Russian Non-profit Organizations Research Articles

Российские некоммерческие организации как акторы государственной молодежной политики: формы участия и результаты

This article offers an analysis of the modern landscape of Russian non-profit organizations that are active participants in public and state youth policy events. The main categories of non-profit organizations of social and political orientation are highlighted. The existing practices of participation of politically oriented non-profit organizations in the implementation of state youth policy measures are characterized. Conclusions are drawn about the viability and effectiveness of the activities of non-profit organizations in relation to the implementation of key areas of state youth policy in the Russian Federation. Promising forms of participation are considered in connection with the novelties currently being fixed in Russian legislation.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ КОРПОРАТИВНЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ В НЕКОММЕРЧЕСКИХ ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯХ РОССИИ

The purpose of the article is to analyze the features of corporate relations in Russian non-profit organizations in the Soviet and Post-Soviet eras of the 20th century and to assess their impact on the development of corporate relations and the formation of organizational structures in the non-profit sphere. . Much attention is given to the research methods such an abstract-logical method, analysis, formalization and typology, which were used in assessing the scientific basis of corporate relations in non-profit organizations. The authors draw attention to the fact that the evolution of the formation of Russian non-profit organizations has now formed the domestic non-profit sector. The analysis of the features of the functioning of non-profit organizations also allows to identify the specifics of corporate relations and to present the authors’ grouping of their types. This classification reveals the essence and nature of interactions between various subjects of relations during the implementation of civil law and organizational and managerial processes. As a result, the authors draw conclusions that the study allows to trace the dynamism of the development process of Russian non-profit organizations in the 20th century, to identify and systematize the principles of their functioning, the organization of corporate relations, as well as the features of interaction with the internal and external environment.

Social media in Russian non-profit organizations: Factors of use

The article explores the use of social media in Russian non-governmental non-profit organizations. The role of social media as a PR and promotion tool and as a tool for attracting financial resources is considered. Based on the secondary data of the All-Russian representative survey of NGO leaders conducted by the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, HSE (sample consists of 850 NGOs, face-to-face interviews were conducted in year 2021), hypotheses about the influence of organizational characteristics on the use of social media are tested using binary logistic regression. According to the results of the analysis, social media is the most popular online communication channel of NGOs in Russia, although a relatively small proportion of organizations practice fundraising on social networks, despite the fact that NGO leaders highly evaluate the effectiveness of this tool for raising funds. The use of social media is positively associated with the organizational pursuit of the information openness and accountability; troubled access to traditional media; social orientation; participation in government grants; and the size of the organization. The positive relationship between the size of the organization and the use of social media suggests that resource factors, such as the lack of qualified personnel to manage the accounts of the organization, may be a barrier to the use of social media. Overall, there is no obvious connection with the need to attract financial resources, neither the focus on private donations, nor the tendence to diversify sources of funding.

Financial resources of the Russian non-profit organizations earned through income-generating activity

Subject. The article focuses on principal types of monetary income earned by non-profit organizations through income-generating activities. Objectives. I evaluate whether it is possible to increase the available funding of various non-profit organization with different types of monetary income. Methods. The study is based on methods of logic and statistical analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, generalization. Results. The article presents the analysis of key types of business activities that non-profit organizations are allowed to engage in. I also evaluate the percentage of the respective income in total financial resources. The article indicates what restricts non-profits’ opportunities for income-generating activities. Conclusions and Relevance. Today’s non-profit organizations have pretty many opportunities to increment their financial resources by engaging in the income-generating activities (ranked by its legal and business structure). However, due to some undeniable and disputable reasons, they do not seize the opportunities completely, thus causing non-profit organizations to disappear from the Russian market.

Особенности конструирования уровней идентичности в проектной деятельности российских некоммерческих организаций

Особенности конструирования уровней идентичности в проектной деятельности российских некоммерческих организаций

Market Orientation in Russian Non-Profit Organizations: Impact on the Performance

This work is an output of a research project “Adaptation of modern approaches to management of NPOs and improving of development efficiency of the third sector in Russia” implemented with the support of the Basic Research Program at the NRU HSE.

Отражение проблем европейской безопасности во внутренней политике России

The aim of the article is to analyze the basic statements and actions of official authorities of Russia on the problem of security in Europe. The author analyzes the impact of these factors on the level of authorities support from citizens and assessment of the country's population of the national security threats. Russian President from 2014 implements an active geopolitical strategy that made the foreign news media more important than the debate on domestic issues. Fearful of foreign influence on domestic policy, the Russian authorities have adopted regulations that restrict the activities of international non-profit organizations (NGOs) and Russian NGOs financed by foreign organizations. These statements and actions of the Russian authorities, as a whole, form a positive attitude to Putin and the negative – to his critics.

