Charitable giving under new
NGO legislation in Russia:
evidence from individual data
LIUDMILA ZASIMOVA, MARINA KOLOSNITSYNA
Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
www.hse.ru
Motivation:
• The tradition of voluntary donations was interrupted in 1917
• For more than 70 years Russian people became accustomed
to state paternalism.
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• After collapse of the USSR, the governmental social programs
turned out to be ineffective and the idea of charity was soon
revived.
• In 1995 Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On NonGovernmental Organizations” was first adopted фото
• In 2014-2016 41% - 50% of urban citizens donated to NGO
• Since 1995 the Law on NGO has been amended many times
• The recent changes (2012) have made many charitable
organizations ‘foreign agents’ leaving them without
governmental support and making the reporting process
more
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laborious.
Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Research question
The goal of this study is to investigate common giving
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patterns of Russians and how certain institutions
and
individual or social attributes explain them.
More specifically, we study:
(a) probability of donating
(b) probability of donating to NGOs
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Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Related literature: determinants of
private charitable giving
• Incomes (Carrol et al. 2005, Chang 2005, Lee and Chang
2007, Schlegelmilch et al. 1997 and Bennet 2003, Yen 2002)
• Religious affiliation (Bekkers and Schuyt, 2008, Roseфото
Ackerman, 1996)
• Demographic factors: gender, age (Bennet 2003, Carrol et
al. 2007, Chang 2005, Yen 2005) marital status and number
of children (Carrol et al. 2007, Chang 2005, Lee and Chang
2007)
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• Education (Bennet 2003, Carrol et al. 2007, Chang 2005, Lee
and Chang 2007, Wiepking 2007, Yen 2005)
• Gender, age, married status, income and education.
(Mersiyanova et al. 2015, p. 261).
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• The most active donors are young, between 35
and 44
years old, and have university education (CAF)
Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Data and hypothesis
Levada-Center Survey, April 2016 (N=1602 aged 18 +)
 H1: Individuals are more likely to donate to causesфото
that lead
to the increase in the provision of underfinanced public
goods and social services.
 H2: Individuals with higher self-assessed income status are
more inclined to donate money.
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 H3: Religious people are more inclined to donate both
religious organization and to other charities.
 H4: Social and economic factors attributed to individual
donating to particular people/families and to
organizations/funds are different.
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Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Results H1: causes of donations
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Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Results H1: methods of individual giving
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Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Results for H2-H4 testing:
Predicted probabilities of donating
characteristic
male
age 35-59
age 60+
married
widow
divorced
higheduc
badhealth
income1
income2
income3
income4
rregular
roften
rsometimes
rrare
christ
feddistrict6
Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Charity (Model 1)
N=1457
Predicted
Standard errors
probability
-0.059**
0.028
-0.070*
0.102**
0.151**
0.112*
0.040
0.040
0.064
0.057
-0.092**
-0.359***
-0.332***
-0.272***
-0.186***
0.339***
0.341***
0.136***
0.044
0.067
0.077
0.090
0.091
0.044
0.041
0.033
0.262**
0.154***
0.114
0.039
Charity_ngo (Model 2)
N=696
Predicted
Standard errors
probability
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-0.107***
-0.130**
0.042
0.058
0.078**
0.038
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0.225***
0.194***
0.185***
0.125***
0.042
0.044
0.038
0.046
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Main findings:
1. about 40% of Russians prefer donating to particular
people/families, while only 1/3 donates to NGOs
2. individual giving patterns in Russia have фото
much in
common with those in developed countries, especially in
respect with social and economic determinants of giving:
• individuals with higher incomes are more likely to donate
• religious status is an important predictor of donations in
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general and to NGOs
• probability of donations declines after the age of 65. the
majority of NGOs donors are young people
• higher education increases probability of donating to NGOs
but not general probability of donating
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Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017
Main findings:
3. Specific features of private giving in Russia:
• Russian individual donations are mainly targeted to support
people in need or NGOs that help poor and unhealthy.
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• donating to NGOs is less popular compared to giving to
particular people/families.
• private giving in Russia is largely spontaneous in its nature
• The public information policy can have a significant impact on
the probability of donation and donating to particular
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(Donetsk and Lugansk donations).
• We expect that private donations to NGOs will decline if no
changes in public policy is made.
• Enhancing trust in NGOs has a high potential to increase the
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proportion of individuals donating to NGOs by attracting
that currently prefer direct giving to particular people/families.
Высшая школа экономики, Москва, 2017