ABSTRACT
The Russian third sector has been developing now for about three decades or so. Over the last five to seven years, growth has accelerated due to public policies aimed at supporting nonprofit entities as service providers in the social sphere, as well as the population’s growing involvement in volunteering. While Russia’s third sector had been stuck in a statist model with a generally limited scope, low level of volunteering, small financial support from the government, and a focus on advocacy, culture and leisure, it is now moving to another model with stronger volunteer participation, more government spending for NPOs and a higher profile of NPO as social service providers. This chapter will provide a description of the dynamically changing context of NPO governance which is important for understanding not only the Russian specifics but also for casting more light on developments relating to NPOs in other former Soviet Union (FSU) countries outside the Baltics, which are covered in Chapter 4.
