RUSSIA. Current situation: Facts and figures from the 2010 CF-GSR survey

Transcription

1 RUSSIA Community foundations Current situation: Facts and figures from the 2010 CF-GSR survey Number of community foundations at the end of Number of community foundations established in Total sum of assets, including endowments, at the end of US$1,760, Total sum of grants made by community foundations in 2009 US$364, Total sum of the income/donations in US$1,560, for grantmaking; US$40, for endowment Percentage of population that has access to a community No data foundation. Community foundation with the largest assets, including endowments, at the end of 2009 and size of its assets. Togliatti Community Foundation; US$903, Complete list of community foundations (with primary contact name and address) (CF Partnership members and others identified by CAF Russia): 1. Samara Community Foundation Tatyana Akimova, CEO t_akimova2003@mail.ru 2. Pervouralsk Community Foundation Vera Ananyina, CEO prv21vek@uraltc.ru 3. St.-Peterburg Community Foundation Milost Irina Astapenko, CEO astapenko@milost-fond.ru 4. Tyumen Community Foundation Vera Barova, CEO info@cftyumen.ru 5. Rubtsovsk Community Foundation Raznitie. Tatyana Bukanovich, CEO razvitie@rubtsovsk.ru 6. Sodruzhestvo Revdi Foundation Elena Panova, CEO panovaeg@bk.ru 7. Dzerginsk Foundation of Social Initiative Tatyana Grishina, Director eer@admm.dzr.nnov.ru

2 8. Baikal Community Foundation Anatoliy Grudinin, CEO 9. Angarsk Community Foundation Igor Shadrin, CEO Obninsk Community Foundation Tatyana Klimakova, CEO Gregory Shelehov Community Foundation Nadegda Prokopyeva Novokuznetzk Community Foundation Galina Lyzlova, President Ulyanovsk Community Foundation Ekaterina Maksimova, CEO N. Novgorod Community Foundation Alla Voloshova, CEO Ufa Community Foundaiton Olga Panchihina, Director Perm Community Foundation Sodeystvie Nina Samarina, CEO Togliatti Community Foundation Boris Tsirulnikov. CEO Chaykovskiy Community Foundation Michail Chernov, CEO Saratov Community Foundation Ilya Chukalin, CEO Alexandra Alferova, CEO deputy

3 20. Penza Community Foundation Oleg Sharipkov, CEO Tel: +7 (8412) Astrakhan Community Foundation Nikolai Chureev, CEO Kovrov Community Foundation Nina Ascheva, Chairman; Aleksandr Prihozhev, CEO Community Foundation New Daghestan Khatimat Omarova, CEO Kirovo-Chepetsk Community Foundation Andrey Plotnikov, CEO Kuyeda Region (Permsky Kray) Community Foundation Svetlana Bazhina, CEO Magadan Community Foundation «Territory gold reserve» Olga Veselyaeva North Primorye Community Foundation Olga Tremasova Svirsk Community Foundation Marina Zmanovskaya Ust -Labinsk Community Foundation STIMUL Julia Ezubova Kaliningrad Community Foundation Grishechkina Margarita National Revival Fund Bargaru (Yakutia) Andreeva Svetlana, CEO ; snowball_86@mail.ru

4 32. Tomskiy Regional Community Foundation Filonov Svyatoslav, CEO Altaian Regional Branch of Russian Community Organization (The Republic of Altay, Mayma) Zyablickaya Olga ; olgasovet@mail.ru 34. Yaroslavl Regional Community Organization Stanonoy Andrey, Pskov Community Foundation Nikonov Semen, CEO Perm Community Foundation Territory of Success Volkova Elena Yst-Ilimsk Community Foundation Businesswoman union of Yst-Ilimsk Rjaboshapka Tatyana City Charity Fund Blago Aksentev Vadim ; 39. Arkhangelsk Center of social technologies Garant Mikhaylova Marina Chukot Fund of Community Development Novosibirsk science campus Pinus Natalya Zhigulevsk Community Foundation Elena Garshina, CEO Community foundation staffing Majority of community foundations in Russia have paid staff in the office. It could be the director, grant manager, accountant, development manager or PR manager. Still it is not very easy to obtain the necessary assets for salaries and other administrative costs from local donors. Community foundations pretend to be professional charitable foundations and grantmakers, so they need to have paid staff.

