# Russian Museums & Fundraising

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/09/30/russian-museums-amp-fundraising/
- Published: 2011-09-30T15:35:58+01:00
- Author: John Baguley

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/Pushkin.jpg)

Fundraising in Russia is a fascinating business, with no tax breaks for non-profits
or donors, it often seems to bear the burden of the social stigma it had in Soviet
times rather than the air of a beacon of enlightened self-sacrifice to help cure
social ills. The Russian government has seen civil society organisations in countries
like Ukraine overturn fraudulent election results and build an alternative social
base. Perhaps understandably, they moved to cut off overseas influence in civil 
society and turn non-profits towards meeting approved social goals.

As in the UK and so many other countries, Russian government cut-backs have also
begun to impact in new places such as Museums, whose funding is decreasing paradoxically
at a time when the preservation of Russian culture is perhaps at its most respected.
The renowned Potanin Foundation has played a major role in helping museums of all
kinds to become much more professional and to provide a much better service to their
visitors. On its own, however, it can only do so much; but now comes a light that
might herald future positive change. That is the allowance of tax relief for the
donor on grants made to endowments, albeit hedged with certain restrictions. The
fund must be administered by a separate management company, it must exist for 10
years minimum, the interest only must be spent on the non-profits legal objectives.

http://eng.fund.legein.ru/

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

So, now we wait for the mini-garchs to step forward and make their mark or for the
museums to really grasp this opportunity and begin to put into practice professional
fundraising efficiently and effectively – time will tell, but my money is on several
more years of “exit through the gift shop”.

John Baguley

www.internationalfundraisingconsultancy.com

 * **[A fundraising robot? Are we redundant?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2011/10/26/fundraising-robot-are-we-redundant/)**(
   26 October 2011)
 * **[70,000 jobs lost in Third Sector – institute of Fundraising – how big is my society now?](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/01/10/70000-jobs-lost-third-sector-institute-fundraising-how-big-my-society-now/)**(
   10 January 2012)
 * **[Swiss International Fundraising Congress launched…](https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/02/28/swiss-international-fundraising-congress-launched/)**(
   28 February 2012)