Revolution and Fundraising in Russia
by Jennifer Scott
Russian Response to the 2010 Summer Wildfires
by Julie Lafford
Revolution and Fundraising in Russia
By Jennifer Scott
Russia has experienced shifts and changes historically when it comes to philanthropy. Russia‘s growth in charity over the past 3 years has been one of the highest growing countries in the world (schmida). Russia adopted English views of philanthropy historically but the transition to socialism and changes Russia adopted over time has created a distinct and continuously changing view of philanthropy.
During the 11th to 17th in Russia’s main form of dealing with the dispossessed was in the concept of almsgiving. Russian donors followed the teachings of St. John Chrysostom who deliberated that wealth should be shared to positively impact the less fortunate for religions sake. Chrysostom preached that “wealth to be used for the purpose of almsgiving to be delivered from the wrath of God (Ulianova).” Russians were to give and help for the purpose to save themselves under the eyes of religion.
Russia during the 17th century possessed a large number of poor and disadvantaged creating an establishment of who was worthy of alms, this became “disabled soldiers, the physically disabled, illegitimate babies and children (Ulianova).”Russia followed the charity trends that were currently undergoing in England and proved successful adding institutions such as insane asylums, orphanages, boarding schools and workhouses in addition to the almshouses that were established for the needy. During the 17th and 18th centuries institutions could not keep or create fast enough to support the needy and many disadvantaged people were turned to monasteries until the end of the 18th century and early 19th century when institutions could catch up with the need in the vast Russia. The ideas and institutions mainly stayed in place with individual charity during the 19th and 20th centuries until the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Bolshevik Revolution and the emergence of socialism and rule by communist parties shifted the paradigm of philanthropy from individual charity to state run care for people in need. During “the 70 years of the soviet system society became accustomed to a state that took all the work of caring for the less fortunate upon itself and there was no reason for ordinary to get involved (telegraph uk).” It wasn’t until the collapse of the Soviet Union that domestic giving would really come back into focus.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia needed to find its foothold in dealing with the disadvantaged. Foundations were creating in the early 1990’s by wealthy families and massive companies. “Middle class giving was incredibly low as it has been virtually non-existent 5 years previously (Alexeeva). The charity that did exist was from “large corporations that were mainly linked to specific towns or areas that surrounded the corporation (Smetanina)” which created a less accessible charitable sector.
“Growth in philanthropy in Russia in 2007-2008 was among the highest in the world (Smetanina).” There are four distinctions in Russian philanthropy that sets its charity apart from other nations. Firstly, almost all donations are kept in Russia. “Russian philanthropists are mainly concerned with solving domestic problems (Livshin).” Secondly, very few philanthropists use non profit groups to distribute their charity due to “the lack of transparency and openness of charities lead to give directly to people or state run institutions (Mersiyanova, 72).” Thirdly, and partially part of the previous point 90 percent of donations go to state run bodies like orphanages. Lastly,” secular rather than religious causes obtain the overwhelming percentage of donations (Livshin).”
Since 2004 the middle class philanthropy has grown substantially “virtually from zero dollars to millions of roubles in 2007 (Gambrell)” and “philanthropic activity has been growing at the rate of the pace of the economy (charity aid foundation)”. One of the biggest impediments to the development of non-profit private aid is Corporate donors are still the highest in the area of philanthropy donating from 70 to 75% of all donations which still attaches charity to regional and specific areas. Russia is still growing and altering in the charity domain, however “experts see the financial crisis will not affect the rapid growth of charity in Russia (Smetanina).”
Works Cited
Alexeeva, O. (2008, September). Russia: historic growth in private giving. Philanthropy: uk Newsletter. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from EBSCOhost database.
Livshin, A. (2006, May). Civil society and philanthropy under Putin. The International Journal Of Not-For-Profit Law. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from EBSCOhost database.
Mersiyanova, I. (2006, June 22). Community foundations in Russia: Phase of institutional development. Center For The Study Of Civil Society and The Non-Profit Sector. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from http:/www.grans.hse.ru
Schmida, S. (2002, Autumn). Emergence of philanthropy in Russia and the other new independent states. SEAL: Social Economy And Law Journal. Retrieved September 27, 2010 from http:/www.efc.be/cgi-bin/articlepublisher.pl?filename=SS-SE-10-02-1.html
Smetanina, S. (2009, April 21). Russia’s vulnerable need sweet charity from philanthropy. Telegraph UK. Retrieved September 28, 2010 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsered/russianow/5194571/russias-vulnerable-need.html.