5 Legal environment The legal and tax environment for community foundations in Russia is quite favourable. There are no special legal or tax incentives for community foundations. They can only use the same incentive for tax on profit, as other NGOs, on receiving grants and other charitable assets. Steps are being taken to preserve the NGO potential, develop the legislative environment and improve taxation for charitable activities both on federal and regional levels. The State Duma of the Russian Federation reviewed the following draft laws in the first reading: 1. Federal Law On introduction of amendments to some legislative acts of the Russian Federation related to support of socially oriented non-profit organizations. 2. Federal Law On introduction of amendments to Part 2 of the Tax Code related to improvement of taxation for non-profit organizations and charitable activities. Attempts to improve the legal environment for development of local philanthropy are also being made on regional level. Development of regional laws on charitable activities was initiated in a number of regions (Tyumen, Irkutsk, Tver, Ulan-Ude). Key trends affecting community foundation development The circumstances under which the Program was developed in the summer of 2008 could not have foreseen such drastic changes in the economy. The crisis in Russia influenced the NGOs a lot. In general, not only the existent programs of support for NGOs are being cut down in the Russian regions, but also the NGO sector itself is going through significant transformations. The research carried out by the community foundations that received grants within the program in 2009 demonstrated a significant decrease in activities and the overall number of NGOs in the regions. Despite the crisis, community foundations demonstrated sustainability and proved they were able to adapt to severe external influence. None of the foundations involved in the Program has shut down its activities. The decrease in state and corporate investments in territory development set new goals and objectives for the foundations. Some of the foundations revised their strategies of local fundraising (Penza, Angarsk, Ulan-Ude) and program priorities. Foundations started to work more with small and medium size business, develop new models for private donations. A technology of individual projects and programs is developing (Angarsk). There are attempts to establish family foundations (Samara). Community foundation activity and impact Community foundations in Russia bring the following changes to the communities through their grantmaking and other programmes: citizens more involved in people-led development less poverty/more equal society improvement in the position of marginalised groups more responsive authorities increased awareness of environmental Remarkably positive changes Positive changes Slightly positive changes No changes Some negative changes

6 issues support to arts and culture activities more trust within the community greater transparency/accountability stronger linkages across different parts of the community increased charitable giving through the community foundation Examples: The community foundations impact on Pervouralsk and Rubtsovsk: Majority of the Foundations participants name not so much effective technologies of fundraising into the social sphere, as what could have been called effect of community molding among main indicators of change that have taken place in communities following the Foundations activities. The Foundations provide services to grant programs and at the same time they take steps to influence communication and working out solidarity actions for different interest groups. Both in Rubtsovsk and Pervouralsk community foundations, technology is successfully developing and serves as a pivot around which social life connected with societal development evolves. The Foundations differ from each other in their activity accents explained, first of all, by the differences in their economic performance. In Pervouralsk the Foundation appears more sustainable from the point of view of how management processes are structured and formalized while in Rubtsovsk the strength of the Foundation is its flexibility and its high creative potential. Main development tendencies most apparently distinguishing Rubtsovsk and Pervouralsk from other provincial Russian towns and cities where the community foundation technology is not applied are: 1. Development as community integration: Specifically, this tendency is found in the development of partnership and cooperation between both social and for-profit organizations participating in the Foundation; 2. Development as growth of personal responsibility for the present and future of one s own community: Specifically it shows in the increase of motivation of social sphere managers to go beyond assigned job duties; 3. Development as emergence of new urban managers of social sphere: Specifically, this tendency is seen in the project culture emergence, project quality improvement, as well as increase in the number of projects that are implemented without Foundation s participation. This tendency will most probably intensify in both cities. NGO managers today speak of being mature enough for more serious (and thus, more costly) projects. In both cities the Foundations continue their institutional development and have a range of promising ideas laid on their plate. Should they be implemented into life, community foundations will hit a qualitatively new level. Effects following Foundations presence in communities could be categorized into 3 groups: a. Effect for entrepreneurs, engaged in the Foundation s activities in different capacities; b. Effect for NGO managers and social organizers; c. Effect for the city population and the community in general

