In the USSR, the concept of charity did not exist. It was believed that the union of communists and non-party people and so good for everyone. However, charity in Russia existed before the revolution, and has appeared again today. Well, and, of course, it is interesting to get acquainted with this little-known page of Russian history …
Each of us has come across charity in one form or another: give a beggar to the porch, take old things to an orphanage, put coins (well, or bills) in a collection box in a church or a shopping center, “sympathize” financially with people on the street with portraits of children or disabled people in need of help … Yes, we can often provide targeted assistance for specific purposes and specific people.
In Russia, it is customary to associate the beginning of charity with the adoption of Christianity: by the Charter of 996, Prince Vladimir made it the responsibility of the church. But for the rest of society, public charity was the lot of private individuals and was not included in the system of state responsibilities. Since the end of the 18th century, charity has appeared in Russia in the form of patronage: patronage of art, collecting libraries, collections, creating art galleries, theaters, etc. Dynasties of patrons are known: the Tretyakovs, Mamontovs, Bakhrushins, Morozovs, Prokhorovs, Shchukins, Naydenovs, Botkins and many others.
Since 1917, all social responsibilities and full responsibility for solving social problems were assumed by the state, which eliminated the need for the existence of charitable organizations in principle. A partial revival of private charity took place during the Great Patriotic War: voluntary donations for defense needs. In post-reform Russia, several foundations were created that were charitable within the meaning of their activities: the Culture Fund, the Children's Fund, the Charity and Health Fund.
At the present stage, the development of institutional charity is taking place, the creation of organizations capable of providing systematic large-scale assistance to those in need.
But at this stage, a number of problems arise. And the main one is the lack of culture in our society and the need for charitable activities. Demand, alas, does not give rise to supply. In modern society, charity is not a one-time action under the influence of emotions, but a form of social responsibility, but in this respect, statistics indicate a low level of development of "organs of sympathy" both among individuals and our business structures. In most cases, charity for us is a “product of accompanying demand” and the influence of mood. And the same is evidenced by public opinion polls, the CAF Foundation, VTsIOM, the Levada Center, the report of the Forum of Donors, the non-profit research service Sreda.
According to a 2010 study by the British charitable foundation CAF, Russia ranked 138th in terms of private philanthropy from 153 countries. At the same time, three types of charitable activities were considered: donating money to charitable organizations, working as a volunteer, and helping a stranger in need.
Russia took 138th place with the following indicators: 6% of respondents make charitable donations, 20% are engaged in volunteer work, 29% help those in need. By the end of 2011 (research by the CAF Foundation), Russia moved to 130 from 138. The growth of Russian charity was mainly due to the increase in the number of people providing direct assistance to those in need and engaged in volunteer work. According to the results of the latest poll conducted by the CAF in 2012, the Russian Federation was ranked 127th in the world charity ranking, which is the best indicator in all five years. The final list includes 146 countries of the world. Russia ranks only 127th in the ranking. About 7% of Russians made charitable donations last year, 17% participated in volunteer activities, and 29% helped those in need.
At the same time, our increased indicators cannot be considered positive dynamics. This is not the result of the development of charity in Russia, but the result of a decrease in the total volume of charity on a global scale, which makes it possible to consider the general trend of charity in the world as a downward trend: 146 countries of the world in 2011 compared to the previous period showed a decrease in the number of citizens who donate money to NGOs. as volunteers or help directly those in need, on average per 100 million people for each type of charity.
What are the reasons for the underdevelopment of institutional charity in Russia?
In 2011, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation was first presented with a report on the state of charity in Russia based on a study of 301 organizations of various institutional status. From the results of the analysis it follows that only one third of charitable organizations (107 organizations out of 301 studied) are ready to disclose their statements, and their annual turnover is 23.4 billion rubles. In general, about 700 thousand non-profit organizations (NPO) are registered in Russia. Of these, no more than 10% are actually employed. However, even this amount is more than enough for such an unsaturated “charity market” like the Russian one.