Ulianova, G. (2001). Philanthropy in imperial Russia from the 18th to the early 20th century. Russian Academy of Sciences: Institute of Russian History. Retrieved September 26, 2010 from EBSCOhost database.
Russian Response to the 2010 Summer Wildfires
By Julie Lafford
Philanthropy is a relatively new idea in Russia. During seventy years of communism where the government was expected to take care of all needs, material and spiritual, charity was thought of as demeaning towards the receiver (Gambrell). The response to the summer 2010 wildfires by the government, big business and the public at large shows that this attitude has changed greatly since the fall of the Soviet Union as the three parties rethink their role in philanthropy.
After the fall of communism some families and individuals profited greatly from new capatilist business activities; Russians refer to these people as “oligarchs”. There were a number of scandals involving big business and false philanthropic activity because of a lack of government regulation which led to a further mistrust of charitable activity among the population.
Despite the scandals of the 1990s, corporate philanthropy thrives in Russia and continues to be the largest source of charitable giving. However, despite rising poverty and a clear need for social welfare charity, oligarchs such as Dimitry Zimin of the Dynasty Foundation admit to founding charities to support the future elite of Russia (Smetanina). Sports teams are also a major recipient of giving from Russia’s oligarchs (Markowitz). While attitudes are slowly changing, support for the elderly, the disabled and single mothers is still thought of as the government’s responsibility (Smetanina).
In an interesting contrast between capitalist and communist thought, Russia’s new rich don’t think they owe anything to society but the poor think charity is the duty of the rich and there is a general hostility towards individual wealth (Smetanina). As one might expect, there is very little charitable giving from the general population; according to the World Giving Index only six percent of Russians donate regularly (Markowitz). Maria Chertok, Director of Charities Aid Foundation Russia cites some of the challenges to increasing private giving; public awareness, lack of tax receipting for donations, and the misconception that the government is a donor (Markowitz).
The response to the summer 2010 wildfires across Russia is an important example of how some things are changing in Russia as the country begins to find a new meaning for charitable activity. The hundreds of fires, which swept Russia from late July to early September 2010 claimed dozens of lives, thousands of homes caused an estimated $15B USD in damage. The disaster raised a vital grass roots response among ordinary Russians who organized themselves through blogs and a Livejournal community despite mixed messages and an “information vacuum” from government and media channels (Antonova). An average of 170 volunteers a day helped stop fires with buckets of water and sand (Antonova), collected food and household goods, and raised funds for firefighting equipment through the Russian Orthodox Church and other grassroots charities (RIA Novosti).
The government response is also telling; in a televised meeting President Dimitry Medvedev appealed to wealthy business owners to support the rebuild after the wildfires not by simply donating funds but by direct involvement in the rehabilitation work in the regions affected (Adelaya). The President’s appeal was strongly supported “cementing [corporate] relations with the state in a legitimate way while also allowing them to publicize their involvement in social projects to a public that sometimes disapproves of their activities” (Adelaya). It is important to note that President Vladmir Putin eliminated the public fire service in 2007 thereby transferring the responsibility for the prevention of forest fires to land owners. Understandably, the public interpreted Medvedev’s appeal as a sign of the weakness of the state.
While undoubtedly a disaster on a large scale, the summer 2010 wildfires gave the Russian government an opportunity to publicly demonstrate that it is in no longer the provider for all public needs and gave corporate philanthropy public legitimacy and a valued role in rebuilding Russia. The public response of grassroots volunteerism and fundraising acknowledges a public awareness s that Russia cannot solely rely on government and big business and a willingness of each Russian to invest personally in charitable activity.
Works Cited
Adelaya, Taj. “Shotgun Philanthropy” Russia Profile August 21, 2010.
Antonova, Maria. “Volunteers take fires into own hands” Moscow Times August 17, 2010.
Gambrell, Jamey. “Philanthropy in Russia” Carnegie Reporter Vol. 3, No. 1, Fall 2004.
Markowitz, Andy. “With Charity Toward Some” Transitions Online September 21, 2010.
RIA Novosti. “Volunteers, church get relief for Russians affected by wildfires” August 1, 2010
Smetanina, Svetlana. “Russian’s vulnerable need sweet charity from philanthropy” Rossiyskaya Gazeta reprinted in Telegraph.co.uk April 21, 2010.