7 Community involvement The table below shows how community foundations in Russia involve the community in their work: Are community activists involved on boards/committees? Do community foundations promote the use of volunteers from the community? Do community foundations participate in community issues and discussions led by others in the community? Do community foundations promote information about the community (e.g. through Vital Signs or similar research and sharing of information)? Do community foundations convene or lead discussions on issues of community importance? Are community foundation Boards or governance structures reflective of the diversity of the community? Yes SomewhatNo Examples: It is common for Russian community foundations to organize social discussions and round tables for actual social issues. In determining priority goals for the charitable programs, Rubtsovsk Community Foundation conducts the research of priority social problems in the community on a regular basis. Arkhangelsk Community Foundation has begun to monitor index of social health and actual issues of city development and problems. Community foundations doing more than making grants The community foundation in Kaliningrad has several examples of activities in community more then making grants: 1. My house is my fortress aimed to engage citizens in housing and utilities transformation, provide support for local initiatives. 2. Art and Culture prevention of historic and cultural regional legacy, raising professional level of staff in culture infrastructure. 3. NGO sustainability - aimed to support initiatives for collaboration NGO and experts, raising transparency of NGOs, training for NGOs, informational support. 4. Youth initiatives developing Youth bank technology in region. Support of youth initiatives in rural regions. The importance of small grants There are three main objectives of small grants: Investment in organizational development of new community foundations Support to local fundraising initiatives Widening the CF geography in Russia, involvement of new territories

8 Community foundation income Types of funds most frequently supported by donors 1. Funds for grants 2. Funds for administrative costs 3. Funds for endowment 4. In kind donations Types of donors who give to community foundations 1. Individuals 2. Charitable organizations 3. Government 4. Companies/ Corporations Strategies for engaging and servicing donors There are some new types of services: a. Corporate charitable program development and management b. Private family foundations c. Named foundations d. Special donors account in the community foundation Trends in donor engagement The main trend in local communities is engagement of small local business and private donations for community foundations. Big companies decrease their involvement with and donations to community foundations because of the crisis. Assessing and communicating impact In 2009 some foundations started to pay more attention to research and assessment of community needs, as well as evaluation of their own activities, which, undoubtedly, will help them to better structure and target their programs and priorities, and play an even more important role in social transformations. It should be noted that this trend resulted form the Program component - Self-Assessment Grants - within the community foundation grant competition. With the support provided by the Program, seven foundations had the opportunity not only to evaluate their programs and activities, but also to form an evaluation framework to be used in their day-to-day practice. In 2009, seven evaluation projects were implemented: Rubtsovsk, Tomsk, Yakutsk, Penza, Ulan-Ude, and Astrakhan. The general idea of those cautions was that they were failing to describe what impact on community was reached through their activities and what local capacity they managed to build. The normal claim was that grants are often given to the same organizations and there is not much search for in-depth tools to address the roots of the problems. Russian community foundations were also described as too much focused on providing services to companies and not taking enough effort to raise giving spirit in their communities. By introducing the Self-Assessment Grants, CAF Russia aimed to help mature community foundations in carrying out the evaluation of their place in community, making impact analysis and identifying those grants and activities that facilitated real changes in communities. Besides, the mature community foundations would produce an evaluation framework that could be shared with other community

