Fundacja Sandomierska wraps up over 30 years of activity — a lasting mark of the Pilkington brand in the region

Fundacja Sandomierska, established in 1994 on the initiative of Pilkington Polska Sp. z o.o., has ceased operations. For more than three decades it supported the residents and economy of four counties — Sandomierz, Opatów, Staszów and Tarnobrzeg — becoming one of the lasting marks the Pilkington brand left on the region.

The foundation was created at a special moment — during the deep industrial restructuring that affected the ‘Sandomierz’ Window Glass Works and its employees. Alongside Pilkington Polska, the founders included the City of Sandomierz, Bank PEKAO SA Sandomierz Branch and the Sandomierz Housing Cooperative. Its mission was specific: to soften the impact of change, create new jobs and help people find their feet in the new economic reality.

Over 2,250 jobs and 333 loans

Over more than 30 years of activity, Fundacja Sandomierska granted 333 interest-free loans totalling more than PLN 21.5 million. In parallel, the foundation funded training and reskilling courses worth over PLN 1.3 million for 1,647 people, improving their prospects on the labour market at a time when that market was changing faster than ever before.

Thanks to these funds, 2,253 new jobs were created. Behind the numbers are also hundreds of stories of people who started their own businesses — many of which are still operating in the region today.

Support for the local community

The foundation’s work was not limited to financial support for the unemployed. In 1996 it made a donation of PLN 400,000 to a new higher-education institution then being established in Sandomierz — the College of Humanities and Natural Sciences. In 2004 it gave PLN 100,000 to the Health Foundation operating at the Sandomierz hospital. Over the years it supported local nurseries, primary schools and smaller sports clubs with smaller sums.

The final chapter: computer labs for four schools

In 2024 the foundation donated over PLN 1.3 million to equip computer labs in four secondary schools in Sandomierz and Tarnobrzeg. It was its last major project — and one of the most telling. Over three decades the foundation had started out putting out the fires of restructuring; it ended by investing in young people’s start in a modern economy.

200 years of the Pilkington brand — a lasting mark on Sandomierz

The closure of Fundacja Sandomierska coincides with the year in which the Pilkington brand celebrates its 200th anniversary. Founded in 1826 in Great Britain, over two centuries it shaped the glass industry — from the invention of the float process in 1959, which revolutionised flat-glass production, to today’s solutions such as the augmented-reality Head-Up Display system and Pilkington Mirai™ glass with a reduced carbon footprint. In Poland the brand is present in a dozen or so locations and employs over 4,000 people.

The story of Fundacja Sandomierska is part of this wider narrative — that for decades the Sandomierz plants were more than just a place of work.

Jerzy Niziałek, President of Fundacja Sandomierska, adds:

‘For over 30 years Fundacja Sandomierska has shown that responsibility towards a region can be turned into real action. Thousands of people benefited from its support — financial, educational and professional. Closing the foundation in the year of the Pilkington brand’s 200th anniversary, we are proud of what we managed to build together with the residents and partners of Sandomierz.’