Form without water: reporting for NGOs, volunteers and Cossacks will be unified

Russia may unify the form of reporting for non-commercial organizations - by means of a "single window" and only in electronic form. Such a bill by the Ministry of Justice has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Now there are many options for submitting reports - depending on the organization where they are sent. The proposed norm will make the activities of NGOs more transparent and relieve them of administrative work, both developers and experts assured Izvestia. In addition, the planned appearance of complete and verified information about the organization on the website of the Ministry of Justice will allow charities themselves to get verified data and avoid falling into fraudulent sites-clones. More details - in the material of "Izvestia".

How reporting for non-profit organizations will change

A single form of reporting for non-profit organizations and volunteers will be established in Russia. Such amendments developed by the Ministry of Justice. On Monday, February 17, the changes were approved by the Government Commission on Legislative Activity (the document is available to Izvestia), according to the editorial board's sources in the Cabinet.

The Ministry of Economic Development explained that the changes were developed in response to a request from the nonprofit sector.

"We worked together with the Ministry of Justice to eliminate the need for organizations to provide duplicate data in various reporting forms," the ministry's press service said. - We analyzed the reporting forms and identified duplication of information on 13 indicators, including receipts and expenditures of funds, number of employees, information on the activities of the organization and others."

As a result, the three agencies (in addition to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economic Development, the amendments were developed by Rosstat) agreed to create a single reporting form, which organizations would fill out once - and from it the state agencies would receive the data they are interested in.

Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association, reminded Izvestia that the bill was developed on the instructions of the Russian President to ensure transparency and openness in the activities of non-profit organizations. The innovation will apply to the activities of charitable, volunteer and volunteer, as well as socially-oriented NPOs.

- One of the ways to ensure information openness of NGOs' activities are the reports they are obliged to submit to state bodies, in particular, the Ministry of Justice or Rosstat," he said. - The variety of reporting forms creates an unnecessary administrative burden for them and entails significant organizational costs.

Now NGOs submit reports to the Ministry of Justice of Russia using several forms approved by the Ministry's orders. The situation is the same with the submission of documents to Rosstat. In addition, organizations are obliged to submit documents to the tax service and the social fund.

The unified form will include information according to the standard approved by the Ministry of Justice and Rosstat. NCOs will fill in sections depending on their organizational and legal form, sphere of activity and other features.

- The composition of information includes information on the actual location of organizations, - said Vladimir Gruzdev. - NCOs will submit the unified form to the Ministry of Justice in electronic form. This will eliminate the need to submit a separate report to Rosstat and reduce the administrative burden on organizations. And the information required by Rosstat will be provided within the framework of interdepartmental cooperation.

According to Vladimir Gruzdev, this procedure will also remove the obligation for NGOs to post reports on the Internet or in the media, which will reduce their costs.

Moreover, each organization will have its own office on the website of the Ministry of Justice, where NCOs will enter information about themselves, and then part of it will be displayed on the website of the department, added Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on the development of the non-profit sector.

- And it will be convenient not only for NPOs themselves, but also for controlling bodies and people who want to know something about this or that organization. Such a need often arises when citizens want to become donors. And in such cases the availability of all the necessary data on the website of the Ministry of Justice is extremely useful," she said.

She confirmed that NCOs have asked for simplification of reporting.

- Most of them are small organizations with limited resources, and reporting takes them a lot of time. And there was a question, "So why submit this kind of data to multiple organizations?" It's an administrative burden," she said.

Help for Cossack societies

In addition, the amendments provide for a similar procedure and method of reporting for Cossack societies included in the state register. From 2021, such organizations are obliged to submit annual accounting reports to the tax authorities. But only in the form of electronic documents accompanied by an electronic signature.

"Submission of reporting in the order established by the bill will minimize the risks of untimely submission of reports of Cossack societies in settlements with unstable internet", - follows from the explanatory note.

The current period of reporting by non-profit organizations is 3.5 months - from January 1 to April 15 of the year following the reporting year. No changes are made in this part.

The bill has been coordinated with the Ministry of Finance, Rosstat, the Federal Agency for Nationalities, and the Ministry of Economic Development.

"The solution of the above task will not only significantly simplify the interaction of the sector with the authorities, create a reliable analytical base for assessing the development of the non-profit sector and the effectiveness of government support measures, but will also serve as a mechanism to ensure transparency of the sector and, as a consequence, increase confidence in it," - reported in the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development.

There is indeed a lack of transparency and openness in the NPO sector, said Irina Mersianova, Director of the Center for Civil Society and Nonprofit Sector Research at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.

- The majority of such organizations are created proactively, "from below", their resource endowment depends on their interaction with the external environment, in which their actual and potential donors and donors are located," the expert said. - The amount of cash donations and other property and non-property support depends on their trust in NPOs.

According to her, the level of trust in NPOs in Russia is now relatively high: 56% of citizens trust non-profit organizations and civic initiatives. This is evidenced by the results of all-Russian surveys of the population, which the Center for Research on Civil Society and the Non-Profit Sector conducts in the mode of constant monitoring. However, according to her, non-profit organizations may also have a "negative trust index" depending on their type - this applies to charitable foundations, human rights and religious organizations.

- Veteran associations, consumer protection societies, charitable initiatives and organizations have a positive trust index," she said.

Irina Mersianova believes that if the activities of NGOs are made more transparent and open, specific organizations will be more trusted in the country. This means that they will have more donors, supporters, and consumers of their services, which will ultimately lead to greater sustainability of their functioning.

How NPOs report

According to the Center for Civil Society and Nonprofit Sector Research at the Higher School of Economics, only 27% voluntarily publish their annual reports, and the same number make reports on the Internet about events or reports.

- The lack of transparency is evident, as they say," said Irina Mersyanova. - This does not mean that NCOs are hiding something on purpose. It's just that they don't always have enough manpower and resources to handle such tasks. Now it will be possible to send a link to your account on the portal of the Ministry of Justice, and interested parties will see the charter, reports, links to real sites and social networks, which will solve the problem of clone sites that mimic specific NPOs and collect donations.

The amendments will not immediately help to relieve NCOs, the expert believes, because the initial filling out of reports on the Ministry of Justice portal is quite labor-intensive.

- But later it will be easier when materials will only need to be added," she said. - In addition, the uneven quality of Internet coverage of the territory of our country, plus the existing inaccessibility of equipment, lack of competence - all this creates risks of delayed effect.

Elena Topoleva-Soldunova also noted that the submission of the first report after the launch of the unified system, which is scheduled for 2025, may cause difficulties and take time. But in 2026, she suggested, everything will be easier: it will be possible to change only the data in the document already filled out in the previous year.