Every Saturday and Sunday, I, like many other TV viewers, are shown on the central channels stories about sick children for whom money is being collected all over the world
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They are often played on weekends - while everyone is at home. If possible, I send some amounts. When one of my relatives grumpily remarked: where are our wonderful state, the philanthropists, why aren’t they helping? - I was indignant: you need not to reason, but to show concern, because here he is, a specific child. We need money for his treatment now - tomorrow may be too late.
I am sure that the same good intentions motivate everyone who responds to such calls. Compassion and the desire to share are in our blood, and that’s great. Charity is developed in many countries and helps out in emergency situations. But it is precisely this area where the best human qualities are manifested that also attracts unscrupulous people. With Svetlana Mashistova , the creator of the “Toxic Charity” project and the administrator of the public “Charity on the Bones”, special correspondent for Rusfond, we talked about how to avoid becoming a victim of scammers.
Million for a charlatan
“The starting point for me to study this phenomenon was the story of Sonya Sh. from St. Petersburg,” says Svetlana. “Her mother wrote on one of the forums that her daughter was diagnosed with acute leukemia.” The girl was lucky: the disease was discovered at a very early stage, when it is well treated. However, the girl’s father said that the diagnosis was far-fetched, took her from the hospital and began collecting money on social networks for treatment in Israel.
As a result, he poisoned his daughter to Germany to see Dr. Kler , a famous charlatan. Six months later, the child found himself in critical condition in the same department in St. Petersburg from which he was taken. Our doctors pulled the girl out. But dad is still sure that he did everything right. In a very short time, he collected about a million rubles. And no one wanted to understand that the funds were used to treat cancer at the dermatologist.
— Perhaps it is the funds that should figure out when help is really needed, and when people are just taking advantage of the situation?
— Conscientious ones check the history, documents, contact doctors. But no fund can or will carry out an examination of other people’s collections; it lacks the strength and time.
Among the funds that have appeared in recent years, there are those who are ready to raise money for anything. One of the latest scandals is raising funds for neuroblastoma patient Vlad Shestakov . The boy died - he was absolutely hopeless. But by saving the unsaveable, one could get money.
Some time ago, my colleague Alexandra Chernikova wrote about the activities of a charitable foundation in Samara. Funds were supposedly collected for the treatment of children in boxes installed in stores. One of the mothers, Anna Nikolaeva from Magnitogorsk, told how this happened. Her son, eight-year-old Nikita, required rehabilitation costing 3.6 thousand euros. Representatives of “Salvation” themselves offered to organize a collection. The woman sent her son’s medical documents to the fund. She personally knew the people who put money in the boxes. But the fund did not transfer a single penny to Nikolaev. When Anna asked the director of the fund, Arseny Sheps , for an explanation, he removed the page about Nikita from the site.
In the summer of 2017, the court liquidated the Salvation charity foundation, but even after its closure it continued to collect donations. And its leader, Arseny Sheps, was nominated as a deputy. Photo: kirill-potapov.livejournal.com and ok.ru
Another victim, Oksana Knysh from Samara, mother of twins, received only 27 thousand rubles from Salvation: she was told that the boxes were almost empty, although she herself saw five thousand dollar bills thrown into them.
In 2015, this fund collected about 3.376 million rubles, and transferred only 794 thousand to charitable purposes. In 2014, out of the collected 401 thousand rubles. Only 53 thousand went to good causes. The court decided to liquidate Salvation, but the money it collected was not found, and the donation boxes did not disappear from the stores. A short mobile number for receiving SMS donations also worked.
Another scandal broke last October. The Golden Hearts Foundation collected donations for the treatment of six-year-old Alina Pakhomova from Stavropol - the girl has a malignant tumor of the brain stem. They agreed to help her in Moscow; almost 4 million rubles were required for treatment. The baby's parents began collecting money on social networks. And then they turned to “Golden Hearts”, where they were given a condition: to account for all the money received from other sources, and to transfer all unclaimed funds to the fund. It turned out that everything that the parents managed to collect before contacting “Golden Hearts” could be taken by the “philanthropists.” But Alina’s family did not receive the promised help: the director of “Golden Hearts” Tatyana Kapninskaya transferred only 8 thousand rubles to her mother’s account!
