More and more people in Russia want to do charity work, but often face the fact that they do not know how to take the first step. Unfortunately, this area raises many questions and mistrust. Although now there are quite a few charitable foundations with an impeccable reputation and real deeds.
Most often, our citizens write off their unwillingness to participate in charity by mistrust of charitable foundations. But all non-profit organizations can be independently verified for their legal capacity. True, you have to spend time on this.
Today in Russia there are 400 active charitable foundations with different geography and specialization. There are purely regional funds that operate in a regulated area. There are those who help all over Russia - from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. All foundations conduct their activities in accordance with the Charter, which regulates the direction of their activities. For example, someone helps children with oncohematological diseases, someone helps children with respiratory diseases, someone helps orphans, someone helps animals, the elderly, the disabled, libraries …. The list is endless. But at the same time, each fund has exactly one direction. You can't save dogs and support contemporary art at the same time. It's just technically difficult to organize.
Each fund must have an official website. The website must contain registration documents, information about the founders of the foundation, employees, the board of trustees. If there are celebrities on the board of trustees, this is, of course, a plus for the foundation. But you shouldn't react to the media person. Often it is there only for the recognition of the "brand" and does not give any guarantees that the fund is as honest as possible.
On the site, in addition to official information, there should be reports on the work done. Charitable Foundation Living Organism. Events are constantly taking place there. If at least for the past six months there is not a single new event, then the fund is not working. Ideally, a detailed progress report is posted every month. It should also seem suspicious that the foundation only posts requests for assistance without reports on how this assistance was spent. For example, a non-profit organization hosted a fundraising event and silence. Many questions immediately arise as to how the funds received were disposed of. If we are talking about fees for treatment (children, adults), there should also be a report - ideally a photo report on the course of treatment and its results. Also, the official website of the foundation should contain information on the results of the mandatory annual audit of a non-profit organization.
Forbs magazine annually publishes a ranking of reputable charities. The rating takes into account not so much the turnover of the fund's assets, but the coefficient of utility. Therefore, in the ranking you can find small regional funds. After all, it is a delusion that charity requires large financial investments. Here human responsiveness, indifference, a real desire to help are more valuable.
