Russia: New criteria for assessing level of support given by regions to SONGOs
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development has drawn up new criteria for assessing the level of support being given by the regions to SONGOs
07.05.2025
Article published on the ASI website
The new list of evaluation criteria includes 33 indicators, which is currently out for public consultation.
The Ministry has produced an updated list of criteria to be used to compile a rating of regions that provide support to SONGOs and for social entrepreneurship (rating of Russian Federation constituent entities, based on the results of implementation of SONGO support mechanisms and social entrepreneurship). A draft Government decree that would give effect to this initiative has been posted on the draft regulatory and legal website.
The revised list of criteria includes 33 indicators instead of the previous 20 and includes:
- The number of SONGOs for every 10,000 people;
- The availability in a Russian constituent entity of a regulatory or legal act that provides tax incentives for SONGOs;
- The availability in a constituent entity of a regulatory or legal act for approving programmes or sub-programmes to support SONGOs;
- Availability in a constituent entity of resource centres for supporting SONGOs and volunteering.
According to the draft decree’s explanatory note the new list retains seven previous indicators in their current form, while another four have been adjusted slightly to “improve validity and objectivity”. Nineteen matrices relate to SONGO access to federal funding.
Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Director General of the Dobrota Severa charitable foundation and Chair of the Commission for the Development of the Non-Profit Sector of Russia’s Public Defence Council, told Kommersant that this new initiative demonstrates the Government’s desire to evaluate regional support for CSOs and social entrepreneurship in a more systematic and objective manner.
“As well as access to support programmes, assessments will also be made of their present funding, expenditure, the involvement of municipalities, the availability of resource centres and the number of CSOs that offer social services”, said Topoleva-Soldunova.
The public consultation on the draft decree will end on 21 May and, if adopted, will enter into force on 1 January next year.