9 foundations in Russia. Self-Assessment Grants were designed only for more mature community foundations members of the CF Partnership. Networks Russian community foundations benefit quite a bit from national and international networks and have quite good relations with each other. Examples of successful national and international collaborations: 1. Community Foundation Partnership - an active alliance of foundations uniting twenty-six community foundations. It is the first association of community foundations in Russia aimed to support and develop community foundations, increase the awareness of the model in regions, and help to start up new foundations. CF Partnership provides consultations for initial everyday questions of community foundations work and aimed to increase their proficiency and effectiveness. 2. There are three new established collaborations: a. The North-West Alliance - an inter-regional alliance including five regions: Kaliningrad, Archangelsk, Saint-Petersburg, Pskov and Murmansk. The Alliance aims at promoting the community foundations model across the Federal District through exchange of experience and technologies, increasing the status of participants, improving the financial situation and raising funds, broadening the influence of the organization in the North-West, development of philanthropy, accumulation of regional internal resources, professional staff capacity building and eliminating staffing problems, development of external relations, and joining resources of other participants. All partners within the alliance have enough professional resources to deal with complex tasks aimed at development of the community foundation model and dissemination of social technologies. b. Perm Alliance - joining the urban and rural territories of the Krai. It was formed to develop community foundations and promote the model on regional level. A Cooperation Agreement signed by the alliance participants states the following goal for the alliance: «promoting development of civil society and effective cooperation within a developing social partnership in Perm Krai; formulating the current agenda for short-term development of civic activity in the territories». The Alliance unites twelve territories of the Krai. The Alliance offered new information opportunities for the community foundations to position their activities on regional level. The Alliance was presented to the Council of Heads of Municipalities of Perm Krai. c. Irkutsk Alliance - also a regional alliance including community foundations of Angarsk, Shelekhov, Svirsk, Irkutsk. Irkutsk Alliance is also a regional alliance including community foundations of Angarsk, Shelekhov, Svirsk, Irkutsk. The Alliance is coordinated by the Revival of Siberian Land Foundation, a large NGO that has more than ten years of history and vast experience in development of local communities and charitable activities in Siberia. The foundation staff have a lot of professional knowledge and experience in implementation of partnership projects. According to the foundations that joined the Alliance, it allowed them all to contribute to the Alliance development: promote each other, promote the community foundation model, unite the resources. One of the most important resources is the opportunity for education and exchange of experience. According to the participants, the Revival of Siberian Land Foundation is a powerful resource centre experienced in NGO education, which offers an opportunity to organize a Foundation School at the regional level (this may

10 be the name for a future project). This program would provide an opportunity for education to both existing foundations and initiative groups wishing to establish a community foundation in their territory. Thus, a precedent has been created of representation of the Alliance in the most powerful structure of NGO sector that has access to regional authorities. Sources of support Support organizations, infrastructure bodies, etc. 1. CAF Russia - with the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, provides organizational development grants (ranging from $5,000 to $10,000) aimed at different organizational development activities, i.e. from fundraising to self-evaluation. Being the large international institution and having the big picture over the situation in Russia, it develops strategic approaches to the community foundation concept promotion nationwide and to support provision to community foundations, emerging initiatives, community foundations networks and alliances of different types. At the moment it has been the only national player that was able to take the responsibility on shaping the community foundation development strategy and leading this strategy forward with various tools and partnerships. CAF also develops various donor-service tools and offers consulting to national and international donors seeking to introduce the community foundation concept in the areas of their interests. CAF Russia partnered with the following national companies on community foundations development: YUKOS, SUAL, RUSAL, Polus-Gold. The consulting capacity of CAF staff also helped to initiate community foundation movements in Baltic Republics (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) and in Ukraine. 2. Community Foundation Partnership - provides the platform for information and experience sharing between member organizations. As an association it goes through a certain type of growth disease and seeks its strategic role in community foundation development. We assume that in the nearest future the Partnership s role in support of the institutionalized development of the foundations will only intensify. In discussions, community foundation representatives most often expressed their expectations associated with the role and influence of CF Partnership on the community foundation institutional development in Russia, i.e. a. Development of single (generally accepted) minimal standards of community foundation operation (model). b. CF Partnership transit to the next development level: expansion of political, economic, and social influence. c. Expansion of Partnership s opportunities for nascent foundations support. d. Expanding presence of local funds in the support to the Partnership. e. Possibility to set up regional alliances of community foundations. f. Promotion of community foundation ideas and technologies, dissemination of success stories. g. Defining community foundation professional standards, dissemination successful instruments and mechanisms. Availability of other types of support 1. Technical assistance quite available 2. Peer visits and networking support very available 3. Skills training quite available 4. Information, knowledge management, and research support quite available