The family refused to cooperate with the fund, but Kapninskaya continued collecting and posted a video asking for help for Alina on the TNT channel. Viewers were asked to send an SMS to a short number with the text “ALINA” and the donation amount. As it turned out, even such donations are not targeted. They are transferred to the fund by going through the account of an intermediary company that provides the service of transferring money via SMS. However, the prosecutor’s office did not find any violations in the activities of the Golden Hearts Foundation.
In 2015, the whole country was worried about little Matvey, who was burned in a Tula maternity hospital. His mother abandoned him, and when it came to settling into a new family, a real battle of opinions unfolded on the Internet, newspapers and TV. Olga Budina (left) saw Muscovite Natalya Tupyakova (right) as an adoptive parent, although she had almost no conditions for caring for the boy. This story is an example of how dubious activists, to whom the actress listened, stand for something they don’t understand or don’t want to understand. Photo: vk.com
What do foundations want from the state?
AdVita Administrative Director Elena Gracheva formulates the rules of the game, which, according to representatives of charitable organizations, will bring real benefits to honest funds - and, accordingly, to the people who work in them and those who need them.
“As for improving the situation with funds, we must, first of all, not lie,” says Elena Gracheva. “Besides, we need rules of the game.” There are many lacunae in the law on charity. They must be completed. Clear reporting standards must be adopted. All partners of charitable foundations - hospitals, orphanages, boarding schools - must be sure (that is, have a clear public statement from high-level officials, for example, and not just a circular) that contacting a charitable foundation is normal. They must firmly know that charitable assistance is legal, and that the very fact of attracting charitable funds (and, therefore, public recognition of an unresolved problem) will not have administrative consequences.”
RIA Novosti / Vladimir Fedorenko
It is obvious that no state can completely do without the help of philanthropists, patrons of the arts, and devotees. And their activities must not only be monitored, but also tried to help, Gracheva believes.
“The state should in every possible way support charitable assistance in the social sphere and encourage those leaders who try to solve problems with the help of philanthropists, and not those who hush up these problems,” says the administrative director of AdVita. — A strong state is not one that denies problems, but one that honestly admits them and does not refuse help. And it is necessary for every citizen to have the right to manage part of their own income tax, directing it to solve social problems through charitable foundations. This exists in many countries, and it wouldn’t hurt us either.”
Hype for misfortune
— There are many schemes that scammers use. They steal other people’s medical records, invent unfortunate children, and post their card numbers on pages telling about high-profile emergencies,” our expert continues. — In Sevastopol, the center of the scandal now is 17-year-old Alexandra Kravchenko , who gave birth to a seriously ill child seven months ago. The boy is not developing and has absolutely no prospects. This is a disaster, and it was necessary to treat the mother’s decision to abandon the child with understanding. But members of the “Moms of Crimea” community called for money to be transferred to the family’s personal account and literally forced a sick child on her. They tried to explain to the volunteers: you can’t just chip in, the family must account for the money received and spent, but they didn’t listen. Sasha and her son went to Moscow, talked with doctors there, and still left Artem in the hospital. Now “Moms of Crimea” are rinsing her all over the public and demanding that she be called to account and take away the money collected. They feel deceived, although they themselves led the ward, who is still a child, into temptation.
gift a life
- Website: podari-zhizn.ru
- Opening: November 27, 2006
- Leaders: Galina Chalikova, Dina Korzun, Chulpan Khamatova, Mikhail Maschan, Ekaterina Chistyakova
- Head office: Moscow, st. Dovatora, 13
Directions: support for seriously ill children and adults, children with special needs. Assistance to medical institutions, support for the development of new medical technologies, training of medical workers.
