Help for the distrustful – Kommersant

In the past two years, Russians have become much more likely to associate their participation in charity with the concept of duty – as a citizen of Russia and as a believer. This trend is noted by analysts from the Need Help Foundation and Tiburon Research. At the same time, the share of citizens who donated to charitable organizations has decreased by almost 15% over five years. Researchers point to the growing popularity of support for NGO members and their families and, on the contrary, the decline in support for NGOs recognized as foreign agents. The proportion of those who are not ready to donate in the future remains high (38%), and this is most often due to distrust of institutions and persons involved in charity. The authors of the study believe that the philanthropic sector, experiencing a “recession”, is easier to adapt to economic changes than to overcome the crisis of ideas and the lack of answers to the question “why?”.

The Need Help Foundation, together with the online research agency Tiburon Research, conducted an annual (seventh in a row) survey of Internet users from large cities (with a population of over 100 thousand people) in order to find out how often Russians come into contact with the activities of charitable organizations and how they are perceived. For this, in June 2023, 1.2 thousand people were interviewed.

The study showed that 71% of those surveyed had participated in charity support practices at least once in the last 12 months. This is the minimum value in the entire history of observations. So, in 2022, 75% donated at least once to charity, in 2020 – 74%, in 2019 – 75%, in 2018 – 84%, in 2017 – 85%.

But over the past two years, citizens have begun to talk more often about the importance of morally binding motives, linking participation in charity with the concept of duty – as a citizen of Russia (as 14.3% of respondents answered in 2022 and 21% in 2023) and as a believer (13.9% and 18.7%). In 2020, this answer was given by 12% (for each of the options). The feeling of civic duty was more pronounced among the respondents of three categories: men, people aged 45-60, residents of cities with a population of 100-250 thousand people.

Russians are still more willing to support organizations that help children with disabilities and those in need of treatment (39% of those who donated to organizations), as well as homeless animals (24%). Assistance to the Russian military, NVO volunteers and their families is gaining popularity (18%). The new direction was more often supported by people aged 45–60 and residents of Moscow.

In 2022, there was a significant increase in support for organizations helping refugees and migrants, but in 2023 there was a rollback to lower values ​​of financial support for this category – from 6.1% to 3.7%.

Experts also note a significant increase over the past two years in respondents’ support for the legislation on foreign agents (from 28% in 2022 to 40% in 2023) and the practice of its application in relation to NGOs (from 26% to 36%). On the contrary, their readiness for public support of organizations that received this status and their trust in them decreased from 23% to 15%. Only 14% of respondents are ready to continue donating to an organization that has been recognized as a foreign agent. Aleksey Firsov, director of the Platforma social design center, says that the image of the enemy is more clearly formed in the minds of the population: “Foreign agents at the semantic level are agents of other forces, primarily the Western bloc, and their reference to enemies increases the level of mistrust towards them.”

The loyalty of the population to the activities of the charitable sector and persons associated with it is still low. Actor, artistic director of the Moscow Art Theatre. Chekhov and the founder of the charitable foundation Konstantin Khabensky, as a person of charity, has the most pronounced capital of trust among Russians. He is trusted by 24.3% of respondents. Chulpan Khamatova (3.1%), Vladimir Putin (1.2%) and Yevgeny Prigozhin (0.7%) follow him by a wide margin: the survey took place against the background of the Wagner PMC rebellion, the respondents “rather symbolically” included Mr. Prigogine in response to an open question from sociologists, the researchers explain. “Almost always in open questions about trust, it doesn’t matter whether it’s philanthropists or politicians, they also name names that are not related to the area in question,” they note. do not know real philanthropists, such as, for example, Nyuta Federmesser (founder of the Vera Hospice Assistance Fund.— “b”), which was noted by less than 1% of the population. The rating of distrust was headed by Chulpan Khamatova, who left Russia and publicly condemned the SVO (4.7% of respondents do not trust her), followed by Alla Pugacheva (0.8%) and Philip Kirkorov (0.8%).

Last year, there was a negative trend – a decrease in the willingness to make donations to charitable organizations in the future. This lowest figure on record has continued into 2023 at 38%. 56% of them answered the question: “Why are you not ready to donate?” – answered: “I don’t trust charitable organizations and foundations” (in 2022 – 56.3%, in 2021 – 39.1%).

Maya Soyerova, director of fundraising for the Need Help Fund, says that now some organizations “remain in working order” only because a year ago or already this year they cut their programs in one way or another. “Yes, the sector has certainly adapted and continues to do so. Payment methods that stopped working last year have been successfully replaced – Russian banking is very developed and responds flexibly to all challenges. In financial terms, I would say that the non-profit sector is experiencing a recession, and not only in terms of finances, but also in terms of meanings, ideas, new approaches and answers to the question “why?” concludes Ms. Soerova.

Natalya Kostarnova