Charitable activities in Russia over the past ten years
Results of charitable activities in Russia over the past ten years published
05.12.2022
Rusfond Navigator, a new comprehensive directory of charity fundraising organisations in Russia, has been published.
Rusfond has been studying the work carried out by charity fundraising organisations in Russia for the past ten years and has now published the results of their work in a new directory. The study summarises the results for 2021 and provides an assessment of ten years of charitable activity in the country. Data have been taken from CSO annual reports, as well as publicly available information from the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Tax Service.
Fewer CSOs have been registered in the last two years
By the end of 2021, the Ministry of Justice’s website had posted information on 8,800 charity CSOs, including major organisations such as Children’s Villages SOS, the Centre for Curative Pedagogy, Perspektiva and Downside Up.
The largest number of CSOs were registered between 2010 and 2015, with charities established during that time accounting for more than a third of the total.
The number of CSOs registered with the Ministry of Justice in the last two years has been declining: 618 organisations were established in 2021, 12% less than in 2020 and 35% less than in 2019.
Transparency among CSOs has boosted donations
Despite the pandemic and economic downturns, charity fundraising collections rose each year up until 2021. Growth has been achieved as a result of increased openness shown by charities, with more and more foundations publishing annual reports that include financial information on their websites.
Since 2020, the Federal Tax Service has made financial statements available from the government’s information resource which includes CSO reports. Many charities have started to publish financial and annual reports on their websites, as well as their submissions to the Ministry of Justice.
Collections have nearly tripled over the last ten years, reaching more than 30.5 billion roubles in 2021. 40% of this amount was raised by five charities: The Geography of Kindness, The Gift of Life, Rusfond, Alyosha and the Rus Food Bank which raised more than 12 billion roubles in 2021.
The top five charity fundraisers change every year, although there are three constant presences: The Gift of Life, Rusfond and the Rus Food Bank.
The top ten largest CSOs in terms of collections have begun to include regional charities, notably from the Kostroma and Volgograd oblasts.
In 2021, more than half of all money raised came from Moscow-based CSOs.
Five years ago, Moscow-based charities took more than 70% of all collections. Only organisations from Moscow and St Petersburg were in the top ten in terms of fundraising. Charities mostly spend money on project activities.
Last year, CSOs spent on average 85% of money raised on projects and around 15% to cover management and administrative expenses.
33% of charities reported spending 90% or more on project costs, with 3% saying they do not use money raised for non-programme expenditure. Around 5% say they have spent more than half the money on management and administration costs.
A detailed report can be found on the Rusfond website: https://rusfond.ru/navigator_stat/12.
