Special purpose grants – Newspaper Kommersant No. 5 (7450) dated 01/13/2023

The Presidential Grants Fund on Thursday summed up the results of its first competition in 2023. The largest amount was received by Rusfond for the creation of a domestic database of bone marrow donors. Among the most important initiatives that received state support, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko also noted projects for the rehabilitation of participants in a special military operation and for the military-patriotic education of youth, as well as initiatives implemented in new regions of Russia. However, only five applications were received from NGOs in these territories, while three organizations from the Luhansk People’s Republic received grants.

On January 12, Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, spoke about the results of the latest competition for presidential grants, in which NGOs receive budgetary funds to implement their projects. Competitions are held twice a year, since 2017 – through a specially established fund of the same name. According to the results of the first competition in 2023, 1,845 NGOs received financial support for a total of RUB 4.3 billion. Another 2 billion were allocated to support NGOs at the regional level, and 3.8 billion rubles. organizations will attract themselves as co-financing.

The largest grant — 63 million rubles — was received by a Rusfond project aimed at developing a domestic base of potential bone marrow donors for the treatment of children and adults with blood cancer and hereditary diseases, for whom bone marrow transplantation is the only chance for life. In second place is the application for the environmental volunteer tournament “Eurasian Cleanliness Cup” (37.9 million rubles), which is organized by the public organization “Clean Games”. ANO “Center for the Search for Missing People” received 32.3 million rubles. for a project to improve the skills of volunteers involved in the search for missing people. A grant in the amount of 27.2 million rubles has been allocated for the patriotic action “Dictation of Victory”, which is organized by the Museum of Victory. Finally, the top five of the largest grants in this competition is the popular action “Total Dictation”, which is annually organized by the eponymous Foundation for Supporting the Language Culture of Citizens.

Summing up the results of the competition, Sergei Kiriyenko listed the areas of projects that he considered worthy of special attention. “I would like to say thanks here to Russian socially oriented non-profit organizations, they respond very quickly to the needs that arise,” the official said, noting that 221 NGOs will receive 881 million rubles. (including co-financing) for the implementation of projects related to military-patriotic education and initial military training of youth. Initially, it was planned to accept applications for the competition until October 15, 2022, but this deadline was extended until October 31 specifically for projects related to supporting the participants in the special operation and their families, Mr. Kiriyenko recalled.

The main differences between this competition and the previous ones were the participation of NGOs from new regions of Russia, as well as a new thematic direction to support the families of participants in the special operation and those mobilized. According to the results of the competition, 111 such projects will receive support for 231 million rubles. Also among the winners were applications aimed at the rehabilitation of participants in the special operation: 23 initiatives will receive support for 68 million rubles.

Separately, Sergei Kiriyenko outlined the initiatives that will be implemented on the territory of the new constituent entities of the Russian Federation: the organizers of the competition counted 47 such projects with a total budget of half a billion rubles (they will receive 215 million rubles from the presidential fund). Of the NGOs operating in the new regions themselves, five organizations from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics sent applications for the competition, no applications were received from Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Three projects (all from the LPR) will receive grants in the amount of 1.8 million rubles, projects from the DPR have so far remained without state support.

Traditionally, initiatives in the field of protecting the health of citizens and promoting a healthy lifestyle took the first place among the winning projects (378 initiatives were supported for a total of 733.1 million rubles). Also, the top three popular grant areas include social services and social support and protection of citizens (321 projects for 794.7 million) and support for the family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood – 253 projects received grants in this area for the amount of 586.7 million rubles.

Elena Rozhkova, Andrey Vinokurov