The Impacts of Government Support of Nonprofts on Their Organizational Implications

The government support of non-profit organizations has increased significantly over the past decade in Russia. The institutional infrastructure for the participation of NGOs in the delivery of social services is also being developed. However, studies by foreign experts show a change in the important organizational characteristics of third-sector organizations that work closely with the state or receive public funding, these changes include: the effect of focus on the government instead of the beneficiaries, as well as exposure to bureaucracy due to a shift in NGO priorities. This Master's thesis analyzes how government support affect the flexibility in relations with beneficiaries, innovation implementation and financial stability of Russian nonprofits.The empirical base of the work was the data obtained during the all-Russian survey of NGOs conducted by the Center for research of civil society and the non-profit sector of the Higher school of Economics in 2017 with the support of the Fundamental research programs. The results of our study showed that the Russian non-profit sector is still in the development stage, so it needs financial support from the state. Thus, the hypotheses about the negative impact of state support on organizational characteristics were not confirmed. The study identified instruments of governmental, regional and municipal support, which provide the most favorable conditions for innovation, sustainability and flexibility of NGOs, as well as some recommendations for public policy were suggested based on the review of other country’s experience.