Almost 90% of Russian employers consider corporate blood donation to be an important part of corporate culture and social responsibility strategy. However, only 55.1% of companies have a corporate donorship programme, and only 20.4% of organisations have this activity set forth in their local regulations. These data are based on a survey conducted by the Russian Red Cross in more than 50 companies fr om various sectors. The results were presented at the IV Russian Red Cross Conference on the Donation Culture Development, which brought together experts, government officials, business representatives and NGOs in Moscow to explore ways to develop the donor movement.
The study showed that the main constraining factors were the lack of incentive system for employers (23.1%), no obligations to support donation (15.6%) and the low level of donation culture in society (15.6%). At the same time, businesses consider the introduction of a distinctive mark for organisations (20.1%) and the provision of tax incentives (15.7%) to be the most effective support measures.
Despite the insufficient system consolidation, 75.5% of companies have practical experience participating in donor campaigns, and 69.4% have experience organising them. The problem of low employee involvement remains acute: less than 10% of employees participate in donation campaigns in 28.6% of companies, and none of the employees participate in such activities in 6.1% of companies. At the same time, the most significant participation rates (20-40% of employees) were observed only in 18.4% of organisations, and high involvement (40-70% of employees) was found only in 14.3% of companies.
To encourage participation, companies most often use awareness-raising campaigns with partners (24.0%), organise corporate donor days (23.2%) and off-site events for employees (14.4%).
The IV Conference on the Development of Donation Culture, held in Moscow on 26-27 November, became the main communication and educational platform for specialists implementing programmes to promote blood and bone marrow donation throughout Russia. This year, the conference brought together more than 500 participants from 70 regions of Russia, both in person and online.
Opening the plenary session, Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross, emphasised the importance of working with employees.
“Working with staff members is one of our key strategic areas. People spend quite a lot of time at work, and this is one of the areas wh ere we can work with adults most effectively. This year, we managed to triple the number of participants in the Corporate Donation Leader competition to more than 100 organisations that see real corporate value in this action. Our goal is to create a new movement within the large donor community, bringing together companies that actively implement corporate donation projects," emphasised Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross and member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Veronika Skvortsova, Head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia, gave a welcoming address to the participants.
“The Federal Medical and Biological Agency and the Russian Red Cross have a long-standing partnership. As the coordinator of the Russian Federation's blood service, the Agency fully supports initiatives aimed at developing blood donation. Every year, we see increased attention to the subject matter of donation. It is particularly important that the number of voluntary unpaid donors of blood and blood components, as well as bone marrow donors, is growing. Close cooperation and active joint work towards creating a unified strategy for raising awareness when organising corporate donor days, training employees and volunteers from NGOs and other organisations bring beneficial results and contribute to improving the culture of donation," she emphasised.
Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Andrey Plutnitsky in his address pointed out the positive dynamics and potential for development.
“Blood donation today means that there are 1.5 million donors of blood and blood components. We see an annual increase in the number of blood and blood component donors. In 2024, compared to 2023, the number of blood and blood component donors increased by 6.3%, including an 8.8% increase in the number of donors who donated blood or blood components for the first time. Our vast homeland has enormous potential in terms of blood and blood component donation. Today, the large family of donors account for 3% of Russia's working-age population," noted the Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation.
During the plenary discussion, moderated by the RRC Executive Director Maria Mukhina, business community representatives – leaders in corporate donations – took the floor. They shared successful cases of integrating blood donation into corporate culture and employee motivation. In the expert track, Deputy Chair of “Business Russia” Nonna Kagramanyan, Deputy Chair of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia David Krishtal, and Chief Executive Officer at the Social Investment Fund Sergey Golubev discussed systemic measures to support blood donation at the industry and workplace levels. Olga Eichler, Head of the Blood Service Department at the Federal Medical Biological Agency of Russia, emphasised the fundamental importance of developing a culture of gratuitous and voluntary donation as the basis for a sustainable healthcare system.
The session also included an awards ceremony for the winners of the IV All-Russian Corporate Donation Leader competition with over 100 companies participating this year.
On the first day of the conference, there were training sessions for coordinators of the RRC regional branches, namely, master classes on working with grants and partners and a strategic session on promoting blood donation with representatives from Murmansk, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Perm sharing their best practices.
Following the conference, the Russian Red Cross plans to refine its strategy for engaging bone marrow donors in order to conduct 10,000 typings in 2026 and significantly expand the Federal Registry. With a view to enhancing efforts in the regions, a unified standard for RRC regional branches will be approved outlining the development of corporate donation work. In addition, the concept of the All-Russian Corporate Donation Leader competition will be revised: it will include regional stages and introduce a special unifying digital platform for organisers. One of the key tasks will also be to develop a package of legislative initiatives aimed at creating a motivation system for employers.
