In 2013, as in all previous years, Vnesheconombank Group’s charity focused on support for science, education, arts and culture. A considerable amount of financial support was also allocated to healthcare and social security initiatives, including aid to children. Equally important was the Group’s charity support to the Russian Orthodox Church, professional athletes and conservancy. In total, Vnesheconombank and the Group’s entities took part in more than 60 socially important projects throughout the year.

Charity allocations by Vnesheconombank Group (RUB mn)

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Our charity programme is prepared at the year-end of each year and is subject to approval by Vnesheconombank’s Supervisory Board. Most charity projects of the Bank are implemented on a long-term basis for 10 and more years. Every year new socially important organisations become Vnesheconombank’s beneficiaries.

For many years, Vnesheconombank has been supporting a number of specialised healthcare institutions such as the Research Institute of Children’s Oncology and Haematology at Blokhin Cancer Research Centre, Moscow Regional Psychoneurological Hospital for Children with CNS Diseases, the First Hospice for Children with Oncologic Diseases, etc. The Bank’s beneficiaries also include organisations that support socially vulnerable groups: orphans and children without parental care, World War II veterans, families of servicemen who died in conflict zones, and disabled persons.

Support for the Leninsk Central District Hospital in the Jewish Autonomous Region

In 2013, Vnesheconombank transferred all amounts planned to be spent for corporate New Year holiday events and for gifts to customers and partners to the Leninsk Central District Hospital in the Jewish Autonomous Region that provided first medical and specialised aid to victims of an extraordinary flood that occured in the Far East.

For many years, within the framework of cooperation with major Russian research, education, culture and arts institutions, Vnesheconombank has been supporting Moscow’s Pyotr Fomenko Studio theatre, the Academy of Young Opera Singers of Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the Moscow Kremlin’s museums, and the Polytechnic Museum. We also pay scholarships to the most gifted students of MGIMO University, Moscow State University, the Financial University and the Higher School of Economics.

The Mariinsky Theatre

The history of the Mariinsky Theatre dates back to 1783 when the opening ceremony of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was held at the Carousel Square in Saint Petersburg. The theatre got its current name in 1859 after the reigning Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, the wife of Alexander II. Over more than two centuries, the theatre gave the world many great artists and strengthened the traditions of the Russian musical scene. In 2013, the Mariinsky Theatre celebrated its 230th anniversary.

Vnesheconombank has been supporting the Mariinsky Theatre Academy of Young Opera Singers since its very inception in 1998. Over the period, the Academy brought up many generations of young talents from across Russia, CIS countries,

Western Europe and America. The Academy’s lead singers take part in operas staged by the Mariinsky Theatre, in numerous music festivals in Russia and other countries, and have repeatedly become winners or runners-up of many prestigious international competitions.

Vnesheconombank attaches special importance to its support to the Russian Orthodox Church aimed at preserving the historical and cultural heritage, reviving moral values and sharing them with the younger generations. In 2013, Vnesheconombank supported the construction of more than 10 temples, churches and monasteries in Russia and the orthodox Saint George Monastery in the town of Getschendorf (Germany). The Bank also continued its involvement in the project for construction of the Centre for Spiritual Development of Children and Youth at the Moscow Danilov Monastery.

Support to professional athletes is a top priority for Vnesheconombank’s charitable activities. In 2013, the Bank supported the country’s sports federations and national volleyball, bicycle and rugby teams and took part in the preparation for the World Football Cup 2018.

Since 2010, Vnesheconombank has launched a new charity initiative supporting conservancy projects that seek to preserve the biodiversity. The Bank’s permanent beneficiaries in this area already include the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and Pripyatsky national parks, and the Eurasian Centre of Saving Far Eastern Leopards.

From year to year, Vnesheconombank Group’s entities become more and more involved in charitable activities. Apart from subsidiary banks that have been implementing charity initiatives for many years, other entities of the Group have also been actively joining these efforts in recent years. They primarily include VEB-Leasing that has been initiating charity projects for the last 2 years. Additionally, NCDC and EXIAR launched their first charity initiatives in 2013.

In 2013, the contribution by GLOBEXBANK, Prominvestbank and Bank BelVEB accounted for the bulk of total charity financing in 2013. The most important initiatives supported by the Group’s entities included:

• support by GLOBEXBANK to the participation by Russian athletes in the World Armwrestling Championships among wheelchair athletes that was held in Gdynia (Poland), and the grant of RUB 750 thousand allocated to translate and publish in the UK a runner-up novel of the Russian Booker award patronaged by GLOBEXBANK since 2012;
• support by Eximbank of Russia to the All-Russian Sports Event for Bachelors of Science “Magic of the Master Degree: Combine Science and Practice!” run by the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the “Young Russian Culture in Italy” festival and a number of projects organised by the International Chekhov Charity Foundation;
• support by SME Bank to an expedition to search for and bury the remnants of soldiers who died during World War II. The expedition was organised as part of International Watch of Memory 2013 in the Demyansky District of the Novgorod Region, and financial aid allocated to restore the Central District Hospital in the village of Leninskoye that was substantially destroyed during a flood in the Russian Far East;
• support by Prominvestbank to the Khokhlov Charity Fund “Theatre Initiative” and the 8^th International Tennis Tournament “Bolshaya Beskozyrka”;
• support by Bank BelVEB to the representation of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus and the Republican Rural Faire Festival “Dazhynki 2013” in the town of Zhlobin.

The international music festival WOMAD

The international music festival WOMAD is one of the most outstanding and popular music events. Over its 30-year history, the fesitval was held 160 times in 27 world countries and gathered over a million visitors.

In 2013, for the first time in its history, WOMAD took place in Russia, on the mountain of Mashuk in Pyatigorsk. The festival was organised by the Foundation for Social Projects “Visit Caucasus” with the support by NCDC. Over 2 days, the 3 festival stages hosted more than 30 music and dance groups from across the world. Over 12 thousand people visited the festival. The festival’s programme also included master classes in the Village of Trades, classes on drawing, sculpting and applied arts for children of all ages.

The charity foundation “Illustrated Books for Little Blind Children”

The charity foundation “Illustrated Books for Little Blind Children” has been operating since 1994 within the framework of the UN’s and UNESCO’s International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures. This is Russia’s only charity fund that publishes and distributes unique tactile books for visually impaired children for free.

The Foundation has published more than 110 special tactile illustrated books (TiB) that enable visually impaired children to join the common system of cultural values and enhance their ability to integrate into social life. As part of the Foundation’s programme Books as a Gift, new series of books are given to more than 10 thousand visually impaired children every year via special charity subscription. The Foundation was able to implement the programme thanks to gratuitous aid by hundreds of benefactors that were joined by EXIAR in 2013.