvement.
Thanks to the programme, social leaders identify their objectives and their strategy better as well as manage processes and people more effectively. As a result, all of that improve the efficiency and range of actions of social organization.
The program was awarded in the European CSR Award Scheme in 2013.
Mentoring programme for social entrepreneurs
PwC has been supporting the Foundation of Socio-economic Innovations (FISE) since 2012. PwC is a partner of the Competition for the Jacek Kuroń Social Enterprise of the Year award run by FISE. We support the competition financially and with our knowledge and experience, and we also award social leaders selected by the Jury giving them the opportunity of participating in the mentoring programme.
The goal of the programme is to improve the enterprise’s operating efficiency through the social leader’s and the PwC mentor’s joint efforts to resolve the enterprise’s key management issues. Experts – PwC volunteers work with the awarded enterprises for 6 months, supporting their development in specific areas. Thanks to that, they are able to develop the enterprises and offer support to greater number of people. As social enterprises run the business to accomplished social objectives through economic means they allocate profits to prevent a social exclusion and create an added value for all of us.
In 2018, in the 8th edition of the Competition, the Jury awarded 10 social enterprises with the mentoring program implemented by 31 PwC volunteers.
In recent years we have supported
Our CSR activities have been noticed and appreciated:
- The BIZnES Class Academy programme won 3rd place in this year’s Emerging Europe Awards Competition, in the Equality-Friendly Initiative of the Year category.
- Małgorzata Marek – CR Senior Manager Poland and CEE, received the “Człowiek wiedzy i doświadczenia” (“Man of knowledge and experience 2017”) award.
- PwC employees were in the final of the Benefactor of the Year Competition in the corporate volunteering category.
- “Pro-social Company” award in the ranking of audit companies of Rzeczpospolita newspaper.
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Contact us
Senior Manager Corporate Social Responsibility, PwC Poland
Tel: +48 519 507 402
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