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Special events

One of the key operational areas of the School NGO Foundation is organizing events for nonprofit organizations to share their experiences, develop joint projects and discuss the crucial issues of Russia’s nonprofit sector.

We offer a complete packet of services aimed at the organization of conferences, round tables and other events to support the nonprofit sector in Russia, to enhance the cooperation between NGOs and the government as well as international cooperation. The high level of expertise in this area enables us to guarantee good results.

In 2006 the NGO School Foundation initiated the following events:

Сonference “12 Years of the MATRA Program in Russia: support for civil initiatives”,

12-13 June 2006, Moscow.

The event was organized by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow in partnership with the NGO School. More than 120 grant recipients of the program that united hundreds of nongovernmental organizations discussed the civil society situation in Russia.

The conference featured plenary addresses by leaders of the nonprofit sector in Russia, as well as representatives of the federal government: Konstantin Kosachev, Chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Presidential Council on Promoting Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was represented by Jan Paul Dirkse, Ambassador of the Netherlands, Jan-Lucas van Horn, Director of the Department of Southern and Eastern Europe of the of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the MATRA program officers.

At the conference round table discussions a range of issues were covered such as human rights and environmental protection, civil initiatives in health care and social welfare, promoting independent mass media and civil control.The participants of the conference had an opportunity to discuss the development issues of the nonprofit sector in Russia and share their experience in implementing specific projects.

The main conclusion made by the participants was that non-governmental organizations in Russia are mature and successfully fulfill their social mission. The challenges that they have to confront are a serious test for what they can really do.

The conference materials were published in a brochure with the circulation of 400 copies. They weredistributed among the participants of the eventand sent to the Matra program potential grant recipients as well as to many other NGOs in Russia.

Conference «Fundraising White Nights »

6-8 July, St. Petersburg.

At the conference the NGO School Foundation worked in close collaboration with the NGO Development Center and the Donors’ Forum which provided the conference organizational and informational support. The event was organized in the context of the 2006 Year of Charity.

This has been the first fundraising conference over the past six years. More than 120 participants from 35 cities and 9 countries ( Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Poland, USA and Great Britain) took part in the two-day event. Geografically Russia was represented by: Yekaterinburgm Krasnoyarsk, Vladimir, Novosibirsk, Nizhnii Novgorod, Norilsk, Yuzhno - Sakhalinsk, Tyumen, Kurgan, Barnaul, Perm, Novorossiysk, Arkhangelsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

Well-known experts from Russia and other countries shared their ideas about the modern fundraising tendencies. It is important to note that not only grant seekers attended the conference but also grant makers, including representatives of the Mott Foundation, the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Civil Society Foundation (Canada), the Dynasty Foundation, the Gagarin Foundation, TASIS, and the Russian Office of European Commission, the regional Bureau of Support in St. Petersburg and others. Well-known European and Russian fundraising professionals conducted training sessions for the conference participants. Among the topics offered were the following:“One-day Fundraising, or creating SMART-projects” by Erik Camp (European Fundraising Center), “Basics of Fundraising” and “Nonprofit-business Partnership” by Neelam Makhijani (The Resource Alliance, Great Britain), “Corporate Creative Fundraising, Marketing and PR” by Faina Zakharova (CAF-Russia, Moscow), “New Opportunities to Promote Private Donations in Russia” by Tatiana Burmistrova (The NGO School Foundation) and many others.

Conference “The US Embassy Small Grants Program: Dialog and Cooperation”

22-23 October 2006, Moscow.

The conference held by the NGO School Foundation was the first event within the framework of the US Embassy Small Grants Program which enabled the small grants recipients to assess their achievements and challenges.The Program projects have been implemented in Russiasince the late 90s and are designedto foster democracy and the development of civil society in the post-Soviet countries. 40 representatives of the NGOs-the Program grant recipients- took part in the event.

The conference also featured reports and presentations made by guest presenters, researches and officials, namely Mr. Kenney, Minister-Counselor, US Embassy Public Affairs Office in Moscow, Director of the Agency of Social Information Elena Topoleva , Doctor of Political Science, Chief Researcher at the RAS Institute of Comparative Political Science Svetlana Aivasova, Alexander Danilevich, an executive of the ‘Civil Society’ All-Russia Alliance and professor Patricia Muny Nickel.

The plenary meeting was followed by round table discussions. The Participants covered a wide range of issues such as:

the youth involvement in civil initiatives and the volunteer movement,

human rights protection and tolerance education,

the design and implementation of informational and educational campaigns to promote significant social problems such as AIDS abuse education, healthy lifestyle education, help for people with disabilities, home violence and the slave trade.

The participants also discussed various issues related to the non-government sector in Russia and shared their experience in the implementation of their projects.

The master classes conducted by NGO experts helped the participants to enrich their knowledge about the management and planning in NGOs, the ways to attract mass media and legal issues, the tools which are necessary for the successful development of NGOs.

At the conference the participants were able to share their experience in implementing the projects within the Small Grant Program and also to outline the major tendencies and the guidelines for the development of their organizations and, generally, of Russia’s civil society.

Program Manager: Nataliya Zateeva, tel. +7 (495) 792-59-88, E-mail: project@ngoschool.ru

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