“Give Life” helps children who are treated in Russian clinics with oncological and hematological diseases. The fund does not have branches in the regions of Russia, but there are partner organizations in the USA (Podari.Life) and the UK (Gift of Life).
Donations are used for targeted assistance, volunteer and donor programs, the purchase of medicines, and treatment abroad.
“Give Life” also rents outpatient apartments in Moscow. They house children who do not always need to be in the hospital during treatment, but they do not have the opportunity to live with relatives or rent housing themselves.
Professional "beggars"
— Svetlana, how can you distinguish honest fundraisers from swindlers?
— If possible, you need to look at the documents of the person for whom the fundraiser is announced and analyze it. If a charitable foundation is registered, there are no claims against it from the Ministry of Justice; we cannot call it dishonest. Let's imagine a situation: a child for whom a fundraiser was announced dies during treatment. In this case, the bona fide foundation will transfer the funds to its other ward. And the scammers will withdraw the donations and spend them at their own discretion.
— Should the charity fund’s report be made publicly available?
— Yes, but there is no public reporting form - everyone writes what they see fit. For example, the “Easy to Help” foundation posted reports to the Ministry of Justice. However, these documents do not provide an idea of the actual volume of activity or the structure of expenses.
On March 5, 2021, actress and head of the Gift of Life foundation Chulpan Khamatova thanked ex-USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev for perestroika
— Is it true that up to 20 percent of the funds collected go to the maintenance of charitable foundations? On the website of the Gift of Life foundation, which is headed by Chulpan Khamatova, the spending report states that 107 million was spent on “administrative needs.”
— The norm of 20 percent was established to support small funds that have very few donations, and employees must be paid salaries. All large funds spend 4–7 percent on their functioning.
- Where is the state in all these stories? Why does the same “Gift of Life” fund buy medicines and syringes for large federal centers?
“We are talking about the state policy of shifting its obligations to society. Why buy diapers for an orphanage and syringes for a hospital if a charity foundation does it?
— How to respond to fundraising announcements?
— There is no need to make transfers to the accounts of individuals if they collect money for the benefit of other people. If a fund presents a card of its employee to collect money, it means something is unclean. There is a large family in Voronezh that has been collecting funds for years. They bought several apartments, made renovations, and educated their children in private universities. From time to time they come to the house where they used to live, take pictures and cry in the nets: help...
— After your speeches, were any checks initiated?
— Schemes for taking funds from the population are most often legal. Sometimes donors applied for a number of collections when it was known for sure that the parents of a sick child had stolen the money. But the initiation of a criminal case was refused because the donations were regarded as gifts that the family wanted and spent.
Shoot at "abroad"
One of the “charity” scandals is associated with the name of former biathlete Veronika Timofeeva . Her son, five-year-old Artem, has cerebral palsy, and for a long time he could not breathe on his own. In 2021, Veronica announced a fundraiser on social networks to take her son to Israel, where they promised to have his tracheostomy removed. But two operations did not live up to expectations, and my mother found a doctor in the USA. Among other donors, famous athletes donated money for treatment: Daria Domracheva , Evgeniy Malkin ... However, volunteers drew attention to the lack of reports on these transfers. Later, Veronica asked to donate funds for a girl from an orphanage whom she met at the hospital. The money should have been transferred to Timofeeva’s personal card. And again the volunteers did not see the reports.
Veronica Timofeeva and her Artemka are helped by fellow biathletes. Photo: vk.com and Instagram.com
Marauders on trust
- Republic of Mordovia (2009): the organizer of the charity fund for helping sick children “Vera” went to a settlement colony for two and a half years. Hope. Love" Valentina Lukshina . She collected money for paid operations abroad, but did not organize any trips.
- Moscow (2013): ex-director of Valery Gergiev’s charitable foundation Igor Zotov was sentenced to eight years for theft of 245 million rubles.
Igor Zotov. Photo: © ITAR-TASS
- Rostov-on-Don (2015): the founder of a charitable foundation who sold heroin will spend four and a half years in a colony.
