Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, November 11

© Alex StefflerRussian Press - Behind the Headlines, November 11
Russian Press - Behind the Headlines, November 11 - Sputnik International
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Russians don’t trust charities / Caucasus leaders praised more than Volga District leaders / Big rush to get married on 11/11/11

Kommersant

Russians don’t trust charities

Only one-third of all Russian charitable organizations are willing to disclose their financial information, while 64% of Russians do not trust charities, according to a report submitted to the Public Chamber on Thursday.

The report, prepared for the first time by the Russian Donors Forum, an association of charitable NGOs, will be released every year, forum secretary, Natalia Kamenarskaya, said. “This report is for those involved in fundraising initiatives, the authorities and the public. It is our first attempt to explain what we are doing,” she said.

There are 301 charitable organizations in Russia, but only 107 disclose financial information, the report said. Their aggregate 2010 revenue was 23.4 billion rubles ($760 million). The bulk of these funds went into environmental projects (3.6 billion rubles, or $117 million), medicine (1.3 billion rubles) and education (524.1 million rubles).

At the same time, Russia is ranked as one of the least charitable countries, 138th out of 153 countries in the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Report 2010 for charity and volunteer work and aid given to strangers. Only 6% of Russians made donations over that period (compared to 53% of Australians who topped the list).

In a recent survey by the pollster VTsIOM, 10.1% of respondents said they made donations to charities, while 24.3% said they gave money to street people.

This discrepancy can be explained by an imperfect legal framework for charity and undeveloped mechanisms for making donations. Tax exemptions for donors will only come into effect next year. The option of making donations by mobile texting or payment terminals is relatively new, it was added two or three years ago. Most Russian debit cards do not allow electronic transfers, while a monthly donation agreement with a bank – the most popular option in the West – is not available at all in Russia.

The report admits that most Russians do not trust charitable organizations. Nearly 64% of respondents are convinced that their money will never be used for the declared purpose. A recent scandal involving the Federation Fund, a Moscow charity, was called the anti-event of the year in the report. In December 2010 the fund organized a St Petersburg Gala featuring Hollywood stars ostensibly to raise money for hospitals treating children with cancer. In March, Olga Kuznetsova, whose daughter has cancer, wrote an open letter saying that no aid came from the fund. The fund’s head Vladimir Kiselyov, argued that the gala was aimed at drawing attention to the problem rather than at collecting money for sick children.

“The lack of trust in charities remains a problem, but it exists around the world too,” Kamenarskaya said. “Some charities that collected money for the victims of the 9-11 attack in the United States vanished with the money. But people haven’t stopped donating.”

“General social fundraising programs, very popular in the West, are impossible in Russia at this point,” said Lev Ambinder, Head of the Russian Aid Foundation. “Charity is only just emerging as an element of our culture.”


Vedomosti

Caucasus leaders more popular than those in Volga District

The governors of regions in the Volga Federal District were left out in the cold in a popularity rating, while the leaders of the Caucasus republics took the top slots.

The National Monitoring Service and the Institute for Independent Political Research have ranked the popularity of Russia’s regional leaders for the first time by analyzing items published in the local media in October. The final ranking value is based on the proportion of positive mentions about a given leader in the local media. More than 620,000 items in over 2,000 regional media of all types – from TV to the Internet – were analyzed.

Yunus-Bek Yevkurov of Ingushetia (24.3%) topped the list, followed by Ramzan Kadyrov (21.1%). Nikolai Merkushkin, the president of Mordovia, ranked highest among the Volga Federal District governors (13th place, 9.8%), followed by Ulyanovsk Region Governor Sergei Morozov (15th place, 9.5%) and Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Valery Shantsev (25th place, 7.9%). Samara Region Governor Vladimir Artyakov (74th, 3.8%) and President of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov (76th, 3.5%), were at the bottom of the list of 83 leaders.

“The overall popularity of governors is down, and it's a trend,” said political analyst Alexander Kynev. “There are some objective reasons for this – the loss of legitimacy after the introduction of gubernatorial appointments, as well as general socio-economic conditions.”

Alexander Ulitin, general director at the Institute for Independent Political Research, notes that the popularity of governors is usually high in the so-called ethnic republics. In addition, according to Ulitin, a low ranking may be indicative of the regional media's independence and the governors in these regions having less influence over the regional media.

“The president of Tatarstan and the governor of the Samara Region are mentioned in the media in the context of their work – where they went, where they spoke, what they visited,” said political analyst Sergei Dyachkov. “This is not praise, which is obvious to any visitor in Mordovia – Merkushkin is feted profusely there. The situation in the Caucasus region is the same– it's normal there.”

Andrei Kuzmin, head of the Press Service of the President of Tatarstan, said that the ranking does not reflect the actual situation in the republic.

“We do not take it seriously,” he said “It is unclear how the ranking was calculated, and which media were used for the analysis.”

Ivan Skrylnik, head of the Samara Region's Department for Information Policy and Public Relations, declined to comment.


Izvestia

Big rush to get married on 11/11/11

The number of couples wishing to get married on lucky 11/11/11 (November 11, 2011) is much larger than usual for a Friday.

Moscow’s Civil Registry Office said they expect about 1,180 couples to tie the knot, more than double the 500 that is typical for a Friday in November.

Other Russian regions have also been inundated by wedding fever. In Irkutsk, 39 weddings are planned for November 11, three more than the city’s usual number. Registrations for 11/11/11 weddings started six months ago and then ended abruptly, reports the local online news agency Baikal Info. Saratov civil authorities will register 140 couples, several times more than usual, the local civil registry office told the SarInform agency.


RIA Novosti is not responsible for the content of outside sources.

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