POLA

What POLA does

POLA (Pagalbos onkologiniams ligoniams asociacija) is a Lithuanian nonprofit association founded in 2012 and headquartered in Vilnius that provides psychological, legal, nutritional, and financial support to cancer patients and their families. The organization operates the POLA Card (POLA kortelė), a free membership program that grants holders access to free consultations with legal, psychological, and dietitian experts; discounts at 170+ partner businesses across Lithuania; and free access to events at 80+ cultural institutions. POLA serves an estimated 57,000+ oncology patients and relatives in Lithuania, including 55,000+ cardholders, within a domestic market of approximately 110,000 people living with cancer and 18,000 new diagnoses annually.

POLA's core product surface consists of the POLA Card membership program, a web-based POLA Patient Registry (registras.pola.lt), and a Progressive Web App mobile application available on both Android and iOS that allows members to manage their records, access consultations, and store medical information. Supporting services include free professional consultations (legal, psychological, nutritional — with response SLAs of 5 working days for legal/psychological and 20 working days for dietitian advice), a network of volunteer patient guides (pacientų gidai), and an e-commerce storefront for educational merchandise. The organization's digital infrastructure is described as a standard web/mobile stack with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities.

POLA's business model is that of a registered Lithuanian nonprofit association funded through three primary channels: individual donations, corporate sponsorships from the 170+ partner companies, and the Lithuanian 1.2% personal income tax designation (GPM), which allows taxpayers to direct a share of their income tax to POLA. The organization holds 1-10 employees and is governed independently with no parent company, investor, or public listing. Strategic partnerships span all three major Lithuanian cancer treatment centers (National Cancer Institute/NVI, Kauno klinikos, Santaros klinikos), the Ministry of Health (SAM), Ministry of Social Security and Labor (SADM), the Health Insurance Fund (Ligonių kasa), the Lithuanian Chamber of Dentists, and the EU-CIP European Cancer Information Portal consortium coordinated by Charité university hospital in Germany. POLA also maintains a patient navigation portal (priesvezi.lt) and engages in policy advocacy for oncology patient rights at the national and EU levels.

Name

POLA

Legal name

Pagalbos onkologiniams ligoniams asociacija (POLA)

Website

https://pola.lt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

POLA is a Lithuanian nonprofit association that provides free legal, psychological, and nutritional consultations to oncology patients, along with a membership card offering discounts at 170+ partners and cultural access across Lithuania. It serves 57,000+ patients and family members.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Oncology Patient Support Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (81341), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Consumer Rights & Public Interest Advocacy (BPAGAFAK)

Keywords

• Oncology patient support
• Nonprofit health advocacy
• Patient benefits program
• Cancer care association
• Patient navigation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Vilnius

HQ country

Lithuania

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

POLA is a Lithuanian nonprofit association that supports oncology patients and their families through a benefits and service ecosystem. Its flagship offering is the POLA Card membership, which provides discounts at 170+ partner businesses and free access to 80+ cultural venues, complemented by free psychological and legal consultations, patient navigation assistance, educational guides, and a voluntary 1.2% personal income tax designation program.

Product overview

POLA operates as a patient support association offering a unified card-based membership system (POLA kortelė) that provides oncological patients and their relatives with access to a network of benefits including discounts at partner companies, free cultural events, and free professional consultations. The organization's digital infrastructure consists of a web-based patient registry (POLA pacientų registras) accessible via web browser or mobile app (POLA programėlė) for Android and iOS. Services are delivered through the POLA kortelė as the primary access mechanism, supplemented by free consultations (legal, psychological, nutritional) and volunteer-based patient guidance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• POLA kortelė (POLA Card): A membership card program offering oncology patients and their relatives discounts at over 170 partner businesses and free access to cultural events at 80+ cultural institutions across Lithuania.
• POLA pacientų registras (POLA Patient Registry)

Products and services

• POLA Card Membership A free membership card issued to oncology patients and their family members in Lithuania, providing discounts at 170+ partner businesses and complimentary access to 80+ cultural venues across the country.
• Free Psychological Consultations Free psychological counseling sessions provided to oncology patients and their relatives to help cope with the emotional burden of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
• Free Legal Consultations
• 1.2% Income Tax Designation Program
• Patient Guides and Educational Materials

