The Vladimir Potanin Foundation participated in the Round Table “Endowments in Russia: New Approaches and Prospects for Development”

Oksana Oracheva, the General Director of the Foundation, discussed endowments at the round table which took place on May 3^rd as a part of the Caucasian Investment Exhibition in Mineralnye Vody.

Aslan Kanukoev, the Director of the Department for Economic Policy, RF Ministry of Education; Svyatoslav Sorokin, the Director of the Department for Social Services and Non-Profit Sector Development, RF Ministry of Economic Development; Aleksey Anisin, the Director of the Endowments’ National Association; Marina Petrova, the Executive Director for the MGIMO Special Endowment, and others participated in the round table. Veronika Misyutina, Advisor, Center for Wealth Management and Philanthropy, SKOLKOVO moderated the discussion.

The experts discussed the role of endowments in the country's economy, the search for new potential investment tools, as well as the growing importance of endowments for the business community: their obvious advantages and possible benefits. They also touched upon the development of a mechanism for "quasi-endowments" and changes in legislation.

Oksana Oracheva, the General Director of the Foundation noted: “Over the past three years, endowments in the social sector have developed rapidly due to the emergence of this theme in anti-crisis measures. In the course of extensive legislative work, conflicts in the legislation on philanthropy were removed. So, finally, NGOs have got the right to join economic society and receive securities as an endowment’s asset. Last year, we created the endowment, which today equals 97.6 billion rubles. Obviously, the endowment is becoming not only a new instrument for financing education, culture, and the social sector, but also an excellent partner for business.”

In the framework of the Caucasian Investment Exhibition, Svyatoslav Sorokin, the Director of the Department for Social Services and Non-Profit Sector Development of the RF Ministry of Economic Development, presented a blueprint of changes to the legislation that will expand the opportunities for the Russian endowments. These changes include providing opportunities for making decisions on the use of endowments by the Board of Trustees, expanding the activities of NGOs which own endowments, and introducing the concept of a "financial plan". The period of the endowment replenishment with real estate is proposed to be extended to 60 days, and it is possible for NGOs not to withdraw the full income from the use of the endowment for its reinvestment.

The Caucasian Investment Exhibition is a new platform for the effective interaction between the state and business to develop investment potential of the Russian regions. The exhibition is hold under the auspices of the RF Ministry of Economic Development.

Photo by: Pavel Dyukov