Nornickel has announced the launch of the Socially Responsible Initiatives Competition to support projects of non-profit organisations, government and municipal agencies, as well as corporate volunteers from the Company’s enterprises with grants of RUB 100,000 to RUB 6.5 mln.

The initiative spans across all Russian regions where the Company has assets — Norilsk and the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District (Krasnoyarsk Territory), Monchegorsk and the Pechengsky District (Murmansk Region), Chita and the Gazimuro-Zavodsky District (Trans-Baikal Territory).

As before, the competition has nine award categories covering such social areas as the development of volunteer movement and support for the most vulnerable population groups, implementation of new methods and technologies in engaging with children, teenagers, and young people, improvement and refurbishment of public spaces, preservation and revival of cultural heritage, promotion of healthy lifestyles, environmental awareness, and improvement of the quality of services provided by NPOs.

“This time, we encouraged the participants to focus on the projects that can be implemented using digital technologies,” said Svetlana Ivchenko, Head of the Social Policy Department at Nornickel. “As our events moved online during the pandemic, we noticed that digital projects have a clear advantage over the traditional ones, enabling us to bring together participants from different cities and towns, engage unique experts, save resources, get immediate feedback with questions and comments, promptly address the target audience’s needs, and quickly adjust to new developments.”

Since 2019, all submissions have been made through the online platform at nncharity.ru. This year, the platform will feature a video guide to help the contestants fill out their application forms. In addition to traditional seminars and consultations, the participants will be offered a new online intensive course in social design, where they will study the relevance and social impact of projects, improve their creative thinking and digitalisation skills, and discuss mechanisms of building a community around a project.

For indigenous peoples of the North living in the settlements of Karaul, Nosok, and Hatanga, the competition experts will hold field workshops on social design and training sessions on how to complete an application form for the competition. Nornickel sees improving the living standards of the Taimyr Peninsula’s indigenous peoples as a top priority within its social policy.

Applications are accepted until 2 November, with the competition results to be announced on 28 December 2020.

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The Socially Important Initiatives Competition seeking to support public initiatives and facilitate sustainable development is an important part of the World of New Opportunities charitable programme run by Nornickel since 2014. Over the six years, the competition has attracted 2,509 bids, of which 639 were selected for funding, with the total of RUB 664.4 mln allocated by the Company.

Nornickel announces a grant competition