15.08.2017

34% of citizens carried out charitable or voluntary activities in December 2016, according to a survey carried out by the Levada Centre.

The study was conducted on a representative sample of the urban and rural population across Russia, with a sample size of 1600 aged 18 and over in 137 localities in 48 regions of the country.

The results showed that the majority of those asked prefer to donate money to specific individuals. 17% surveyed helped in that way in 2016, with the most common form being to give money to strangers on the street, in the metro or in churches (27%), and every fifth was a non-repayable gift of money to relatives.

In second place was the voluntary donation of items and food products, which was done by 15% of respondents. 6% surveyed listed donations to charitable funds for social organisations and initiatives. 2% of people carried out voluntary work.

Amongst those who donated to social organisations, 13% donated to the church and religious organisations, 7% gave money to charitable foundations and organisations helping children and the elderly, 4% helped collect funds for inhabitants of Donetsk and Luhansk, 3% supported ecological organisations and those helping animals.

16% of respondents had sent texts or made donations by calling a specific number after seeing a message about those in need on the TV or on the internet. Collections to help colleagues at work, neighbours or friends who have got into a difficult situation was just as popular. 13% of people put money in collecting tins in shops, shopping centres and cafes.

Nevertheless, according Levada Centre’s study, 64% of Russians were not active at all in the charitable or voluntary sphere in the last year. 46% had not donated money.

At the same time, the majority of studies carried out in Russia show that people help predominantly children and are not prepared to support seriously ill adults. According to a survey carried out in May-July 2015 by the project Dobro mail.ru together with the foundation Obshchestvennoe mnenie (Public Opinion), only two respondents out of 533 answered that they would help a cause exclusively for adults. When answering a question about potential recipients of help, even those who had experience of assisting adults chose children more often (24% of them would help children, only 1% adults).

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2017/08/15/blagotvoritelnost-opros-levada/