An Open Letter from the Director of Perspectives, Maria Ostrovskaya

"> 08.08.2018

Friends, many of you already know that “Perspectives” finds itself in a very difficult situation. This is a message from the head of our organization, Maria Ostrovskaya, to all of you. Please read.

Dear friends, these are difficult times for “Perspectives” ...

For the first time in 20 years, we are in a very bad financial situation, which forces us to temporarily reduce our volume of activities.

Our expectations for raising funds to finance the work of the programs did not materialize; we did not find or did not receive the money we were counting on. This is due to the fact that, quite unexpectedly for us, the large partner charities that traditionally supported our activity have greatly reduced their funding. We, like many other NPOs, did not receive state subsidies from the Committee for Social Policy this year, since the amount of funding subsidies for NPOs was almost halved in 2018.

Right now is also not the best time for Russian businesses and, despite the fact that many Russian philanthropists continue to help us and remain faithful to the idea of helping special people, doing business in this country is becoming increasingly difficult. As a result, many have significantly reduced the “charity” portion of their budgets.

We admit that we, as an organization, did not reorganize in time for the changing conditions, and did not adapt in time to fit into changing trends. We will take into account our mistakes, and, of course, correct the situation in 2019. But now we are forced to reduce a significant part of all our programs, except for volunteers. We are carrying out this reduction of activities so as not to lose our main purpose and goals, even if we lose speed moving towards them.

We are sure that this is a temporary situation and we will be able to overcome it, but the situation is so difficult that we have had to reduce the number of employees.

This is a last resort measure, and, unfortunately, we have to resort to it in order to preserve the charity.

Difficult times and great losses ... But we, together with all those who support us, will overcome this crisis. Like any crisis, it gives us a chance to revise and optimize many processes and become even stronger for the sake of our kids.

We ask to help us now as much as is possible for you. Thanks to everyone who responds.

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Maria Ostrovskaya