5.3. Charity
Charitable activities and social projects are implemented on the basis of the Regulation on Sponsorship and Charitable ActivitiesApproved by resolution of PJSC Gazprom Board of Directors No. 2775 dated July 12, 2016. .
Social project financing decisions of the Gazprom Group companies are informed by the following criteria:
- social significance, importance, and public relevance of the project;
- targeted outreach;
- PR relevance in terms of contribution towards establishing and enhancing Gazprom’s reputation and creating positive public feedback through projects’ implementation;
- compliance with the social policy priorities of the government authorities of the Russian Federation and regions where the Gazprom Group companies operate; conformity with the state and regional programs for supporting certain areas of social life.
The final decision on the financing of social projects is usually made by the management of the Gazprom Group companies. In a number of PJSC Gazprom’s subsidiaries, the decision on charitable support is made by charity committees consisting of the subsidiaries’ managers and key employees.
Most of the social projects supported by the Gazprom Group companies are implemented via non-profit organizations (NPO) of different types. This is primarily due to the active role the NPOs play in Russia by pulling together individual efforts and engaging the business community in achieving socially useful goals.
Since 2016, PJSC Gazprom and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have been co-financing the creation of historical parks under the Russia. My History project. In these parks, the history of the country and its regions is represented in a multimedia format using state-of-the-art technologies. In each of the regions, PJSC Gazprom enters into an agreement with an NPO authorized to implement the project. 2019 saw the launch of multimedia sites in Surgut and Chelyabinsk. The project currently covers 20 cities and is to be rolled out to Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, Pskov, and Pyatigorsk in 2020.
In the reporting year, PJSC Gazprom proceeded with the Eternal Flame project to provide free-of-charge gas supplies to memorials located in Russia’s Hero Cities and Cities of Military Glory.
In addition, maintenance services were delivered to 1,331 Eternal Flame memorials across the country. The Company continued working on the gasification of memorial complexes, transition from gas cylinders to network-based gas supply, restoration and reconstruction of monuments honouring fallen soldiers.
Major charity projects of the reporting year included:
- usual support to two non-profit organizations — the Amur Tiger Population Research and Preservation Center and the Eurasian Center for Preservation of Amur Leopards — which implement projects aimed at preserving and increasing the population of rare animal species included in the Red Book of Russia;
- round-the-world expedition in 2019–2020 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica by the Bellingshausen—Lazarev expedition, featuring training sailboats Kruzenshtern, Sedov, and Pallada of the Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), and;
- a comprehensive research expedition in 2019 to study a potential route for a transpolar railroad in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the Krasnoyarsk Territory;
- annual financial and other support of the All-Russia Veterans Organization Russian Veterans Union.
The Company pays special attention to children without parental support or suffering from serious diseases. In 2019, Gazprom supported the Registration study of acquired aplastic anemia in the Russian Federation project, which is being implemented by Dmitry Rogachev National Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology.
For the fourth year running, Gazprom Transgaz Nizhny Novgorod LLC has been holding Winners Games for young cancer survivors in Nizhny Novgorod. The competition focuses on social inclusion and psychological recovery for children who have been staying in a hospital for a long period of time. Over 300 participants take part in the event every year.
Since 2013, Gazprom Transgaz Ufa LLC and the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Welfare of the Republic of Bashkortostan have been jointly running a social project entitled Breaking Barriers. The initiative is aimed at developing creativity and ensuring social adaptation for children with disabilities, breaking down communication barriers between healthy and physically challenged children, as well as erasing common stereotypes about people with disabilities. Every year, the project is concluded with the Breaking Barriers festival. Over the past four years, it has evolved into an interregional event, with more than a thousand applications received from over 20 Russian regions and CIS states. In total, more than 5,000 children have been involved in the project since its launch.
Since 2006, Gazprom in Orenburzhye non-commercial partnership has been holding the Warmth of Children’s Hearts festival. Between 249 and 400 children from orphanages and boarding schools of the Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Samara and Ulyanovsk Regions, Moscow and the West Kazakhstan Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan took part in the festival in different years. The program of the festival includes an amateur art show, Spartakiad, a competition in the knowledge of local history, a wall newspaper contest, and a competition of decorative and applied arts.
Since 2018, Gazprom Pererabotka LLC and the Committee for Social Policy of St. Petersburg have been implementing a pilot project seeking to socialize orphans and build a new model for an orphanage with a focus on individual development perspectives for future life. For this purpose, Family Upbringing Promotion Center No. 8 was equipped with 12 separate spaces functioning as apartments for independent living. St. Petersburg City Administration has decided to replicate this model.
Volunteering
The Gazprom Group’s employees volunteer in various charitable projects, with such initiatives having become ingrained in the corporate culture.
One of Gazprom’s major volunteer projects is the Do Good annual charity marathon hosted by Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg LLC and organized and held exclusively through volunteer efforts. The marathon seeks to raise funds to help children with serious genetic disorders. All donations are sent directly to specific families. The tenth marathon took place in 2019 and raised some RUB 8 million.
Another volunteer project called Territory of Friendship was implemented in 2019 as part of the charitable activities of Gazprom Transgaz Ukhta LLC. Over 500 children and teenagers from 62 institutions sponsored by the company took part in the project during the summer holidays. A comprehensive approach was applied, according to which a combination of different types of leisure activities was offered, such as pick-up games, educational quest, and competitive sports. The project covered several regions, namely, the Komi Republic and the Arkhangelsk, Vologda, and Yaroslavl Regions.