ABOUT US – This is how we emerged
The Society for Promotion of Financial Education of Gdynia was established in 1997. The promoters of the idea was a group of credit union leaders who developed the society’s objectives, adopted the articles and, on 2th June, 1997, filed an application with the court to register the organisation. The idea to create SPFE stemmed from a belief, based on an everyday practice, that it is worthwhile to take up training activities aimed at disseminating knowledge about financial instruments and markets. The Society was successfully entered in the register of societies of the National Court Register and became a legal entity. On February 25, 2005, the Society was entered in the list of Public Benefit Organisations.
SKEF’s membership in international organizations
European Consumer Debt Network (ECDN)
SPFE is a Polish representative of European Consumer Debt Network.
ECDN is a non-governmental organization, which started its activities in 2007 and is based in Belgium. The creation of ECDN was the result of joint work of the founding organizations, including the Association for Promoting Financial Education.
ECDN’s membership comprises organizations, institutions and researchers (experts) from across Europe that are dedicated to combating over-indebtedness among consumers and households and thus preventing the occurrence of financial exclusion.
More information: www.ecdn.eu
International Network on Financial Education (INFE)
INFE is an international group of experts established by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The main tasks of INFE include: data collection, exchange of experiences and good practices, and the development of research and benchmarking in the field of financial literacy. One of the most recognized events in the promotion of financial education is the Global Money Week project, which aims to spread financial literacy among children and young people.
SKEF was admitted as an affiliate member on April 2, 2021.
SKEF’s admission to the organization was preceded by a positive assessment of the Association and its activities by the Polish Ministry of Finance.
More information: https://www.oecd.org/financial/education/oecd-international-network-on-financial-education.htm
How to Become an SPFE Member
- A supporting member of SPFE can be an individual, upon declaring his/her will to join the Society by filing a member’s declaration and paying member’s fee, subject to par. 3.
- legal entity is accepted into membership of the Society, as a supporting member, by a resolution adopted by the Managament Board, upon filing a member’s declaration and paying member’s fee.
- Minors, below 16 years of age, and other persons having limited capacity to perform legal transactions can become members of the Society, their statutory representatives consenting.
The member’s fee is nowadays PLN 12 annually.
SPFE Mission
The objectives of the Society for Promotion of Financial Education include:
- initiating, conducting and supporting actions for the sake of financial education,
- consumer protection,
- aid to consumers,
- promotion of employment and bringing those jobless and threatened with redundancies back to the labour market,
- development of contacts and cooperation between communities,
- promotion and organisation of volunteer work,
- social and vocational reintegration,
- financial education,
- charity activities.
Leading projects:
- „I think, decide, act – finance for the youngest” – 2,5-year project directed at younger elementary schoolchildren implemented with National Bank of Poland in cooperation with Polish elementary schools and teachers; it implements financial education materials among 44 groups of pupils who can experience 80 hours of regular workshops based on the educational package „I think, I decide, I act – Finance for the youngest”, prepared by Professor Małgorzata Żytko from the University of Warsaw, Dr. Alina Kalinowska from the University of Warmia and Mazury and Ewa Kruk from SKEF.
- „Live financially! how to manage finances in your personal life” (project directed to high school students with workshops focused on basic financial literacy);
- „Safe family, safe senior” (project addressed to seniors implemented with National Bank of Poland supporting financial literacy among elderly people);
- „Help save the family” (project targeted at low income families that did not have a chance to gain financial capacity and literacy, and were thus exposed to overindebtedness);
- „Help the youth save up” (project directed at children from orphanages over 15 y.o. to prevent their over-indebtedness in the future);
- „A game to start! Entrepreneurial education of young people using an economic board game” (project addressed to high school students implemented with National Bank of Poland, promoting entrepreneurial attitudes with the use of a board game);
- „Education and financial literacy in Germany and in Poland. Transfer of knowledge, analysis and recommendations” (grant from Polish-German Foundation for Science implemented by the University of Szczecin, SKEF and social science research institute GP Forschungsgruppe from Germany (2016-2017);
- „The national network of financial advisory and consumer” in Poland (Transition Facility 2004);
- „Poland’s Young Economist Championship” for children 12-14 y.o. – project promoting independent acquisition of economic and financial knowledge using mathematics skills.
European project
SPFE as a subcontractor took part in EU project „Service contract for the provision of actions to extend the availability and improve the quality of debt-advice services for European households”. The purpose of the contract was to provide services aimed at extending the availability and improving the quality of debt-advice services for European households. The project was commissioned by the European Commission (DG JUST) and CHAFEA.
The Society for Promotion of Financial Education was involved in the following activities:
– providing a list of stakeholders at national level and disseminating the survey questionnaire (August-September 2020);
– running two training sessions held in English – Module “Financial education” for the participants from Italy, Spain, Greece, Romania, Hungary and Poland (April and June 2021), including: developing content material for the online academy for the participants, preparing presentations with both theoretical and practical exercises (case studies) to activate participants for discussion and moderating discussions.
The Society’s objectives, as resulting from its articles, are pursued via:
- non-school-based forms of education,
- lectures and symposiums arranged to promote ideas of the Society,
- initiation and arrangement of various forms of aid to cultural, educational and scientific organisations, as well as organisations aimed at promotion of financial education,
- cooperation with agencies of governmental and local administration and with national and foreign institutions whose objectives are concurrent with the Society’s objectives,
- consulting and assistance in matters of organization and finance, as well as training of members and other entities taking interest in the Society’s activities,
- dissemination of forms of amicable adjustment of financial disputes by promotion and conducting of:
a. consumer arbitration,
b. conciliatory proceedings and amicable settlements, - promotion and arrangement of volunteer work,
- public collection of funds for training, health-related, cultural, social and care needs,
- support to institutions preventing social exclusion,
- financial support to children and young people in gaining education, based on a separate Scholarship Fund.