ИННОВАЦИОННОСТЬ РОССИЙСКИХ НКО: МАСШТАБЫ И ВЗАИМОСВЯЗЬ С ОСОБЕННОСТЯМИ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ

The article discusses Russian nonprofit nongovernmental organizations in terms of their innovativeness. Based on the empirical data we describe the scope of innovativeness of the Russian nonprofit organizations (48% of the surveyed NGOs have implemented innovations), and identify the most innovative and the least innovative areas of NGOs’ functioning. We analyze correlations of its management characteristics and innovativeness in five spheres: relations with the external environment, relations with the internal stakeholders, organization’s culture, leadership, management of processes and resources. We have identified that such characteristics as participation of various external stakeholders in decision making, participation of the organization in the professional networks; number of employees, number of volunteers, inclusion of employees in decision making; frequency of meetings of the board; organization’s orientation towards innovativeness; sufficiency of funds for implementing innovations, existence of the strategic plan positively correlate with the level of innovativeness. Negative correlation is with the number of years of the leader’s length of service. Number of the members of the board seems not to be related to innovativeness of the Russian NGOs.

Dealing with Excessive Regulation: Legitimacy Seeking by Russian Non-Profit Organizations

In this paper we operationalize legitimacy theory to examine how Russian Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs) seek to achieve legitimacy from the state. A regulatory environment that is primarily excess...

Penetrating the Dual Realities of Government–Nonprofit Relations in Russia

This article seeks to unravel the dual realities represented by the juxtaposition of the recent series of harsh regulatory impositions on Russian nonprofit organizations and the nearly simultaneous enactment of a series of laws and decrees establishing an impressive “tool box” of positive support programs for a large class of the so-called socially oriented Russian nonprofit organizations. To do so, the discussion proceeds in three steps. First, the article documents the considerable scale of the Russian NPO scene as it is visible through the lens of available empirical research. Next, it outlines the key policy measures affecting nonprofit organizations (NPOs) put in place by the Russian government beginning in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century. Unlike some accounts, however, this one brings into focus both the interesting “tool box” of support programs for NPOs enacted during this period as well as the more restrictive regulatory measures, such as the “foreign agents law,” that also came into force. Finally, the article seeks to unravel the puzzle posed by these apparently competing realities of Russian government policy toward nonprofit organizations by bringing to bear the conceptual lenses that Graham Allison formulated to make sense of the strange series of actions that surrounded the Cuban Missile Crisis a little over 50 years ago.

In Search of Critical Capacity: Exploring Attitudes of NPO Leaders in Russia

Following a public sphere approach to civil society research, we develop a working definition of Critical Capacity to analyze what leaders of Russian nonprofit organizations (NPOs) say regarding their political embeddedness. Theoretically, we stress the value added of differentiating more explicitly between the nonprofit sector, the third sector and civil society – the Critical Capacity concept represents a way forward towards applying that essential differentiation. Empirically, factor analysis on representative and current survey data confirms four dimensions of Critical Capacity, namely NPO leaders’ attitudes toward the role of the state, other NPOs, international cooperation as well as recent political events. In a second step, and based on these four dimensions, a cluster analytical model helps us to identify six reliable opinion clusters as well as the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of each group. Finally, we conclude on strength and weaknesses of our approach and address further research.

The Boundaries and Contours of Russian NPO activity: The impact of a ‘Hostile’ Environment.

Conclusions drawn about the contribution made by non-profit organizations (NPOs) to the democratisation process differ depending on the approach taken to civil society development and how civil soc...

The Quasi-Markets of Social Services: The Competitiveness of Russian Nonprofit Organizations Against For-Profit Organizations and Public Providers

This paper explores the competitive bidding process in eight regions of Russia where local governments entered into. The bidding documents have been analyzed in terms of the type of provider ownership, public or private, levels of nonprofit activity, and nonprofit competitiveness. The findings indicate considerable discrepancies between the numbers of competitive tenders for social services in the regions in question. The types of social services that local governments procure vary significantly from region to region. It is suggested that these differences are an essential factor in nonprofit participation. The most active nonprofit involvement is found in regions where procured services are that which the nonprofits usually produce. The results reveal a substantial lack of competition in Russian social service quasi-markets. In many cases, nonprofit organizations can be competitive in terms of competitive bidding in Russia; however, this result raises questions about the quality of social services procured by local and regional authorities.

Civil Society In a Restrictive Context: The Impact on Russian NPOs

This paper examines Russian Nonprofit Organizations (NPO) to investigate the nature of civil society arrangements in a restrictive context. We argue that the traditional understanding of civil society based on a participatory model lacks explanatory power vis-Ã -vis NPO behavior in the Russian Federation. Therefore, in this paper we operationalize the concept of transactional activism to investigate Russian NPOs. Our empirical insight is based on qualitative data collected from health and education NPOs in three industrial regions in Russia. We find that in an attempt to establish vertical ties key organizational decision makers are being incentivized to work for the state. We demonstrate how this limits the activism behavior of such organizations and enables the state to control civil society. We discuss the implications of the dominance of vertical orientated transactional activities for civil society arrangements in Russia.