25/10/2016

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

British charity fund CAF recently published the results of a new global survey providing insight on the world of private charitable giving in their World Giving Index. 140 countries are represented in the 2016 ranking, among which Russia took 126th place, climbing three places in the global ranking from the previous survey.

The World Giving Index is compiled on the basis of worldwide data from Gallup’s WorldView poll and published a month before the start of the ‘Generous Tuesday‘ initiative which is part of the Global Day of Charity. A country’s position in the ranking depends on three factors: monetary donation to charitable organisations, volunteering work and the amount of help given to disadvantaged strangers in a particular state.

«The results of the only comparative study on the generosity of citizens in 140 countries creates a unique global representation of charitable activity. The strength of charity lies in its simplicity, though, of course, it raises many subsequent questions — questions of culture, practices, norms and levels of understanding. We have never tried to ‘fix’ our index, also taking into account these country differences. On the contrary, the survey’s value lies in its role as a starting point — a starting point for discussion, comment and, of course, for a more detailed investigation of this issue,» states Dr. John Low, Executive Director of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), the British charitable fund.

According to the results of the research, first place in the ranking goes, once again, to Myanmar,  second place to the US, third place to Australia and fourth and fifth places to New Zealand and Sri Lanka. China was placed last in the ranking. Russia went up by only three positions compared to 2015, and took 126th place in the global ranking this year. However, the number of Russians who made donations to non-profit organisations has doubled this year, with an increase of nearly 11 million people.

«Last year, the proportion of Russians who made monetary donations to NGOs doubled and they amounted to 18% of the population (9% in 2014),» claimed the authors of the study.

The growth of donation levels in Russia, researchers have suggested, may be partly due to the fact that the 2015 survey in Russia was held at the end of Ramadan, the traditional time for charitable donation for Russian Muslims.

This was the 7th year that CAF had conducted the study, but in 2016, for the first time, the results revealed that more than half of the respondents from 140 countries had written that they had helped strangers during the month preceding the survey. Also, according to the results, men are significantly more likely than women to take part in volunteering activity and help people they don’t know in many countries.

In Russia, according to the study, the number of Russian citizens taking part volunteering work decreased this year from 19% to 12%. This statistic was the reason why Russia ‘fell’ out of the top 10 in terms of the number of people in the country involved in volunteering activity.

You can take a closer look at the results of the study here.

AUTHOR: Irina Laktyushina

URL: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2016/10/25/rossiyane-stali-chashhe-zhertvovat-na-blagotvoritelnost/

3. Applications now accepted from NGOs in six