News – Russian Government

A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko on the development of trust funds and other forms of charitable support for educational and scientific organizations.

It was attended by Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Andrei Omelchuk, Deputy Minister of Education Olga Koludarova, representatives of other ministries and departments, scientific organizations and university rectors (MIPT, Higher School of Economics, Russian Economic University named after G.V. Plekhanov, etc.).

In preparation for the strategic session of the Chairman of the Government Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian Ministry of Education and Science has formed seven working groups that are developing proposals for creating tools to support universities with their graduates, improving the mechanisms for the formation and use of endowment funds (FCT) of educational organizations that solve pressing problems of the industry.

The results of their activities for three months were presented at the meeting. Thus, the groups developed proposals for support tools, conducted a survey among more than 100 successful and well-known graduates of 20 universities with large endowment funds, developed proposals for a list and methodology for collecting key indicators to assess the current state of endowment funds, and analyzed current legislation.

“President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin instructed to submit proposals for the formation of tools for supporting educational organizations by their graduates, as well as for improving the mechanisms for the formation and use of endowment funds for educational organizations. According to statistics, every second endowment fund in Russia works in the field of education – this is about 40% of all funds. Moreover, over 36% falls on higher education. It is necessary to strategically expand the geography of funds, creating them not only in higher education, but also covering schools, secondary vocational education and scientific organizations,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Over the past 18 years, more than 400 Federal Central Committees have been created in our country with total assets of over 155.5 billion rubles. In 2024, the volume of funds invested in the funds showed an increase of 8.6%, which indicates an increased level of confidence in this instrument for long-term financing of socially significant projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister added that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered the development of proposals for additional measures to support the development of endowment funds in universities. In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Education and Science, the Concept for the development of endowment funds of universities and scientific organizations for 2025–2035 and methodological recommendations were approved.

“Today, the Ministry of Education and Science, together with other departments, is actively working to increase the attractiveness and sustainability of endowment funds. It is very important for us that endowments in Russia are showing growth, and we are creating conditions for their further development. This work was based on large-scale research involving more than a hundred experts. Based on market analysis and surveys, key challenges and draft solutions have been formed that will be finalized. When developing measures, we focus on increasing trust and removing administrative barriers, including expanding tax benefits and popularizing endowment funds. These steps will strengthen the financial stability of the funds and increase the efficiency of their activities,” said Deputy Head of the Ministry of Education and Science Andrei Omelchuk.

The Enlightenment and Promotion working group conducted a survey among successful graduates of Russian universities to identify barriers and incentives for their participation in the formation and development of university endowment funds. It showed that 71% of graduates are aware of the concept of endowment funds, and almost half of those surveyed – 45% – are willing to make regular small payments to support endowment funds.

Rector of REU named after. G.V. Plekhanov Ivan Lobanov drew attention to the increase in the number of specialized educational programs for training qualified personnel for foundations: for 2025 – several thousand potential students associated with more than 400 foundations, as well as more than 1 thousand potential course participants working in higher education organizations.

MIPT Rector Dmitry Livanov noted that an analysis of the world’s best practices shows that the successful development of endowments is possible with a combination of three factors – flexible regulation, active participation of universities and low barriers to entry for small funds.

“In Russia today only the first is fully realized. Therefore, our task is to create the missing conditions: reduce administrative and financial barriers for small endowments, give universities the opportunity to support their funds at the start and develop platform solutions that can dramatically reduce costs. We are convinced that accelerated market growth requires a special government support program. This will allow us to create a modern infrastructure of endowments and make endowments a real source of long-term investments in education and science,” noted Dmitry Livanov.

Rector of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Stanislav Prokofiev outlined the key measures of tax and non-tax incentives for endowment funds.

“In the opinion of the working group, such measures should include quick victories in the form of simplification of administrative procedures for the creation and administration of endowment funds based on out-of-the-box solutions, the creation of model documents that are designed to help small FCCs register and start working,” he said.

Speaking about the medium term, Stanislav Prokofiev emphasized the need to improve legislation, as well as to ensure flexibility and transparency of the Federal Central Committee and expand investment instruments.