How Russian attitudes towards the non-profit sector are changing
“You either trust CSOs or you don’t”. How Russian attitudes towards the non-profit sector are changing
22.03.2026
Article published on the givingjournal.ru website
On 24 February, the Blagosfera Centre for the Promotion of Philanthropy and Social Engagement in Moscow, hosted an expert discussion on “How Russian attitudes towards CSOs changed during 2025 and over the past twenty years”. Irina Mersianova, Director of the Centre for Civil Society and Non-Profit Sector at the National Research Centre’s Higher School of Economics, presented the results of an annual survey that has involved 2,000 respondents since 2006. Natalya Kaminarskaya, Director of the Blagosfera Centre, also took part in the event.
Three key issues were put forward for discussion: public awareness, trust and participation of Russians in CSO activities. The main findings and conclusions are set out in an article in the Journal of Philanthropy.
Public awareness of CSO activities
The level of awareness varies according to the location. Among large urban populations (over 500,000 people) the figure is 86% and in rural areas, 66%.
The second most significant factor is gender. In their communities, women are much better informed about CSO activities than men (37% and 26% respectively). Irina Mersianova attributes this to female character traits of being more sensitive and empathetic.
Gardening and dacha societies are the most well-known CSOs among Russians (42%), closely followed by trade unions (35%), with third place shared by political parties and disabled people’s associations (30% each).
The least well-known among those surveyed were initiatives aimed at protecting the rights and interests of local residents (4%).
“The fact that so few people know about them shows that such CSOs are not all that common, particularly when it comes to responding to demand”, said Mersianova when commenting on the figure. “This means that other human rights organisations are operating well here, so the population has little need of local bodies”.
In addition, 80% of those surveyed know, or have heard, of at least one CSO in their locality. Respondents most often learn about the work of organisations from others (56%). The next most common sources are the internet (27%) and local media (23%). Twenty percent of Russians are aware of CSOs as they themselves are members of these organisations (it is worth mentioning that there are many forms of participation: direct assistance, volunteering and even receiving services).
In the modern world, word of mouth is still a reliable source of information.
“The more responsibly, appropriately and effectively a CSO engages with people, the more likely it is to reach its target audience – volunteers, those affected and others – so they know exactly who can offer help and therefore come to us”, said Mersianova.
In the present atmosphere of constant blocking, it is vital to understand what risks might arise when changing platforms.
“For CSOs, social media is both an advantage and a disbenefit. Organisations often lack the resources to manage them, but without them they cannot make progress”, said Natalya Kaminarskaya. “When switching to another platform, audiences are lost at every turn. Managing and restructuring an organisation’s entire operations for a new source is a serious and challenging undertaking”.
Russians’ trust in CSO activities
Among the responses to the question “Which public, non-profit organisations and initiatives do you trust?”, the answer “I don’t trust any of them” came top by a wide margin (37%). However, 55% of those surveyed have confidence in at least one kind of CSO: these data are relatively evenly distributed across a range of different types of CSOs.
These figures follow a certain pattern – the fact that people are aware of CSOs doesn’t necessarily mean they have trust in them.
As Irina Mersianova noted, the appearance of the words “foundation” or “initiative” in a name is often the cause of mistrust.
Russian participation in CSO activities
The percentage of those taking part in the work of at least one CSO is 29%. Seventy percent of Russians have no involvement in any organisation. As with trust, the ratio of those participating is distributed among various organisations: ten percent are involved in gardening and dacha associations, followed by trade unions (7%) and housing cooperatives (6%). Participation in other types of CSOs ranges from 3% to 0.2%. As Mersianova noted, a larger sample of respondents will need to be surveyed in order to have a greater understanding of how many people take part in which organisations.
There are various types of participation:
- Membership of organisations and taking part in initiatives – 41%;
- Attendance at meetings and conferences – 33%;
- Acting as volunteers (working without pay) – 31%;
- Providing financial support and making donations – 19%
Fourteen percent would potentially like to take part in CSO activities for a fee, which is 12% more than those actually working for a salary (2%).
Natalya Kaminarskaya said that this trend is linked to Russians’ desire for financial stability.
Furthermore, the experts noted that survey respondents may well be unfamiliar with the terminology, or the exact terms that are used in the charity sector.
“Some people may have issues with self-identification – someone may have taken part in CSO activities over a long period of time, not realising they’re activists. Some of them have never heard the word “CSO”, yet are involved in civil society initiatives and associations – but they don’t consider themselves activists – they’re just people”, said Mersianova.
How confidence in the sector has changed
The biggest shifts in public opinion regarding trust in the non-profit sector took place in 2011 and 2015.
In 2011, there was an increase in trust in CSOs from 35% to 58%. This sharp increase can be explained by changes that were made to the Tax Code in relation to non-profit organisations. CSOs were no longer subject to VAT, and donors were able to claim a tax deduction.
In 2015, there was a decline in all areas: public awareness (79% to 71%); trust (54% to 38%) and participation (19% to 16%).
These three factors were influenced by a combination of events in Russia: the adoption of the law on “undesirable organisations”, cooperation with which could lead to criminal liability. By that point, CSOs had begun to be included on the list of foreign agents. Furthermore, due to the severe economic crisis, there was a fall in corporation donations to charities, which affected their viability.
However, since 2019, no significant trends have been observed – the figures are gradually levelling off and have remained stable.
