Non-Profit Management Program

The mission of the Non-Profit Management Program, created in 1994, was to offer management training and small grants to the numerous not-for-profit, charity providers springing up during Russia’s transition toward civil-society development. These unknown local heroes responded to different social needs when the Soviet system imploded, leaving no social safety net for disadvantaged citizens.

Russian mother who founded a private orphanage for abandoned street children in St. Petersburg

Parents with deaf/mute children instinctively formed self-help organizations; women seeing street children began micro-orphanages; individuals plagued by human rights violations banned together to work privately for equality and transparency. None of these groups knew how to run such operations, since independent social organization had been forbidden prior to the breakup of the USSR. All needed management “know how” and fundraising assistance.

CCI’s Non-Profit Management Program was modeled after its successful Economic Development Program. Non-profit managers were carefully identified, given training in Russia, and then brought to the U.S. for a non-profit management internship of four weeks. While in the U.S., they were hosted by an established American organization dealing with the same social issue as their program in Russia.

The Non-Profit Management Program was managed and implemented by CCI for two years and then taken over by volunteers as an independent program. Training and small loans to Russian charitable organizations are still being carried out through the volunteers.