Nina Yu. Belyaeva
(Ph.D., Leg. Sci., Moscow St. Univ. Law School, 1988; President, Interlegal)

Revised and edited by Franklin M. Parlamis
(J.D., Yale Law School, 1997; Interlegal Intern, 1995)

'The givee gets only what the giver gives' is a loose translation of a far more eloquent Russian phrase, coined by one of the legal reformers at the Moscow office of Interlegal (The International Charitable Foundation for Political and Legal Research). With typical pith, what he meant was, in addition to the needs of potential charities, which the drafters of the new Russian law on charitable activity doubtless understand, the success of reform efforts depends in large part on the drafters' ability to understand the needs of potential funders, and to produce a law which displays that understanding.

The Russian commercial sector is one of the most promising sources of potential domestic funding for the burgeoning Russian civil, or third, sector. With a view to producing a draft law that harmonized with the interests of the commercial sector, in the summer of 1994 Interlegal conducted a sociological survey on "Business and Charity in Russia. " This survey was intended to give drafters a better idea of the ability and willingness of Russian businesses to finance development of the Russian third sector, and of the factors that are determinants of commercial charitable giving. It was conducted under the guidance of Igor Mikhailovich Bunin (Ph.D. and PostDoctoral Degree, Politics), Director General of the Center for Political Technologies, and coordinated by Natalya Vadimovna Nazarova (Ph.D., History), a researcher at the Institute for International Economic Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

At present, due to the absence of both an adequate Russian accounting standard and an effective Russian tax system, and also due to the according reluctance of Russian businesses to release exact budgetary figures, it is impossible to obtain accurate, numerical statistics on the scale of charitable donations from the commercial sector. However, Interlegal's vast experience as a legal consultant to charitable associations provides it with a window on businesses' charitable giving; through this window, it sees that business donations to Russian charities are trending upward and inward, i.e., more and more donations are coming from domestic Russian businesses.

Because a numerical survey was inexpedient, and because so much of charitable giving depends on the purely subjective "attitude" of the donor, Interlegal's survey used the method of detailed interviews. The questions, which spurred interview transcripts of up to 13 pages, touched on a wide range of topics, from the general notion and essence of charity to more specific legislative proposals.

Interlegal tried to survey as broad a range of businesspeople as possible. Survey respondents came from businesses differing in such criteria as: size, number of employees, activity, form of ownership, and location. Also important was the length of time a particular businessperson had been engaged in charitable activity, as this might have affected the businessperson's overall perception of, and sensitivity to the difficulties of, charitable activity. In most cases, survey questions were answered directly by the official responsible for charitable activity. Non-donors were surveyed on an equal basis, as the motivation behind their refusal to participate is especially important in the drafting of a law that ostensibly encourages charitable giving.

Among the respondents, banks were represented most often (14 respondents). This reflects both the key role played by banks in a developing market economy and the vastness of the potential resources that banks may apply to charity. The overwhelming majority of firms represented in the survey were large-scale businesses, including such well-known firms as RINAKO, ASKO, Germes, MOSEXPO, Kredo Bank, and Technobank. It is no accident that the bulk of respondents are large-scale firms with considerable turnover, for it is precisely these firms that can afford to devote the financial resources necessary to significantly impact third sector development. Also polled were five industrial amalgamations, three holding companies, two consulting firms, three transportation companies, one trading firm, four manufacturing firms, and one insurance company. The business activities of these respondents are vastly diverse, and listing them would be tedious rather than instructive.

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Document written: 1995
Last updated: 3/13/97
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