11 Advocacy in public policy The year 2009 saw the continuation of activities aimed at building actual social partnerships in local communities, strengthening cooperation between community foundations and authorities both on regional and municipal levels. This cooperation is expressed in joint programs and projects and, which is even more important, in recognition of the role community foundations play in their communities. Some heads of community foundations became members of regional Public Chambers, members of Councils on Local Self-Governance, commissions on development of small and medium size businesses, and deputies of regional and municipal legislative bodies. This reflects the recognition of community foundations in their communities and opens new opportunities for the foundations and new prospects for their activities. History of community foundations in Russia 1 The community foundation concept came to Russia through the efforts of the Charities Aid Foundation s Russia branch (CAF Russia), which began promoting it in It took a long while to adapt it and ensure mentality changes within the Russian non-profit sector and the donor community. The first Russian community foundation, the Togliatti Community Foundation, was established in early 1998, after four years of preparatory work by CAF Russia. The main funders of the community foundation were medium-sized banks, two chemical enterprises in the city, and a car manufacturer. It soon became the model for the fast growing community foundation movement in Russia. In 1999 three new foundations were established in Tyumen, Samara, and Obninsk. The ability of community foundations to bridge community interest and community leaders by building trust during the chaos of perestroika was the key to their success. Russian society has traditionally been divided by sectors. It was vital to find a point of intersection among the three sectors: public, private and non-profit. The reasons for starting community foundations in Russia have changed as their value has been proven, and there is practical interest in optimizing community social and charitable activities, coming from various types of communities and from large national corporations. There are both positive and negative factors in Russia that affect community foundation development. On the one hand the concept is widely recognized. There is a supporting structure that now comprises both the national community foundation association, the Community Foundations Partnership established in 2003, and donor organizations (CAF Russia and companies). On the other hand, the national government is showing an increasing distrust of the non-profit sector and heavily scrutinizes its operations. Generally, the legal and fiscal environment for the development of community foundations is not favourable. There are no tax incentives for individuals and corporate funders. Therefore, not many Russian community foundations have endowment building strategies. Also many donors prefer donoradvised funds rather than unrestricted funds and consider endowments as not being a proper type of social investment. The majority of funding 61 percent still comes from local businesses. Nevertheless, increased funding from national corporations, as well as individuals is reported Community Foundations Global Status Report. Researched and written by Eleanor W. Sacks. Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support.

12 Support Organization: CAF Russia History and purpose 2 CAF Russia is a Russian office of the Charities Aid Foundation founded in UK in Its mission is to develop philanthropy in its diversity and bring more funding into the non-profit sector. CAF was involved in community foundation development in UK, Europe, and it initiated the concept in Russia. The community foundations are seen as infrastructural supporting institutions that develop and mobilise numerous layers of donors and, therefore, bring philanthropy on to the new level. Other organizations that support and promote the development of community foundations Community Foundations Partnership, a membership association of community foundations open to organizations from Newly Independent States (NIS) and Eastern Europe. It was initiated in 2003 and incorporated in It is CAF Russia s primary partner. Structure and organization CAF Russia is a large entity providing services to national and international donors. It has 50 people on staff and 60 percent of its funding comes from Russian donors. It is a branch of the British foundation and is ruled by the UK board. The community foundation programme is funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation for grants and capacity building, and by national corporations for consulting. Recent accomplishments Description of the recent 2009 grant programme: Institutional development with the focus on social change In 2009 CAF Russia designed a four-option grant programme that included (Small grants up to $10,000): 1. Matching Grants 1.1. Funding for organizations (for start-ups) that express interest and would like to consolidate their mission, goals and strategy into a community foundation The objectives of this type of grants: Investment in organizational development of new community foundations Support to local fundraising initiatives Widening the community foundation geography in Russia, involvement of new territories 1.2. Funding for new community foundations given to community foundations that had been in existence no less than one year and had grant making experience, fundraising campaigns, could provide letters of support from different sectors, provided clear thought development plans, had clearly defined competition priorities and full time staff 2 Ibid. (Updated by Yulia Khodorova, Development Manager, CAF Russia)

