Nornickel’s Socially Responsible Initiatives Competition has received a new lifetime high of 507 project bids. In 2017 and 2018, their number was 489 and 426, respectively. The project spans all Russian regions that house the Company’s production assets — Norilsk and the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District, Monchegorsk and the Pechengsky District, and Chita and the Gazimuro-Zavodsky District.

“We attribute this to the local community becoming more active and to training seminars, including those run by regional resource centres and project management offices created using grant funds over the previous years. The growth was also facilitated by the introduction of an online platform for placing bids, increased grant amounts, and extended timelines for projects in some categories,” said Svetlana Ivchenko, Head of the Social Policy Department at Nornickel.

The Socially Important Initiatives Competition seeking to support public initiatives and facilitate sustainable development in the Murmansk Region and the Krasnoyarsk and Trans-Baikal territories is part of Nornickel’s World of New Opportunities charitable programme launched back in 2014. Out of more than 2,000 project bids submitted by the applicants over the previous five years, 526 were funded, with the overall grant amount totalling RUB 513.5 mln.

The project bids will be evaluated by the federal and regional experts of the competition based on the following criteria:

usefulness and development level of the idea;
effectiveness of the strategy chosen to achieve the goal;
availability of quantitative and qualitative results, risk and threat analysis;
cost-effectiveness;
qualification of the project team;
availability of partners and volunteers;
prospects for further stand-alone development.

The competition results will traditionally be announced on 25 December 2019. Nornickel is set to spend RUB 155 mln to support social initiatives of non-profit organisations, government and municipal bodies, and corporate volunteers, adding RUB 30 mln to the budget of previous years.

Nornickel Social Projects See Record Number of Bids