CAF RUSSIA'S IMPACT ON CIVIL SOCIETY IN A CHANGING WORLD

CAF Russia was established in 1993 to provide free consultations to the fledgling NGO sector on legal and accounting issues and fundraising. By maintaining a library of resources and running training events for NGOs across Russia, CAF Russia provided much needed guidance for pioneering organisations looking to build a civil society to aid in the transition to democracy and to provide much needed help to communities in what was a turbulent period for Russian society.

Without doubt, the existence of CAF Russia has helped Russian civil society to develop more quickly than it could have had it not existed.  CAF Russia was, and continues to be at the vanguard of many of the milestones in the development of civil society in Russia.

In late 1990s, CAF Russia started focusing on creating an environment which encouraged Russian donors to give. In 1997, CAF Russia worked with Rosbank to establish the first corporate giving program in the country. In 1998 CAF Russia was involved in the creation of Russia’s first Community Foundation (there are now 68). Later, CAF Russia introduced payroll giving and online giving in Russia and helped to establish the first private foundation.

CREATING THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A BETTER WORLD

CAF Russia continues to be pioneering in its approach. CAF Russia is the first organisation to offer SROI - internationally accredited evaluations - in Russia and has successfully worked with Mondelez and other leading multi-national companies, helping to provide certainty in a sector still suffering from a lack of trust.
 
Increasingly, CAF Russia is seeking to move the dial on the engagement of ordinary Russians - especially younger generations – in charitable giving. To this end, CAF Russia has successfully brought #givingtuesday - the international day of giving - to Russia.

ESTABLISHING STANDARDS, AND TRUST

Building civil society requires far more than establishing charities; it requires the building of confidence in the sector and the continuous improvement of standards. In order to enable charities to earn public trust, CAF Russia quickly introduced validation and detailed reporting on the donations it processed, ensuring that such transparency has become an industry standard, even has the sector has grown.

By providing advice and education programmes such as its ‘Foundation School’ - managing programmes on behalf of donors and producing research and guidance publications - CAF Russia has increased the standards of institutional philanthropy by mainstreaming an impact-driven approach, broadening resource distribution through grants competitions and by increasing donor knowledge of how charities work and what they need to operate effectively. Indeed, CAF Russia actually incubated a number of private foundations, helping them to develop strategically, demonstrating impact and giving confidence to their donors to start permanent institutions.   

REMARKABLE GROWTH IN A SINGLE GENERATION

Charitable giving in Russia still lags behind that of other nations but its growth in a single generation is remarkable. The middle class is still rising, with up to 70% of adult population reporting having engaged in some form of giving. CAF Russia, as a leading infrastructure organisation which began operating in Russia when civil society was embryonic, has undoubtedly had a catalytic impact on this growth.