Sergey Orlov, Chief Executive Officer of RWM Capital Asset Management, Head of the Committee on the Corporate Social Responsibility, Patronage of Arts and Philanthropy of the All-Russian Public Organization Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia), took part as an expert in Broadening Impact of Emerging Market Corporate Philanthropy session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum – 2014.
Speakers, experts and delegates participating in the session discussed the basic trends of philanthropic activities growth at the emerging markets in the nearest years. The participants unanimously acknowledged rapid development of philanthropic movement, growth of donations volume and beneficial effect these trends have on society building the positive image of socially aware business. The experts confirmed that business has a vast potential for taking a more strategic position with respect to the issue, and that corporate philanthropy must be more efficient, consistent and interconnected with the companies' strategies and missions.
In his commentary on the subject, Sergey Orlov mentioned that philanthropy is covered by a broader concept relating to business — the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): "It is true that in our country, CSR has been practiced up to the moment by the largest companies and corporations steering the course of introducing the world's best practices and complying with international CSR requirements and standards. This observation can be explained by their cooperation with a large number of investors, including foreign ones. "Delovaya Rossiya" unites entrepreneurs from the non-energy sector. These are medium-sized businesses. And, certainly, the fact that we have finally started to work consistently on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility reflects a positive trend: the question of CSR and philanthropy is becoming a topical issue for small- and medium-sized Russian enterprises. Of course, it should not be monopolized by large companies only."
In conclusion of his speech, Sergey Orlov unveiled to the audience the results of the foresight on the future of Corporate Social Responsibility and philanthropy in Russia in the 21st century carried out by "Delovaya Rossiya" together with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in the end of this March.
"Together with the experts and foresight participants we have made an attempt to take a look into the future of Corporate Social Responsibility in Russian and set out the ways of its evolution towards the optimal models counting in reverse. By the way, we observed the same trends that have been pointed at the Forum today," said Sergey Orlov. "Those are: the growing impact of the Internet, the necessity to form an effective infrastructure of philanthropic activities, as well as strengthening the trust to institutions and communities; we observed the notable role of end-to-end education in the sphere of Corporate Social Responsibility. I encourage all of you to collaborate on the projects that will contribute to development of the previously mentioned trends."
Complete version of Broadening Impact of Emerging Market Corporate Philanthropy session is available on the website of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
