The Liberte Foundation, linked to the Civic Platform (PO) circles, spent PLN 200,000 on political advertisements across the internet. Campaign organizers are tied to Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz and Adam Szłapka, while also having connections to George Soros’ organization and the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The political activity of Liberte has been supported by the city government of Łódź for years.
Strategic communications expert Piotr Okulski from the Observatory of Economic Development and Democracy published a report detailing recent actions of the Liberte Foundation.
PLN 50,000 Daily
“Imagine a weekend where a nonpartisan foundation spends more on election ads than the two biggest political campaigns combined. Between May 22-25, 2025, Liberte ‘burned’ up to PLN 200,000 just on Facebook and Instagram, averaging PLN 50,000 daily. These ads, promoting causes like LGBT and animal rights, reached an unprecedented scale, hitting 4-5 million users, half of the active online voters. The ads came from the phantom fan page ‘Choose the Future,’ with only 84 likes, but Meta’s library clearly listed the sponsor: Liberte Foundation. Officially a ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaign, it was actually targeted at the electorate of Rafał Trzaskowski,” warns Okulski in a post on X.
“However, the most interesting part of this operation lies in the people behind the budget and their political intersections. Liberte’s vice president, publicist Leszek Jażdżewski, leads the management board of the Wspólny Plan association alongside Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz – former Minister of Culture and now an MEP for PO. Meanwhile, president Błażej Lenkowski has been a key figure in the Projekt Polska movement, working side by side with Adam Szłapka, the current leader of Nowoczesna and Minister for EU Affairs. These are just two of many interconnected figures we highlight in our full report,” Okulski writes.
Massive Revenue Growth
The expert points out that in the election year of 2023, the Polish Business Council Foundation transferred PLN 750,000 to the multimedia “Atlas of Tribes,” and the Freedom Economic Foundation contributed tens of thousands to the Freedom Games. International grants also came from Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the German Naumann Stiftung tied to the FDP, the American Atlas Network, and the European Liberal Forum funded by the European Parliament. As a result, Liberte’s revenues surged from PLN 2.5 million in 2021 to PLN 8.3 million in 2023, creating a net surplus of PLN 1.67 million, part of which, according to Okulski, likely funds the presidential campaign.
A New Campaign Model Emerges
“In one sentence? A new campaign model is emerging before our eyes: the ‘comet’ foundation. It doesn’t run for office, doesn’t have a party list, but it can still influence the outcome – perhaps exactly the amount needed to secure a victory,” concludes the expert.
Scare Campaign Against Nawrocki
According to the report, the content of Liberte’s ads in the 2025 campaign had a clear political, negative tone. The Foundation claimed to run ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaigns, but their content focused on scaring voters about the consequences of electing the opposition’s rivals. Analysis shows that at least two parallel campaigns (including Liberte’s) used negative emotional appeals. One of these campaigns, linked to Liberte, warned of the return of PiS to power if Karol Nawrocki – the candidate favorable to the ruling party – won. The ads featured messages like “If a PiS candidate becomes president, hate towards LGBT people and animal suffering will return.” This messaging targeted left-liberal voters, particularly younger ones and urban dwellers, to mobilize them to vote against a PiS-aligned candidate. Thus, Liberte’s focus was on blocking Nawrocki’s path to the presidency by mobilizing centrist-left voters.
Jażdżewski’s Club
It’s worth noting that as early as 2019, Gazeta Polska revealed that the Liberte Foundation rents a property in a prime location in Łódź from the city government at preferential terms. This space houses the Club 6th District, which is supposed to function as a cultural institution, but in practice serves as a nightclub hosting late-night parties and political events. These include discussions on feminism, the Church, and in recent years, meetings on aiding illegal migrants at the Polish-Belarusian border.