- Nizhny Novgorod (2017): three years of suspended imprisonment - this is the punishment for three Nizhny Novgorod false volunteers who collected money for the treatment of homeless animals about whom they gave fictitious information.
- Volgograd (2018): Denis Zemlyansky, ex-director of the charitable foundation for social support of the population, received six years in prison . Using the fund's money, he purchased two apartments worth 11 million rubles. I spent the same amount on “trifles.”
- Kursk (2018): the court sentenced the head of a charitable foundation, Evgeny Gololobov , and his deputy, Alexey Kuklin , accused of sexual violence against a foundation employee who, in their opinion, was involved in the death of one of their cats.
Rusfond
- Website: rusfond.ru
- Opening: October 29, 2009
- Leaders: Lev Ambinder, Vladimir Yakovlev, Valery Panyushkin
- Head office: Moscow, Leningradsky Prospekt, 68, building 2
Directions: support for seriously ill children, children with special needs. Assistance to medical institutions, support for the development of new medical technologies, training of medical workers.
Rusfond has 14 programs, including:
- Rusfond.IVL is a charity rental point for portable ventilators (ventilator).
- Rusfond.Register is a program to create a National Register of Bone Marrow Donors.
- Rusfond.Yaroslavl is a program for children with pathologies of the peripheral nervous system and limbs.
- There is also Rusfond.Fracture, Rusfond.Cerebral Palsy, Rusfond.Face, Rusfond.Spine and others.
For targeted donations, the site has a search with filters by region, diagnosis, age, and required amount. All published stories on the site are checked by experts, and each author of the appeal, as Rusfond promises, always receives a response.
The organization talks about the news of the project in the Rusfond.Media magazine.
Sberbank Charitable Foundation “Investment in the Future”
- Website: vbudushee.ru
- Opening: November 6, 2015
- Leaders: German Gref, Pyotr Polovets, Yulia Chupina
- Head office: Moscow, Kutuzovsky prospect, 32
Directions: support for children without parental care, children with special needs in health and mental development. Help for non-profit organizations.
Sberbank's charitable foundation "Investment in the Future" wants all members of society to have equal opportunities for self-realization. Therefore, he develops modern Russian education and carries out systematic work in two areas:
The first direction is “Inclusive Environment”: this is the socialization, career guidance and employment of children without parents and with mental developmental disabilities.
The second direction is “Modern Education”: the foundation is creating a digital platform for personalized learning, creating “Digital Skills and Competencies” and “Financial Literacy” programs. Here the main task for Sberbank is to give children universal skills that will be needed for the professions of the future.
Creation
- Website: bf-sozidanie.ru
- Opening: April 3, 2001
- Leaders: Konstantin Gramotnev, Natalya Sindeeva, Tatyana Lazareva, Mikhail Shats
- Head office: Moscow, st. Magnitogorskaya, 9
Directions: support for medical institutions, socially vulnerable segments of the population, emergency assistance.
“Creation” is one of the most experienced charitable organizations in Russia. In 2021, the foundation turned 18 years old. It helps children with serious illnesses, gifted children from low-income families, rural libraries, cultural centers, and the elderly.
Every month a report on funds collected and spent within specific programs is published on the website. The report contains long lists of personal thanks to those who share their money - because there is no small help in charity.
Help.Org
- Website: pomogi.org
- Opening: October 7, 2005
- Leaders: Sarah Nezhelskaya, Lyudmila Baranova
- Head office: Moscow, 1st Tverskoy-Yamskoy lane, 18
Directions: support for seriously ill children and adults, children with special needs.
The main work of “Pomogi.org” is helping children with cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart defects, emergency assistance in the form of paying for operations or purchasing medications. In addition, the organization supports excellent students from large, low-income families.
To involve a larger number of donors, the organization participates in the “Santa Claus Mail”, “Day of Good Deeds on Channel 5”, “Children instead of Flowers”, “Best Gift” campaigns.
