Russians give NGOs over 54 million roubles through QIWI
Moscow 21 July 2014
The QIWI Group* has issued the first progress report on its charitable aid programme in Russia. In the second quarter of 2014 payments made via QIWI to over 90 charitable funds linked in to the service amounted to over 54.7 million roubles comprised in over 168,000 individual transactions – a 10.5% increase in the number during the corresponding period in the previous year.
In April QIWI announced a new format for their work with NGOs. When making routine payments through the terminals Russians everywhere are shown advertisements informing them of charitable programmes and inviting a donation. A charitable advertisement will take up 50% of the space on the home page of the interface. The first advertisements promoted six objectives – the treatment and rehabilitation of seriously ill children, aid for parentless children, improvement of military graves, caring for monuments and memorials of heroes of World War II, and paying for nurses for single elderly people and those with disabilities.
QIWI works with NGOs in other ways. The company’s IT experts plan a series of master classes for carers at Childrens’ Villages – SOS on themes of interest to children, which will help them choose a future profession or simply enlarge their field of interest. QIWI staff regularly organise collections of articles, medicaments, and gifts and take part in charitable, and sporting events organised by their NGO partners.
Anna Stoklitskaya, managing director of QIWI, said that the advertisements were designed to attract the attention of as many Russians as possible to the idea of social support. The company was pleased that QIWIs terminals were an effective means of helping the needy. Beyond that as a socially responsible company QIWI pursued a more global aim, which was to promote a culture of mutual help and instil the habit of helping one’s neighbour. The first results of the project showed that a reliable method of achieving that goal had been employed but there was much more to do. Besides the information provided through the terminals, the company regularly organised charitable events internally. Ms Stoklitskaya explained that they could not expect society to change unless the company first set an example.
Author: Yulia Vyatkina
*QIWI plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates electronic online payment systems primarily in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
