Seventh cycle of the “Common Cause”: the Vladimir Potanin Foundation announces the results

(en) Текст новости

By November, 20th, the Vladimir Potanin Foundation received the record number of applications to participate in the competition. There were 547 applications from 75 regions and 136 applications were submitted for the first time. 504 applications from 74 regions were accepted to participate in the competition according to the formal criteria. Of these, there were 282 applications in the nomination “Museum. Culture. New Form” and 222 in the nomination “NGO. Going Agile”.

The leading regions by submitted applications and winners:

The geographical locations, activities and target audiences of the competition’s winners and participating organizations are expanding from cycle to cycle, thus strengthening partnership relationships within the sector. In November, due to the Vladimir Potanin Foundation support, new winners from the Archangelsk Region (Kotlas Municipal Central Library), Krasnoyarsk Kray (Dudinka City Cultural Center and Theater “White Birds”), Stavropol Kray (Georgievsk City Club), the Ivanovo and Kostroma Regions (historical and archaeological open air museums), the Chechnya Republic (Regional Charitable Organization “Trust”) and the Bashkortostan Republic (Private organization of non-formal education “Children’s University” are added to the “Common Cause” competition’s map.

Oksana Oracheva, the General Director, Vladimir Potanin Foundation: “The increased interest in the competition during this cycle proved that the decision to prolong the competition was right because the situation in the non-commercial sector is still difficult and the demand for support from various target groups is increasing. It is noticeable that many competition’s winners actively establish partnerships including those of an interdisciplinary character. This proves again that cooperation is essential because it helps to develop a shared vision of overcoming the crisis situation and strengthens feeling of solidarity among professionals working in the sector”.

The winners in the nomination “NGO. Going Agile” mostly focused their activities on helping people with disabilities. For example, the Tomsk Foundation “Ordinary Miracle” creates barrier-free environment in buildings for children with special needs; Kemerovo organization for social and cultural rehabilitation of children “Clowns in Hospital”, “Vitamin – C” supports patients of children’s hospitals using art-therapy; аnd organization “White Cane” is focused on hybrid modes of work “off-line + on-line” and “learning and teaching”. They key idea of this approach is that staff acquire new digital competencies and teach beneficiaries. The increasing role of an interdisciplinary approach should be noted among the winners of the nomination “Museum. Culture. New Form”: philharmonics, museums and libraries not only move online but become methodological platforms for schools: they prepare methodological materials that can be used by humanities teachers.

In total, during eight cycles of the competition “Common Cause”, 4308 organizations expressed their interest in the competition and 2206 organizations from 82 Russian regions submitted their applications. The Expert Council, consisting of 50 independent experts from the non-commercial sector and culture, identified winners. Within 7 cycles, 189 organizations from 47 regions became the winners. The total sum of grants equals to 169 753 645 rubles, 29 255 907 rubles will be paid to the winners of the November cycle.

The submission of applications to the final cycle of the “Common Cause” competition continues and will be open till 30^th November 2020 through.

The goal of the competition is to help the non-commercial sector and culture to overcome the current crisis and successfully move to new working modes. The competition is held in two nominations: “Museum. Culture. New Form” and “NGO. Going Agile”. The results are announced every month starting from March this year. The sum of each grant is up to 1 million rubles.

Winners of the competition “Common Cause”, November 2020