Children's hearts
- Website: detis.ru
- Opening: September 4, 2002
- Leaders: Mikhail Bermant, Pavel Shafranovsky, Alexander Shirvindt
- Head office: Moscow, Karmanitsky lane, 9
Directions: support for seriously ill children, children with special needs. Assistance to medical institutions.
Since 2002, Children's Hearts has been helping children under 18 years of age overcome congenital heart diseases. In addition to targeted assistance, the organization makes donations for equipment and supplies for operations.
"Children's Hearts" work together with cardiology clinics from Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Kaliningrad, and other Russian cities, sending children abroad for treatment.
Help is needed
- Website: nuzhnapomosh.ru
- Opening: August 31, 2015
- Leaders: Anna Semenova, Mitya Aleshkovsky
- Head office: Moscow, Luzhnetskaya nab., 2/4, building 16
Directions: support for non-profit organizations. Protection of rights and development of civil society.
Help Needed is a fund for funds. He does not work directly with people in need, but develops the NGO sector in Russia, helps charitable and non-profit organizations, supervises volunteer projects, and supports research.
Visitors to the organization's website can donate money to a specific fund with these specializations:
- Children and adults with cancer
- Hospices
- Terminally ill patients
- Children without parental care
- Food aid
- Homeless
- Preservation of natural sites and cultural heritage
- Animal shelters
- Victims of sexual violence
Among the partners of “Help Needed” are a total of 201 charitable organizations from all over Russia. There is its own information portal “Such Things”, which tells about the stages of development of charity in the country.
AdVITA
- Website: advita.ru
- Opening: April 1, 2002
- Leaders: Pavel Grinberg, Elena Gracheva, Boris Afanasyev
- Head office: St. Petersburg, Bolshoi Prospekt P.S., 77
Directions: support for seriously ill children and adults, children with special needs. Assistance to medical institutions, support for the development of new medical technologies.
AdVita means "for the sake of life." Since 2002, this St. Petersburg organization has been trying to help cancer patients. She works together with the American partner fund AdVita USA.
The site publishes stories about patients, shares information about receipts and expenses, and helps people donate or become volunteers.
The organization also suggests what to do for those who want to do charity work, and tells how to become a blood or bone marrow donor.
How to choose a charity and avoid sending money to scammers
- Study the official documents of the fund , as well as all documents for the beneficiary, if the assistance is addressed to a specific person or project.
- The Foundation is required to publish financial reports on the expenditure of collected funds. Good organizations publish such reports monthly, and at the end of the year they publish a final report.
- Check the data on the fund's reports in the database of the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. True, it’s not easy to figure it out, and old reports are removed from public access.
- Take a closer look at the founders of the fund if we are talking about a large donation amount. Getting to know their biography helps to understand why these people decided to do charity work. And these are not always noble impulses.
- Do not transfer funds after seeing a post on social networks . Charity sector experts often publish such memos, where they explain in detail how to recognize scammers.
- Making a donation is simple : select a fund, go to its website, find the “I want to help” section and follow the instructions. There are no problems to transfer funds via SMS, bank card or payment systems.
Read: What to do to become financially literate? Basics, examples and concepts
Rus
- Website: foodbankrus.ru
- Opening: October 25, 2012
- Leaders: Yulia Nazarova, Anna Alieva-Khrustaleva, Georgy Romanov
- Head office: Moscow, 1st st. Yamsky field, 15 building 2
Directions: support for low-income families, elderly people, socially vulnerable segments of the population.
"Rus" is the largest Russian fund that supplies food to the poor. According to the chairman of the governing council, Georgy Romanov, the organization’s goal is to create a network of regional branches throughout Russia so that everyone in need can receive free products.
“Rus” is the first Russian “food bank”. It conducts joint food collection campaigns with the Karusel, Perekrestok, Pyaterochka, BILLA, and Dixie chains, saves food from destruction, and runs a number of programs:
- “Products in the outback for the elderly”
- “Give a child lunch” (with KFC)
- Free school breakfasts for low-income children
- "Products to help mom"
