Russia: the culture of volunteering comes from within the family
The culture of volunteering comes from within the family, says research
08.07.2024
Article posted on the ASI website
Family happiness, love and children are of paramount importance for 54% of those who took part in a survey conducted by the Centre for Civil Society and Non-Profit Sector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE).
Forty-five percent of respondents who make financial donations do so to charity, with another 33% giving to the needy personally, although not to beggars. Intermediary mediation by CSOs and charities is less common.
Of those who were involved in helping others last year, 33% clearly see themselves as volunteers, 22% were not so sure and 43% do not regard themselves as such.
These data show that volunteering has not yet become the socio-cultural norm in some sections of society, with family and parental experience key to its development, according to the authors of the study.
Empirical evidence obtained by the HSE confirms that proactive volunteering by parents is always strongly linked to that performed by their adult children, both organised and more informal, regardless of other factors such as income, religion or socio-demographic characteristics.
“The results obtained are not only theoretical but also of important practical significance”, said Irina Mersiyanova, Director of the HSE.
“Given the positive relationship between parents’ volunteering experience and their children’s participation in charitable and volunteering activities, CSOs can focus on long-term fundraising strategies on family volunteer projects, involving both parents and their children. This will result in the creation of sustainable traditions of charity, volunteering and participation in socially significant programmes”, Irina added.
The expert believes that increased awareness of children of the work of CSOs and an example of family involvement in charity will have a further positive effect on the development of the non-profit sector in the future.