13 The objectives of this type of grants: Investment in organizational development of community foundations Support of local fundraising campaigns Development of new community foundation programs aimed at supporting social projects 2. Critical Moment Development Grants Critical Moment Development Grants were given to existing community foundations planning to undertake actions that can potentially result in breakthroughs in certain areas of their institutional development, e.g. improving governing structure, launching fundraising campaigns, introducing new types of donor services or grantmaking programs. We expected the foundations to identify and use innovative approaches in their organizational, program and other types of activities, aimed at social transformation in their respective communities. These breakthrough technologies and approaches allow the foundations to secure and strengthen their positions in the communities. 3. Development of alliances grants Strengthening the position of community foundations with a specific focus on regional structures Objectives of this type of grants: Promoting the model and strengthening the positions of community foundations on municipal and regional levels through joint effort and resources, Strengthening the role and influence of community foundations in development of local communities: development of new approaches to interaction with local communities; strengthening the cooperation with experienced organizations that have competence and resources in local communities, Improving and strengthening communication among community foundations to disseminate the best practices and approaches, Making the community foundations more trustworthy for the authorities, business and local community. The Program objective for this type of grants was not to create associations of foundations that would compete with the existing СF Partnership, but to support the foundations efforts aimed at development of the community foundation model, joining the foundations on regional level, promoting and strengthening community foundations in the regions; and also to broaden the information environment and attract professional resources of other organizations to improve the quality of programs and professional level of the foundations. 4. Grants to evaluate impact Promotion of models aimed to achieve social changes and to strengthen civil society through foundations Objectives of this type of grants: Capacity building, introduction of program and project assessment tools Development of the community foundations expert potential Development and analysis of community foundations strategy By introducing the Self-Assessment Grants CAF Russia aimed to help mature community foundations carry out an evaluation of their place in community, by undertaking an impact analysis and identifying those grants and activities that facilitated real changes in communities. An added benefit is that the

14 mature community foundations would produce an evaluation framework that could be shared with other community foundations in Russia. The Self-Assessment Grant programme was announced at the Community Foundations Partnership Coordinating Committee meeting in Penza in February CAF managers at this meeting explained the concept of Social Change and what is expected as the results of the grants. The actual design of the evaluation framework was given to the discretion of grantees. However, in further discussion with several community foundations, it was decided that CAF would help them in finding an external consultant, a professional with expertise in evaluation. This decision was extremely helpful for the programme as the consultant produced a very insightful and thorough report, which raised a number of very important issues and provided an outlook from a different angle. The main trends in community foundation development that were identified by the consultant: Facilitation of community integrity through strengthening cooperation between social and business organizations; Growth of personal responsibility for the present and future of community that is partially reflected in higher motivation of social authorities for taking on efforts exceeding their job descriptions; Emergence of new city social managers. This tendency is seen through strengthening of the project culture, higher quality of projects, growth of the number of projects implemented independently of community foundations. It is important to note the emergence of the WINGS Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) which started playing a vastly important role in community foundation development in Russia. During 2009, GFCF gave three grants ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 to three community foundations. These are significant resources that far exceed the capacity of CAF Russia s grant programme, and it needs to be taken into account. CAF Russia has established collaborative relationships with GFCF which also helped to slightly change the focus of the grants programme. As CAF Russia has deeper knowledge of the context and stays in constant contact with the latest developments and initiatives in the field, it can now concentrate on identifying and supporting emerging initiatives with smaller grants and adapting this support in accordance with changing environment. Current challenges/future developments One of the key challenges that CAF Russia sees in community foundation development is widening the community foundation network and establishing community foundation support centres in remote areas of the country. Additional resources CAF Russia s websites are: Correspondent: Yulia Khodorova, Development Manager, CAF Russia