The fifth edition of the TOP CHARITY Auction in Warsaw has raised approximately €20 million, setting a new fundraising record for the initiative and bringing its total proceeds over five years to more than €34 million. Behind those figures is a philanthropic model that brings together business, humanitarian work, and contemporary art to support projects across Africa and Europe.

Founded by Ghanaian-Polish philanthropist Omenaa Mensah, the Omenaa Foundation has developed TOP CHARITY into one of the most prominent philanthropic events of its kind in Europe. The fifth edition brought together figures from business, culture, philanthropy, and public life at the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów in Warsaw, including the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

But the significance of the auction extends beyond a single evening’s fundraising total. The money raised supports a wider network of humanitarian, educational, and social initiatives developed through the Philanthropic Consortium, which brings together the Omenaa Foundation, the Rafał Brzoska Foundation, and partner organisations.

Over the past five years, the consortium’s projects have supported children and young people across Ghana and Poland. Its reported impact includes helping rescue 578 children from child labour in Ghana, supporting the education of more than 7,000 students, providing scholarships to 99 young people, and delivering assistance to more than 1,200 children living in care homes in Poland.

For the 2025/2026 season, the consortium is supporting 238 aid projects, demonstrating the scale that the initiative has developed since the first TOP CHARITY Auction.

Where Art Enters the Conversation

Contemporary art played an important role in the fundraising effort. Works by African artists including Amoako Boafo, Ibrahim Mahama, and Modupeola Fadugba were among the works associated with the auction programme, placing contemporary African artistic practice within a philanthropic structure designed to generate direct social impact.

This relationship between art and philanthropy is particularly significant within the broader work of Omenaa Mensah and the foundation. The organisation’s engagement with African creativity does not exist separately from its humanitarian activities. Through initiatives including the Kuenyehia Trust for Contemporary Art Prize and the Yaa Asantewaa Prize, the foundation has also invested in supporting artists and expanding opportunities for African contemporary art.

The model raises an important question about what art can do beyond the gallery and the commercial market. At events such as TOP CHARITY, artworks can operate within multiple systems simultaneously: as cultural objects, as works circulating through the international art world, and as instruments capable of generating resources for social and humanitarian programmes.

That does not reduce the work of artists to charity. Instead, it demonstrates how cultural capital can be mobilised within larger networks of support and exchange.

Connecting Ghana and Poland

Mensah’s Ghanaian and Polish identity is also central to understanding the geographical reach of the foundation’s work. The projects supported through the philanthropic network connect communities across Europe and Africa, particularly Ghana and Poland, creating a model of philanthropy that moves beyond a single national context.

Omenaa Mensah, Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II . Courtesy of the Omena Art Foundation

The presence of His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Warsaw event further reflected the relationship between Ghanaian cultural leadership and the international networks being developed around the initiative.

For Mensah, collaboration appears to be central to the model. Bringing together business leaders, collectors, artists, foundations, and humanitarian organisations allows individual resources to become part of larger programmes with a wider social reach.

Beyond the Auction

The approximately €20 million raised during the fifth TOP CHARITY Auction is a major figure, but the longer story is what happens after the auction ends.

Fundraising is only the first stage. The greater measure of the initiative’s success lies in how those resources are translated into education, welfare, protection, and long-term opportunities for children and young people.

With more than €34 million raised over five years, the TOP CHARITY initiative has developed from an annual fundraising event into a significant philanthropic platform connecting art, business, and social development.

Its fifth anniversary therefore represents more than a financial milestone. It demonstrates how philanthropy can create connections between sectors that do not always operate together — and how contemporary art can become part of a wider conversation about responsibility, opportunity, and social change.

For the communities supported by these projects, the most important legacy of the €20 million raised in Warsaw will not be the auction record itself, but what those resources make possible long after the final lot has been sold.