Due to the lack of transparency in the financial flows of charitable organizations, it seems justified to be skeptical of Russians towards their activities and unwillingness to participate in it against the background of a positive attitude towards charity in general. According to the results of the All-Russian representative survey conducted by the non-profit research service Sreda in 2011, 39% of Russians take part in charitable events. Most Russians consider charity useful (72%), 14% believe that it does more harm than good. However, Russians rarely actively participate in charity work: more than half of the country's citizens (53%) are not involved in charity work. Representatives of the most socially unprotected groups speak about this more often: Russians with low material incomes and the unemployed. Also, less educated Russians do not take part in charity events more often.
An indirect problem of the development of charity is the stereotype of its perception as a duty of the state, as a type of social policy, enshrined in Russian public opinion, which undoubtedly affects the low activity of Russians in this area: 83% of respondents, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, believe that social help should be handled by the state. This situation is associated with the Soviet stage in the development of the social assistance system and the country's social development in general: a combination of a guaranteed social security system with a high level of state exploitation of the country's citizens. According to the results of all studies, it can be noted that, according to citizens, the state is more effective than charitable organizations in solving social problems.
The gap between a positive attitude towards charity and a low percentage of real participation can be explained, among other things, by distrust in the activities of charitable organizations. For a long time this sector was one of the most closed, opaque and obscure for an ordinary Russian observer. The result of which at the present stage is the uncertainty of the prevailing public opinion about charitable organizations, to a greater extent based on social myths and full of contradictions.
In modern Russian society, the circle of trust is generally quite narrow, which affects the level of low generalized trust in charitable organizations in particular. Thus, the low level of trust is evidenced by the conviction of almost 64% of Russians surveyed that the money they give will be used for other purposes, 31% of small and medium-sized businesses are also not going to donate to philanthropists.
On the other hand, the problem of domestic institutional charity is the lack of publicity and a small amount of public information, which affects the low level of awareness of citizens about this area, and, as a consequence, lack of interest and trust. Most citizens receive information about charitable activities from television and radio broadcasts. Information provided by charitable organizations themselves (through leaflets, websites, brochures, e-mails) is taken into account by only 2% of Russians.
Unfortunately, very few charitable organizations can afford to inform citizens about their activities on television or in print. Meanwhile, the role of the mass media in the country is enormous, and it is they who are able to break the prevailing stereotypes regarding charity. However, any information about charitable activities is perceived by the media as advertising with the consequent desire to receive payment for its placement. This is how the Russian situation differs from the Western one, where the press, on the contrary, is determined to talk about the charity of both organizations and private citizens, promoting the social responsibility of business. Consequently, a well-developed, competent and media-supported communication strategy of charitable societies is required.
Some positive trends can be noted in the quantitative media analysis: from 2008 to 2011, the number of articles on charity increased by 60%. The number of news stories has increased, the list of organizations mentioned in the media has expanded. However, a qualitative analysis reveals the one-sidedness and superficiality of the presentation of this kind of material: the media cover events narrowly, most often mentions are associated with the names of VIPs, significantly fewer publications about the activities of organizations in general, the conditions of their existence, there are very few texts devoted to the motives of participating in charity and ethics of charitable work. Russians have the impression that “stars” (30%) and businessmen (20%) donate, which is the result of the work of the media. Only 18% of respondents know specific people who carry out charitable activities (without separation on a permanent or temporary basis) among their friends or acquaintances. Quite often, the activities of charitable foundations are mentioned in the media in connection with various events, both initiated by the foundations themselves (42% of publications) and those in which the foundation only took part (22%) (according to data for 2011). If we turn to the analysis of the content of publications on charitable activities, then we can identify their main trends and features: 1) texts of information models prevail in all types of media, there is very little analytics; 2) the prevailing evaluative context of publications is neutral; 2) most of the texts (56%) contain a key idea about the undoubted benefit of charity to society and report on the assistance already provided or what is planned to be done to help.
