Philanthropy School: New Grant Competition of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation

(en) Текст новости

The new competition’s goal is to support local grassroots initiatives and NGOs’ projects seeking to improve the quality of most vulnerable individuals’ lives. The Philanthropy School is open for grassroots initiatives, non-profits, community foundations, and resource centers dealing with the consequences of the current crisis across Russia. The application process will launch on the Giving Tuesday, a global annual event untypically scheduled for May 5 this year. The competition budget is 300 million rubles.

In the nominations for grassroots initiatives and non-profit organizations, the winners will be selected in an open competition, while in the nomination for infrastructure NGOs the latter  will be able to participate by invitation only. Candidates for receiving the Foundation’s special invitation will be selected among organizations whose missions focus on engaging local communities in addressing local social issues and on transforming local environments. 

The open competition will be held in two stages: from May 5 through August 1, 2020 (with application period from May 5 through June 5) and from July 5 through October 1, 2020 (with application period from July 5 through August 5). All applications will be evaluated by independent external experts. The competition by invitation will be held for the period of five months (from May 15 through October 15, 2020) with winners selected on a monthly basis.

Larisa Zelkova, Chair of the Foundation’s Board, comments: “Our founder Vladimir Potanin donated 1 billion rubles to support non-profits and people in these unstable times. Our team managed to swiftly organize two new grant competitions, Common Cause and New Dimension. They were designed to help non-profits adapt to the changes, so that their beneficiaries could continue receiving help they needed in spite of the challenging times. Vladimir Potanin is convinced that the success in overcoming the crisis depends on more than just the big institutions and the government. Each of us can do something to overcome the challenges. This is why the Foundation is now making the next step and inviting a broader audience to collaborate. I sincerely hope that the Philanthropy School will be able to give new grassroots initiatives a chance to help us get back to our lives as we know them.”

“The crisis has shown, once again, that there are no one-size-fits-all recipes in the situation of uncertainty. However, lessons from history suggest that the most needed qualities today and tomorrow will be solidarity and compassion. This is the sort of initiatives and personal practices that our new competition seeks to support. Based on people’s enthusiasm and professionalism, they are creating a multifaceted support system which focuses on human needs and concerns,” Oksana Oracheva, the Vladimir Potanin Foundation’s General Director, points out.

More detailed information about the competition and application procedure is available here.