The basic source of EcoFund’s revenues consists of the funds received from the Polish-debt-for-environment-swap scheme pursuant to agreements signed by Poland with the USA, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Norway. The relevant funds are provided every year in the Budgetary Act in the section entitled "Servicing the Foreign Debts" and are regularly paid to EcoFund’s bank account from the state budget as a Poland’s commitment towards the donor countries. In the years 1993 ÷ 1994, the EcoFund’s receipts from the debt-for-environment-swap scheme were on a level of 12 to 19 million zlotys a year (equivalent to 6.9 to 8.7 US dollars a year). In 1995, they increased to a level more than three times as high, thanks to a US Government’s decision to change the system of paying off that part of the Polish debt. The previous system, according to which the debt payments were to significantly increase after 2000, was replaced with one stipulating that the debt part allocated for environmental protection activities should be paid by Poland in equal installments during the whole period from 1995 till 2010. Since then, the annual payments made to the EcoFund’s account by virtue of the conversion of 10% of the Polish debt to the USA are equivalent to a constant amount of 24.2 million US dollars.

In the years 1992 ÷ 2007, the receipts from the Polish-debt-for-environment swap scheme totaled about 500 million US dollars, which made about 87% of the total amount to be received by EcoFund from 1992 till 2009. Apart from the receipts from the debt-for-environment-swap scheme, EcoFund also receives money from banking operations and from donations.

The actual EcoFund’s revenues recorded in 2007 totaled PLN 137.8 million, of which the receipts from the interests on bank deposits reached a high level of PLN 8.56 million.

Noteworthy is that EcoFund is on the leading edge among Polish environmental protection funds and is a leader, along with the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, as regards the financial aid provided in the form of non-returnable grants.

In 1992 ÷ 2007, EcoFund awarded grants of about 1 700 million zlotys in total for over 1500 projects undertaken within five priority environmental protection sectors:

·1 reduction of the transboundary transport of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and elimination of the low sources of such emissions,

·2 reduction of the pollutant inflow to the Baltic Sea and protection of drinking water resources,

·3 reduction of the emissions of gases that cause global climate changes,

·4 biological diversity protection,

·5 waste management and polluted land reclamation.

The information presented shows that, like in the previous years, the most Grant Applications (40) were approved in sector III (climate protection), where a significant number of projects were entered for the competition for energy savings in heating systems. These projects were large and comprehensive undertakings, resulting in significant environmental benefit. Numerous projects with lower budgets were received within the scheme of the awarding of standardized grants for the making of solar collector systems. The installation of such systems, in spite of high costs and relatively long payback period of the investment outlay, met with considerable interest. A traditionally large number of projects (36) were also submitted in sector IV (nature protection). Most of the projects classified here were prizewinners in the four competitions organized within this sector. Noteworthy is also the submission of two projects within sector I (air protection), which were dedicated to the change of fuelling of city buses from diesel oil to compressed natural gas (CNG).

The grants awarded for the two projects in sector I (PLN 5.8 million, taken in aggregate) made 6% of the total amount of all the grants awarded, while the grants awarded for 36 projects in sector IV (PLN 28.2 million in aggregate) made 29% of the total. In 2007, the average amount of a grant awarded by EcoFund for a new project in the nature protection sector was about PLN 780 000, while in the air protection sector the grant amount averaged out at PLN 2.9 million. A growth in the average grant could be seen in the waste management sector. While the average grant for a new project in 2006 was somewhat higher than PLN 1.5 million, it rose to about PLN 2.43 million in 2007. On the other hand, the average grants for new projects in the water protection and climate protection sectors dropped from those of the previous years to about PLN 1.22 million and PLN 1.09 million, respectively.

The largest share of EcoFund grants in the total project costs was observed, as a rule, in sector IV (nature protection). In 2007, it averaged out at 51% for the projects that were awarded EcoFund grants in that year. This share would even increase to 60% if the scope of this analysis were narrowed exclusively to the projects entered for the four competitions organized by the Foundation.

In many cases, a project that is extremely important for environmental protection could never be implemented without a grant like this because of unavailability of the necessary funds. It is also often that the financial institutions that are to provide loans or credits wait for the respective EcoFund’s grant awarding decision. The awarding of a grant by EcoFund frequently opens the way for the obtaining of other funds necessary for the implementation of a project.

EcoFund adopts a variety of methods in searching for good projects. As an example, successive editions of nation-wide competitions have been announced for many years for projects undertaken in the following fields:

·1 energy savings in municipal heating systems;

·2 nature protection in landscape parks;

·3 protection of the declining species of flora and fauna;

·4 protection of water and marshland areas;

·5 protection of the avian areas of the NATURA 2000 EU Nature Conservation Network in Poland

Another form of active searching for good projects is developing EcoFund’s own multiannual sectoral or regional programs aimed at comprehensively solving important ecological problems. Public presentation by EcoFund of a program of this kind with a simultaneous declaration of a substantial financial support for all the tasks coming within the scope of such a program makes, as a rule, a very strong incentive for investors to develop good projects that would meet the high Foundation’s requirements. So far, the following programs were implemented:

·1 elimination of the combustion of coal within the Old Town area of Cracow;

·2 effective protection of eagles and other endangered species of the birds of prey (planned for the period till 2010);

·3 preservation of the white stork in Poland;

·4 protection and reintroduction of the European pound turtle;

·5 restoration of water cleanliness in the Biebrza River in the Biebrza National Park;

·6 restoration of water cleanliness in Puck Bay and the Gdansk Gulf;

·7 restoration of water cleanliness in the Narew River to meet the needs of the Narew National Park;

·8 protection and restitution of the forest gallinaceans (black grouse, capercaillie);

·9 revitalization of the forests of the Western Sudety (the Karkonosze Mountains, the Izerskie Mountains);

·10 protection and restitution of the native species of migrating fish;

·11 restoration of water cleanliness in the Great Mazurian Lakes;

·12 protection of the environmental quality of the Tuchola Forest;

·13 elimination of the low sources of air pollutant emissions in the Klodzko Valley;

·14 modernization of the PTTK (Polish Tourist Country-Lovers’ Association) shelter-homes situated in national parks to reduce the environmental impact of such facilities;

·15 "Green Energy for the Warmia and Mazury Region."

·16 Modernization of city buses to change the engine fuelling systems from diesel oil to GNG;

·17 Replacement and modernization of electric drive systems of above 200 kW power capacity;

·18 construction of health care wastes incineration plants

An important element of EcoFund’s strategy is, after awarding a grant, thorough inspection of spending that money during the project execution. To this end, every project is divided into a number of stages finished with technical and financial acceptance inspections. The grant funds are transferred only after the specific stage is completed and accepted. This method of cooperation with investors, although requiring a lot of work to be done by the whole EcoFund Office, results in efficient implementation of overwhelming majority of projects subsidized by the Foundation. The educational role thus played by EcoFund, in particular in relation to self-government authorities and voluntary organizations, is in many cases not less important than the role of the Foundation as a financial organization.