Social impact

An important topic for Agora's media is also the fight against social inequalities, as evidenced by numerous projects in this area.

Since 1998, Agora has been publishing in its media free of charge information about social campaigns, appeals and charity announcements about possibility of supporting sick children and messages about missing persons. In 2021, approximately 100 such materials appeared on the pages of Gazeta Wyborcza and its supplements. Every year since 2015, the Gazeta.pl portal has been publishing appeals to support fundraising for sick children – in 2021 there were about 50 of them.

Another example of actions to eliminate inequalities in society are the initiatives of the Agora Foundation, which in 2021 continued, inter alia, the project Different people, one world (Różni ludzie, jeden świat) to support people with disabilities in their professional development. In 2021, the Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation and the Wysokie Obcasy Foundation, established by Agora in 2018, also conducted their activities. These organizations dealt with, i.a., activities in the fields such as: the development of education, independent journalism and the media, activities for gender equality and reduction of social inequalities.

Charitable activities are carried out in the Agora Group not only thanks to foundations, but also thanks to the involvement of readers and recipients, employees and the local community in projects directly supporting social organizations. A perfect example of such involvement are the literary campaigns and charity books published by Agora Publishing House – Hope (Nadzieja), All the colors of the world (Wszystkie kolory świata) and Oh, disease (O, choroba). All income from their sale in 2021 – exactly PLN 472 864.21 – was allocated, among others, to co-financing a helpline for children and adolescents, psychological help for the charges of the ISKIERKA Foundation struggling with cancer or the support for seniors and hospices.

As part of social activities in line with the goals of SDG 16, in the past year companies and media from the Agora Group undertook mainly aid and information initiatives related to the humanitarian crisis, gender equality and actions to reduce social inequalities, as well as protect democratic values and freedom of speech in Poland. One of the numerous examples is the #Mediabezwyboru campaign, in which in February 2021 Agora’s media, along with the majority of free media representatives in Poland, stopped operating for 24 hours. It was an unprecedented action by the media industry – a joint protest against the plans to impose a financial burden called the "ad tax", which the government tried to introduce under the pretext of fighting the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Another initiative influenced i.a. by the pandemic, was the Declaration of Gazeta.pl for the new times (Deklaracja Gazeta.pl na nowe czasy). In the face of the health, economic, political and climate crises intensifying in 2020, Gazeta.pl portal was the first medium in Poland to publish an editorial declaration, committing itself to supporting its readers in accessing reliable information obtained from the source and referring them directly to experts: doctors, economists and other specialists who cooperate with the portal. On 1 January 2021, the Gazeta.pl 2021 Editorial Declaration (Deklaracja redakcyjna Gazeta.pl 2021) was published, in which the editorial team undertook to focus especially on the defense of women's rights and the fight against social inequalities, as well as to act for the protection of the environment. The editors also summarized the activities for the implementation of their assumptions in the report Commitment for the new times (Zaangażowanie na nowe czasy). The report for 2021 describes, i. a., the involvement of the editorial team in the fight for the rights of women and minorities. Gazeta.pl was the first horizontal portal in Poland to create the position of Content Coordinator for Diversity and Inclusiveness. Last March the editorial team received a prestigious award in the Global Media Awards competition organized by the International Information Media Association INMA for its actions for the LGBT+ community, including the series Family+ (Rodzina+) by Nina Cieślińska. Gazeta.pl has also been involved in the social campaign Without LGBT+, there is no Poland (Bez LGBT+ nie ma Polski), during which, right before the start of the Warsaw Equality Parade in 2021, the letters "L", "G", "B" and "T" were symbolically removed from the titles and articles at Gazeta.pl as well as in other news media of the Agora Group. The action was carried out in cooperation with the MullenLowe agency and the Love Does Not Exclude Association.

In response to the non-observance of the rights of refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border, the editorial team of Gazeta.pl carried out a campaign called Memory card of the refugees (Karta pamięci o uchodźcach). Materials on the protection of human rights were submitted to the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. Another example is a fundraiser for several Lebanese families indicated by the Polish Center for the International Aid (PCPM), initiated by Gazeta.pl (similar fundraisers in 2021 were carried out by Gazeta.pl, among others, for people from Syria). The joint charity campaign of Gazeta.pl and PCPM was a great success – thanks to the portal’s readers, PLN 159 thousand were collected for the families in Lebanon to survive the winter.

