Zuzanna Gutkowska: 28 hectares of forest saved in a public campaign

A forest that stays forever

The Las Na Zawsze foundation has operated since 2019 and does two things. It buys mature, biodiverse forests so that nobody cuts them down, and it plants new ones on the land it buys — only native species. Every forest is protected legally, so once it is protected, it stays protected.

Since 2025 the foundation has been led by Zuzanna Gutkowska, president of the board. She is inspired by Kris and Doug Tompkins, who spent money earned in business on buying and protecting vast areas of wild nature. The foundation works in a similar way, on a Polish scale — and with the help of thousands of people.

To date, Las Na Zawsze has protected or planted more than 286 hectares of forest across 65 counties. More than 204,000 trees and shrubs are in the ground, and more than 190 partners support the foundation, including Orange, Decathlon, and Castorama.

A woodland built by thousands of people

In May 2025 the foundation launched the largest project in its history: the Connected Polish Forest. The goal is a network of protected forests of at least 2,000 hectares — roughly the size of Ojców National Park. For comparison: the last national park in Poland was created in 2001.

The idea is simple. Protecting a hectare of forest costs about PLN 100,000. Fortunately, nobody has to buy a whole forest alone — each person who supports the campaign adds their share, and thousands of payments become a woodland. People who support the project become its Founders and receive a certificate with the coordinates of the forest they helped save.

Rzeczpospolita, Forbes, Interia, and INNPoland have written about the project, among others.

A book that protects a forest

The largest boost so far for the Connected Polish Forest came from an unexpected place — a book. Tomasz Karwatka, an entrepreneur and one of the project’s co-creators, published “The 5. The first five years of running a company” and decided that the entire profit from the book and the The 5 System program would go to protecting forests.

The launch took place on 10 December 2025 during the 9-hour online event The 5 Live, whose broadcast now has more than 50,000 views. Instead of revenue, the screen showed a counter of square meters of protected forest. Within 24 hours, 25 hectares were protected, and the whole campaign ended at 28 hectares and more than 60,000 copies of The 5 sold.

Every purchase is square meters of forest

The book and The 5 System were sold through Easytools. At the scale of that launch, thousands of people entered the checkout at once throughout the day — so the important thing was to keep the sale stable and uninterrupted. It worked completely.

The checkout handled every transaction even at the moments of heaviest traffic, and anyone who wanted to help protect the forest could buy.

The campaign itself is described in Tomasz Karwatka’s separate story.

What makes this story stand out

Most nature fundraisers simply ask for a donation. Here, people helped by buying something they were looking for anyway — a book about running a company. And the result could be counted in square meters of forest that now has coordinates and is protected by law.

What matters most is permanence. Las Na Zawsze does not protect a forest for a few years. It protects it forever — and that is what convinces the next entrepreneurs and donors to join.

Summary

Zuzanna and her team show that a woodland the size of a national park does not have to be built alone. Donors help, partner companies help, and entrepreneurs help — people like Tomasz Karwatka, who turn their own projects into hectares of protected forest.