Nie przez perfekcję. Przez zaufanie. | Maria Szymańska | TEDxKoźmiński University
Maria Szymańska shares how being trusted by others before believing in herself allowed her to create a volunteer-matching platform as a teenager. She argues that true philanthropy is not about large financial transfers, but about the courage to trust someone who hasn't yet found their own confidence. She connects this personal experience to the broader concept of endowment funds as infrastructure for societal trust.
Summary
Maria Szymańska opens her talk with a provocative question: who has ever done something simply because someone believed in them before they believed in themselves? She frames her entire story around this idea of trust as a catalyst for action.
She recounts how, during the wave of Ukrainian migration, she repeatedly went to train stations to help but was turned away because she was under 18. Frustrated by bureaucratic barriers, she channeled her energy into creating a project that would connect volunteers with organizations seeking them. When financing became the main obstacle, her first grant application was rejected as 'too ambitious.' On her second attempt, she succeeded — and crucially, the person who supported her did so without imposing solutions, only strengthening her own process. This, she says, gave her not just funding but the freedom to learn through her own mistakes and find her own path.
Szymańska reflects that her greatest joy came not from doing things perfectly, but from doing them her own way. This early experience of being trusted unlocked a chain of further projects, scholarships, and mentorships, forming the foundation of her personal 'why.'
In the second part of her talk, she broadens the lens to institutional philanthropy. She draws a parallel between personal trust and endowment funds ('kapitał żelazny'), pointing to Harvard's 400-year-old endowment of over $50 billion as a model for sustainable societal investment. She argues that endowment funds create an 'infrastructure of trust,' enabling researchers and scholars to work without constant financial anxiety. She also cites the Open Society Foundation as an example of philanthropy that builds entire societies, not just campuses.
She concludes by urging her audience that if they ever consider philanthropy, they should not think in terms of money transfers, but recognize that a single decision to trust someone can change that person's entire world.
Key Insights
- Szymańska argues that the most empowering form of support she received was not one that imposed solutions or did the work for her, but one that strengthened her own agency and allowed her to learn through mistakes.
- Szymańska claims her greatest satisfaction came not from doing things perfectly, but from doing them her own way — suggesting that autonomy, not excellence, is the true driver of meaningful development.
- Szymańska was turned away from volunteering at train stations helping Ukrainian migrants simply because she was under 18, which she identifies as the direct trigger for her creating a volunteer-organization matching platform.
- Szymańska reframes philanthropy not as large financial transfers but as the courage to trust someone who does not yet fully believe in themselves.
- Szymańska points to Harvard's endowment fund — built over 400 years and exceeding $50 billion — as evidence that endowment funds create a durable 'infrastructure of trust' that annually supports new researchers and scholars without them worrying daily about resources.
Topics
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to Access