In 2021, Gazeta Wyborcza launched a special offer of digital subscription To the rescue of refugees (Na ratunek uchodźcom), from which all revenues were transferred to foundations involved in helping refugees staying on the Polish-Belarusian border, including Amnesty International Poland and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. The funds were allocated, inter alia, to providing medical and sanitary assistance to migrants who camped on the Polish-Belarusian border. In less than 2 weeks, the collected amount exceeded PLN 100 thousand.

The media of the Agora Group, as from the beginning of its existence, also in 2021 spoke on important social issues and promoted the culture through, i.a., annually organized competitions and awards. Since 2010, Gazeta Wyborcza has been the co-organizer of the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for literary reportage, as well as supporting the Nike Literary Award. Additionally, since 2018, Gazeta Wyborcza has been organizing a photographic competition – the Krzysztof Miller International Prize. In 2021, AMS, as part of promoting socio-cultural activities, for the 22nd time organized the AMS Poster Gallery competition, the motto of which was: (Un) safe lanes ((Nie)bezpieczne pasy) – it was aimed at raising public awareness of the dangers that threaten pedestrians and presenting the principle of responsible behavior. As part of the educational activities, a special edition of the program promoting knowledge and initiatives for the development of new technologies was also held. The Tomorrownauts (Jutronauci) project was created in 2017 thanks to the cooperation of Gazeta Wyborcza and Sebastian Kulczyk. Its 5th edition – Tomorrownauts 2021: New normality was entirely devoted to the considerations on possible scenarios of the post-pandemic future.

Everyday at Agora we try to support and initiate the activities for the benefit of the society and engage our employees in them. We believe that even the smallest action matters. For example, we are collecting plastic caps to support Nadia – a 7-year-old girl with autism. Thanks to Agora’s fundraising in 2021, it was possible to fund for her a series of rehabilitation activities.

Another example of activities in this area is the collection of the most necessary products, organized in May 2021, for the Senior w Koronie Foundation. It operates in the vicinity of Agora's Warsaw headquarters and helps the poor, lonely and sick elderly people. Despite the fact that many people from the Group's team worked remotely at that time, they managed to collect a lot of products from which the organization has created food packages for its proteges.  

In addition, in 2021, a special website was created on the firm’s Intranet with the information on social and charity campaigns in which Agora’s employees are involved. Thanks to this initiative, it has been possible to support fundraisers for aid and charity, organized by our colleagues.

The Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation was created by Agora in 2018. Similarly as The New York Times Company and The Guardian Media Group, the publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza has created a non-profit organisation to develop valuable media projects and pursue important social objectives. The Foundation's goals are, among others, to contribute to the emergence of independent and ambitious journalistic materials regarding key social and political issues, such as investigative reports, environmental reports and international journalistic projects. The Foundation's current projects can be found at: www.fundacjagazetywyborczej.pl/en/.

Also in 2018, Agora, together with the Wysokie Obcasy brand, created the Wysokie Obcasy Foundation. Its aim is to support independent and reliable journalism and to fight social inequality and discrimination, or to protect and promote women's rights. More information about the Foundation's activities can be found at: www.fundacjawysokichobcasow.pl/en.

Integration Academy Foundation. Work. Education. Sport was created by AMS S.A. in 2013 and is a continuation of the AMS for Integration project. The Foundation deals with broadly understood problems and issues relating to the life, activity and social role of people with disabilities, with a particular focus on work, education and sport. The Foundation's originators and employees are fencers on wheelchairs, outstanding athletes, Paralympians, multiple World and European Championship medalists, who, together with other AMS employees, implement the Foundation's ideas on a voluntary basis. In 2021, the Foundation implemented a number of its own actions and those executed in cooperation with private and public entities. For information on the Foundation's current projects, please visit: akademiaintegracji.pl