August 2012
It began with 25,000 books
Zofia Kierner starts collecting and donating English books to children in Poland, aged nine. Over six years she gives 25,000 English resources to schools, orphanages and children’s hospitals.
Our story
Big missions take time.
Here is the last decade of our story.
January 2018
The foundation begins
Girls Future Ready is founded, with a mission of supporting education and young women in Poland and across Central and Eastern Europe.
September 2018
The first #HerStory Project
The first #HerStory Project opens - the foundation’s flagship mentorship programme.
October 2019
The first Global Ready cohort
The first edition of Girls Global Ready launches, pairing girls across CEE and the US to build the global mindset the programmes are built around.
April 2020
Mentors reach the closed schools
As the pandemic closes schools, #togetherforteachers brings 250 English-speaking mentors into 300 Polish schools. Over 10,000 students take part, and for more than 80% of them it is their first contact with a native speaker.
May 2021
The TEDxWarsaw talk
Zofia Kierner speaks at TEDxWarsaw - “The Counter Side of Young Power”.
March 2022
Forbes 25 Under 25
Forbes names Zofia Kierner a laureate of 25 Under 25 in the social impact category, for her work with the foundation and with young women across the region.
April 2023
First place in Europe
Girls Global Ready wins first place at the World Summit Awards, run by the European Parliament, as the most innovative youth-oriented project in Europe.
June 2023 → June 2024
Two galas at the Ambassador’s residence
The #HerStory Project Gala is held at the residence of the Ambassador of the United States in Warsaw, bringing together more than 150 mentors, speakers, partners and laureates - and again the following June, at the same address.
2024
The first Youth Advisory Board
The first Youth Advisory Board is seated, with Roche Poland: young people on a one-year term, working directly with the company’s leadership on the questions it puts to them.
September 2025
The first GFR Summit
The first Girls Future Ready Summit is held - a day of keynotes, panels and the people to meet, and the one event a year the whole community comes to.
October 2025
A Rising Star in Washington
Girls Future Ready is named a Rising Star at the .ORG Impact Awards in Washington, DC, recognised among the top thirty nonprofits in the world.
Onwards
Your turn
The community keeps growing, and so does what it can reach. Every programme on this site is open to someone reading this page.
