www.macfound.org

Project 'How to Live Under the New Legislation on NGOs'

Donors: US Embassy Small Grants Program, Moscow

Implementation: 29 May -29 May 2007

Project Manager: Chuprunov Ivan, assistant to lawyer

Project Goals: To familiarize nonprofit organizations with the new legal provisions introduced in the Russian NGO legislation in January 2006, namely with new procedures and requirements for NGO registration, reporting and reorganizing.

The project is designed to provide legal support for NGOs and the initiative groups of citizens.

Events within the project:

1. Legal consultations

• Legal advice in person (70 hours in total within the project) on reporting, reorganizing and other issues with regard to nonprofit body operations. Consultations are held by A.R. Tolmasova in the NGO School office in Moscow
• Legal advice in person for the groups of 5-10 participants on issues of establishing and registering an NGO. The total of 12 consultations will be provided by Y. Leonova twice a month.
• Legal consultations online by I. Chuprunov and Y. Leonova.
• Oral legal advice for NGOs via telephone conversations by Y. Leonova. This will enable people to contact us and receive answers to their questions immediately.

2. Publication of a Manual

As an output of the project, the NGO School will publish a manual with answers to the most frequently asked questions about the new NGO legislation. The manual will help those who are not very well familiar with the non-commercial sector activities and may need advice on how to apply the new regulations for an NGO registration, reporting and reorganization. The manual will be compiled by the leading lawyers of the non-commercial sector and distributed among non-commercial organizations through the online subscription on the NGO School site.

Events Held by the NGOSchool

1. Seminars-Discussions

They highlighted the application of new legal provisions for non-commercial organizations in Russia. The NGO School lawyers answered the questions of the representatives of regional organizations and offered possible solutions to the problems they might confront while implementing the new law.

1. 26 June 2006, St. Petersburg – the NGO School Foundation conducted a one-day seminar with A.K. Tolmasova, the leading lawyer of the non-commercial sector, as the main presenter. The event was carried out in close collaboration with the NGO Development Center and gathered 63 representatives of St. Petersburg NGOs, who highly appreciated the seminar. The materials about the event will be placed on the NGO School Foundation site.
2. 18 September 2006, Niznii Novgorod – The NGO School in partnership with the “Sluzheniye” Association held an eight-hour seminar for the representatives of the 23 local non-commercial organizations. The most crucial issues for the Niznii Novgorod NGOs were covered at the seminar, which had quite positive feedback.
3. 30 October 2006, Krasnodar – The NGO School Foundation with the support of the Southern Regional Resource Center organized a seminar for the representatives of over 20 regional non-governmental organizations. The interest in the issues touched upon was so great that the attendees expressed their willingness to take part in additional seminars on legal aspects of the non-commercial sector operation.

2. An Online Forum on the NGOSchool Site

An online forum devoted to the discussion of new legal practices in nonprofit organizations has been successfully functioning on our website since August 2006. On the forum the NGO lawyers share information and promptly answer the “hot questions” about the new NGO legislation. They also provide online legal consultations for the forum participants. In the special section of the forum representatives of non-profit organizations can discuss their challenges and achievements.

Over this time more than 50 representatives of NGOs have registered on the forum. They express their genuine interest in and a high appreciation of the online consultancy services. The NGO School lawyers have provided over 50 consultations on various legal aspects operating an NGO.

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