Non-governmental Funding

CCI expresses deep appreciation to its non-governmental donors who have generously provided the resources for CCI to grow and manage programs which, combining the ripple effect, continue to benefit hundreds of thousands of Russians and Americans, build goodwill and partnerships where none previously existed, and make the world a safer place in which to live.

Through 1984, CCI was self-funded by the handful of volunteers who created the organization. Then slowly revenues began to come from a combination of fees collected from travelers under CCI’s first program, Citizen Diplomacy Travel, CCI membership and newsletter requests.

In 1986 CCI was introduced to small U.S. foundations, beginning with the Columbia Foundation, which became a donor and introduced CCI to other family foundations. The range of grants was $15,000 to $20,000. In 1988 Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak gave CCI its first large grant of $100,000 to insure Soviets Meet Middle America program operations. In that same year CCI took the first of three delegations of American Foundation Executives to the USSR.

CCI garnered support from major U.S. foundations beginning in 1989. The first grant was from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. In the following years, CCI received various grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, W. Alton Jones Foundation, Weeden Foundation, Arthur B. Schultz Foundation, Anonymous Foundation and others. These foundations provided the base to implement early programs, which U.S. government funding agencies expanded into multi-million dollar programs.

In 1996 the Arthur B. Schultz Foundation initiated equipment grants in the range of $25,000 to CCI business alumni to stimulate the philanthropic impulse in Russian entrepreneurs. The latter were required to give an equal amount of product to disadvantaged Russian citizens over a three-year period.

In 1999 CCI began to earn revenue as the financial oversight sponsor of the St. Petersburg State University School of Management Building Program. Funders for this project were Arthur B. Schultz, Procter & Gamble, Open Society Institute and numerous smaller donors.

The Vera Townsend Foundation provided a grant to start a pilot program entitled Angels for Angels in 2000. This program, which is still active, provides computer equipment and work-skills training for Russian orphans prior to their leaving the orphanages at age 17.

CCI sends funding-request letters annually, offering CCI friends the opportunity to participate in smaller, non-governmental projects and programs.

CCI wishes to thank the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, its largest and most enduring foundation donor, for its trust in CCI’s program and financial management and for the opportunity to work as partners to help Russia through its lengthy and painful transition to democracy.