77% of Russians believe charity should be practised regardless of income,
Seventy-seven per cent of Russians believe that charity should be practised regardless of personal income, says the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (PORC)
09.09.2026
Articles published on the ASI website
In the first eight months of this year, Russians made 14% more charitable donations than in the same period last year, with their total rising by 12%.
During that time, charitable donations made through YuKassa went up by 14%, compared to the same period last year, while their overall turnover rose by 12%. The number of donors also increased by 5%.
These figures were released by the fintech company YooMoney to mark International Charity Day. Analysts looked at payments made to charities connected to YuKassa, a service that processes online and offline payments and which is used by around 2,000 charities.
The average size of donation for January to August was 610 roubles, down 1% on last year. The company attributes this to the fact that users find it psychologically easier to set up a monthly payment of 100-500 roubles, rather than transfer a large sum in a single transaction.
The figures also went up on International Charity Day. On 5 September, the total value and number of donations increased by 12%, while the number of donors rose by 22%. The average donation on the day was 632 roubles.
The bulk of the funds continues to be used to help children with rare and serious illnesses, as well as young people who need expensive treatment and rehabilitation. At the same time, analysts are noticing new trends. Russians have become more active in supporting the homeless, people with disabilities and disaster victims, together with trade unions representing the self-employed and freelancers.
Among the regions, Magadan Oblast led the way in terms of average donation size (1,084 roubles). The average transaction value went up by 44%, total payment value by 67%, and the number of transactions by 16%. St Petersburg and the Leningrad region came second (956 roubles), although analysts recorded a 13% and 14% decline in turnover and number of payments respectively. In third place was the Republic of Tuva (855 roubles), while the size of payments in the region fell by 2.6 times and the number of transactions by 3.4.
Source: https://asi.org.ru/news/2026/09/09/chislo-blagotvoritelnyh-platezhei-v-rossii-vyroslo-na-14/
18.09.2026
The proportion of those who believe that charity is mainly the preserve of the wealthy has fallen from 41% to 17% over the past 20 years, according to a recent survey conducted by PORC.
Seventy-seven per cent of those surveyed believe that charity “should be the responsibility of every individual to the best of their ability”. This view is more widely held by young people, i.e. 83% of those born between 1992 and 2000.
Moreover, most respondents (60%) think that charity should be anonymous and not widely publicised. A further 48% believe that support from private individuals and businesses should be altruistic, and that the State shouldn’t specifically encourage it.
“In 2025, 78% of Russians said they had helped others over the past year without asking for anything in return, most commonly those who had participated in the conflict in Ukraine, taken part in community clean-up days and public improvement works, helping the elderly, people with disabilities and the homeless, as well as stray animals”, said Maria Grigorieva, an expert working for PORC.
More than half of Russians (51%) believe it is the State’s responsibility to tackle social problems and that people should be free to choose where their donations go, for example, to the Arts, culture or other areas they consider important.
At the same time, 38% of respondents think that donations should be made in support of schools, hospitals, sports and health centres, abandoned children and the resolution of other pressing social issues.
Furthermore, 30% of those surveyed accept that there should be moral incentives for charitable giving, such as public recognition, gratitude and fame. A further 15% said the State could also provide financial inducements for such activity.