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 57,000 oncology patients and relatives receive direct support from POLA
• +1 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• NVI (Nacionalinis vėžio institutas / National Cancer Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor oncology institution in Lithuania. POLA collaborates with NVI on patient support programs and participates in EU-CIP project coordinated by Charité with NVI involvement in Lithuania.
• Kauno klinikos (Kaunas Clinics)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor university hospital in Lithuania. One of three top cancer treatment centers (alongside NVI and Santaros klinikos) that handle rare drug compensation cases.
• Santaros klinikos (Vilnius University Hospital)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor university hospital in Vilnius. One of three top cancer treatment centers that handle rare drug compensation cases under exceptional circumstances criteria.
• SAM (Sveikatos apsaugos ministerija / Ministry of Health)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment ministry overseeing healthcare policy. POLA engages with SAM on patient advocacy and healthcare policy initiatives.
• SADM (Socialinės apsaugos ir darbo ministerija / Ministry of Social Security and Labor)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment ministry overseeing social support policies including disability benefits and care services relevant to oncology patients.
• Ligonių kasa (Health Insurance Fund)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational health insurance fund that coordinates healthcare reimbursement. POLA works with them on patient access to compensated medications and treatments.
• Vilnius City MunicipalityminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLocal government partner supporting POLA's activities in the capital region.
• LMB (Lietuvos medicinos bankas / Lithuanian Medical Association)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional medical association supporting healthcare standards.
• Odontologų rūmai (Chamber of dentists)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for oncology patient-friendly dentistry network - training dental professionals to safely treat cancer patients.
• EU-CIP (European Cancer Information Portal)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean cancer information portal project. POLA participates as Lithuanian partner. Project coordinated by Charité university hospital (Germany). 40 partners from across Europe attended Budapest General Assembly in June 2025.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• American Cancer Society: US nonprofit offering patient support services, information, advocacy, and a broad partner-benefit network to cancer patients and caregivers. Matches POLA's combination of free professional consultations, policy advocacy, and member-benefit delivery.
• Macmillan Cancer Support: UK-based charity providing comprehensive support to cancer patients including financial guidance, information services, and partner-discount networks. Highly comparable to POLA's freemium model of legal/psychological/nutrition consultations plus a partner ecosystem that delivers tangible benefits to cardholders.
• Cancer Support Community: Global nonprofit delivering free psychosocial support, counseling, and educational services to cancer patients. Highly comparable to POLA's free psychological consultations and community-based support model.
• Lithuanian Cancer Society (Lietuvos vėžio asociacija): Domestic Lithuanian peer organization focused on oncology awareness, education, and patient support. Targets the same patient population in the same geography, providing the closest domestic comparable for member-base and service-mix benchmarking.
• Livestrong Foundation: US cancer-survivorship nonprofit providing direct support services and partner-discount programs to oncology patients. Operates a similar benefits-based membership model and shares POLA's focus on financial navigation and survivorship resources.
• European Cancer Patient Coalition: Brussels-based umbrella coalition of European cancer patient organizations engaged in policy advocacy and information dissemination. POLA is a member and EU-CIP participant, making this a directly comparable pan-European peer for advocacy and informational activities.
• National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship: US advocacy organization centered on cancer patient rights, policy engagement, and survivorship. Directly mirrors POLA's policy-advocacy and patient-rights focus within a national nonprofit framework.

Emerging players

• Look Good Feel Better: International nonprofit providing free, focused support services to cancer patients (beauty and well-being workshops). Shares POLA's mission of delivering free, structured non-clinical services to oncology patients, but with a narrower service lens.

Broad incumbents

• Cancer Research UK: Large UK cancer charity with a much broader portfolio including research funding in addition to patient support. Overlaps POLA's advocacy and patient-information functions but at vastly greater scale and scope.
• European Cancer Organisation (ECCO): Federation of European cancer societies and professionals engaged in policy advocacy and information sharing. Comparable to POLA's role as Lithuania's primary oncology patient-voice organization, but operating at the pan-European level across a much wider constituency.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/POLAasociacija

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about POLA