International Investments in Non-Profit Organizations by the Example of Zimin Foundation

The paper analyzes the current state of the non-profit sector in the Russian economy on the basis of conducted sociological survey aimed at establishing the degree of awareness of the population regarding the activities of Dmitry Zimin’s foundation and the attitude of the respondents to foreign investment in the Russian educational projects. The study used methods of statistical and structural analysis as well as the synthesis of the respondents’ answers to the questions concerning the activities of Dmitry Zimin’s foundation and foreign investments funds in the Russian educational projects. It reveals that most of the respondents have no idea about the activities of the above foundation, but the attitude of the respondents towards foreign investments in domestic education has been overwhelmingly positive. The article also discusses the impact of legal acts and government regulations on the activities of non-profit organizations. In particular, it concerns the FL No. 121 “On foreign agents”. The work provides a comparative description of this normative act with the similar laws applicable in other countries. The paper not only examines the root causes of the problems arising from attracting foreign investments and donations by non-profit organizations but identifies the main factors that contribute to the growth of the non-profit sector in Russia. Besides, the two-way communication between the non-profit sector and the society affecting the level of public demand for services provided by nonprofit organizations is considered. The results obtained in the course of the study indicate the existence of a large number of obstacles for the fully functioning of non-profit organizations in Russia and attracting cash flows from abroad. In particular, one of the problems revealed in the course of the study is low awareness of the population about the specificity of this method of financing as well as the activities of non-profit organizations as a whole. The recommendations for improvement of the regulation of non-profit organizations include raising awareness of the population on this issue and easing control of the activities carried out by non-profit organizations acting as foreign agents.