General principles

The Why

The founders of Pomogi.Org were involved in online charity programs long before our foundation was officially registered as a legal entity. Basically, helping people does not require the setting up of a legal entity. All that is needed is a willingness to help and credible data on those who need your help.

Our seven-year experience in charitable activities – albeit marked with indisputable achievements – has revealed a number of problems. Solving those could boost the efficiency of charitable projects. The key problems arising when implementing online charitable projects are as follows:

• scarcity of up-to-date, trustworthy data on people in need (applications for donations published extensively on the Web require in-depth verification; even where the data provided is true such applications may contain inaccuracies and outdated information);
• poor mechanisms for making donations through bank transfers from donors to recipients (especially as regards to donations made inside Russia, than for, say, charitable transfers from Vancouver to St. Petersburg, which are easier to carry out);
• high transaction costs for charitable transfers;
• lack of coordination between volunteers involved in online charitable projects, also coordinated by volunteers who work full-time at other companies.

Tackling these problems requires the creation of a legal entity with the right to hire staff, maintain accounts, enter into contracts with financial institutions and payment systems, open bank accounts and secure preferential terms of servicing charitable donations. That was the reason that prompted us to establish the Internet Charity Foundation Pomogi.Org and open branch agencies outside Russia.

General Principles for Foundation Activities

1. Russian law allows charitable organizations to retain 20 percent of the funds raised for their own needs (salaries to the staff, tenancy payments, operational costs, etc). This is fair, because otherwise it would be unclear how non-profit organizations would exist. But we cannot agree with that. We believe that when a person donates a dollar for the medical treatment of a child, the child should receive the entire amount to the last cent. That is how our Foundation functions. Our overheads are covered by the founders or at the expense of donations made specifically for the purpose.

2. Charity donations made through bank transfers, payment systems, or other financial institutions entail transaction costs, as all those institutions charge fees for their services. This is normal, they live on those fees. But a child – the recipient of a charitable donation – is not to blame for that. His donor is not to blame, either. That is why the Foundation assumes all transaction costs. This means, that we cover all the fees at our own expense. In the future we hope to work out agreements with banks and payment systems on preferential terms for the servicing of charitable transfers.

3. Inadequate information on those in need, their requirements and contact data constitute the most serious threat for online charities. People taking part in charity programs are often justly disappointed to learn that their donations have failed to reach the intended recipients. That is why the Foundation only publishes verified data as our staff members thoroughly check all applications, either themselves or with the help of our partner charities.

4. Pursuant to the Articles of Association, our Foundation renders assistance to the residents of the Russian Federation. That means that the Foundation is allowed to distribute charitable donations only within the boundaries of the RF. It should be noted that “residents” does not necessarily imply “nationals”. Our activities are not subject to any restrictions regarding the nationality, ethnicity or religion of the recipients.

5. The Foundation recognizes no ideological restrictions when entering partnerships with charitable, religious or public organization, or private individuals for the purposes of cooperation on charitable projects. We welcome donations from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and agnostic groups, political parties, public figures, provided only that their activities or ideology do not run counter to Russian law.

6. The Foundation pledges to ensure full transparency of all the fund raising campaigns to donors, not formally, as required by law, but to report on each and every kopeck spent, providing comprehensive information on each source and recipient of each transaction (excluding cases where donors wish to remain anonymous).

Get Involved

The Foundation is grateful to Internet users for any assistance they are willing to render; that is what it was set up for in the first place. Pomogi.Org focuses on target-oriented programs, aimed at raising funds, collecting things, medicines and foodstuffs to provide for those in need.

Make a Donation

One of the Foundation's key objectives is to provide data on current needs and the recipients of donations; we are open to all proposals on media and advertising support, be it banner exchange, text links, announcements published on Web sites and blogs, or traditional advertising on all sorts of carriers, ranging from television to match boxes.

We also welcome any data, advice and recommendations that could help us boost the efficiency of our charitable programs. We also welcome help from software programmers and creators of network solutions.