An important reason for the low level of development of institutional charity in Russia can be considered non-stimulating legislation. The main law regulating activities in the charitable sphere is the Federal Law of August 11, 1995 N 135-FZ "On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations" (as amended on December 23, 2010). State authorities and local self-government bodies, while recognizing the social significance of charity, do not always provide the necessary support for charitable activities. This primarily concerns tax and other benefits provided to charitable organizations, both at the local and federal levels.
The new version of the law provides for the expansion of the list of areas of charitable activities and exemption from the tax burden of payments to volunteers. In accordance with the new law, the list of charitable goals includes assistance in preventive work on neglect and delinquency by minors, assistance in the development of scientific and technical creativity of young people, support for children's organizations and youth movements, initiatives and projects. The list includes social rehabilitation of children without parental care and neglected children, provision of legal (free) assistance to non-profit organizations, work on legal education of the population.
After the adoption of the law, charitable organizations can conclude contracts with volunteers and prescribe clauses in it on reimbursement of financial costs associated with volunteer activities (rent for premises, transport, protective equipment). At the same time, the organization will be exempted from paying insurance contributions to extra-budgetary funds from payments to volunteers.
The law removes several provisions that were clearly unfair to charities. The taxation of volunteers' expenses - for example, business trips related to their volunteer activities - has been eliminated. Previously, an organization that sent volunteers to extinguish forest fires had to pay insurance premiums from the amount of expenses and withhold income tax. Very important is the new provision according to which goods and services received in kind are no longer subject to income tax. For example, if a law firm previously provided free legal advice to an NPO, then the market value of the services was subject to income tax. In addition, similar provisions have appeared related to the taxation of final recipients. Previously, people who received assistance had to pay taxes in some cases.
In 2011, there were noticeable changes in the Russian legislation on charity. They concerned not only the law on charity itself, but also laws in the tax area. On July 19, 2011, documents were signed providing for the introduction into the Federal Law "of amendments to part two of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation in terms of improving the taxation of non-profit organizations and charitable activities." A number of amendments have been introduced to the Tax Code to facilitate the activities of charitable organizations.
An obstacle to the development of charity in Russia is the difference in focus on the areas of charity between private donors and organizations. The easiest way at this stage is to collect funds for expensive treatment and social support for disabled people and orphans, since these topics do not leave many people indifferent. But here the philanthropists are mainly private donors.
If we talk about large business structures, they are more interested in global social projects that have a narrow regional localization associated with business interests. As for the very important object of charity - educational programs for different target groups, it is quite difficult to raise the necessary funds. But this is precisely the part of the cost of charity that gives the greatest return, is based not on one-time assistance, but on systemic assistance. For example, training of specialists working in the field of pediatric oncology and rehabilitation of children after a very difficult therapy for them - seminars, trainings, meetings for the exchange of experience. According to the 2011 Report of the Donors' Forum on the development of institutional charity, most of the money is collected and spent on the environment - 3.6 billion rubles. 1.3 billion rubles are spent on charity in medicine and health care. In third place is charitable assistance in the field of education - 524.1 million rubles.
What prevents us from providing assistance to those in need not just once, under a sentimental mood, but constantly, showing social responsibility, the best qualities of the Russian mentality - "compassion for one's neighbor", which, as we are assured, is one of the elements of "spirituality" and "fastener" for Russian society?
Many will probably say that the level of income and the general poverty of the population … But not the richest countries in charity ratings are higher than Russia: Libya - 14th place, Philippines - 16th place, Indonesia - 17th place, Nigeria - 20, Turkmenistan - 26, Kenya - 33, etc.
Alas, the reason may be different: research shows that in most countries, happiness plays a larger role in donating money and helping those in need than wealth. And in the ratings for the level of happiness, Russia does not occupy the highest places.
