PricewaterhouseCoopers is guided in its charity initiatives by the principle of corporate social responsibility, the essence of which is to make a lasting positive contribution to the local communities in which we live and work. The company participates actively in finding solutions for the local population through the individual and collective efforts of our employees, and through the well-thought-out cooperation of our partners.
PricewaterhouseCoopers strives to concentrate its efforts on these most important goals for the organisation: gaining trust, establishing firm value, respect for others and leadership. The company’s policy of social responsibility is based on these priorities because the main goal of PricewaterhouseCoopers is the stable development of all interested parties—personnel, clients, regulatory bodies, the business community and society as a whole.
The areas of education, culture and child welfare are top-priority recipients of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ sponsorship funding and support.
In the area of education, the company supports the International Finance Corporation’s project “Chance for Success”, which aims to help orphans and children at risk. This project helps integrate children into society by helping them find jobs at international and Russian companies. A number of orphans have received internships and job placement at PricewaterhouseCoopers within the framework of this project.
PricewaterhouseCoopers also conducts special programmes at institutions of higher learning in Moscow which help students gain practical experience in the area of audit and consulting. These programmes help future specialists get a picture of what it is like to apply the knowledge they have acquired. Students who attend the lectures and seminars of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ university course receive all-around knowledge that will later help them enter the workforce quickly and painlessly.
The company sponsors the charity organisation Maria’s Children, which is dedicated to helping orphans and children with disabilities living in Moscow boarding schools. The organisation focuses on developing the artistic talents of these children as a way of assisting in their rehabilitation and integration. The organisation’s main project is an arts studio in which children study painting, music, the applied and culinary arts, juggling and pottery. Another recipient of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ support is the regional public charity organisation Dobro, which helps children and teenagers with serious forms of autism receive education and professional training in order to ease their integration into society.
As part of our policy of supporting culture, PricewaterhouseCoopers invests in restoring towns with a cultural heritage. For the last two years the firm, together with the L. Tolstoy Heritage Foundation and the Yasnaya Polyana Museum Estate, has organised a series of charity events to raise funds for restoration works in Krapivna — a unique provincial town of the 19th century which is closely connected to the life and work of Lev Tolstoy. Funds raised in 2005 were used to restore the church of St. Nicholas in the town; funds raised this year will go to restore the facades of the town’s buildings to return its historical appearance.
But undoubtedly, the most important area for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ charity work is child welfare. We are involved in local and international charity programmes that raise funds for disadvantaged, disabled and orphaned children. Many of our employees work as volunteers with charities in towns all over Russia and make donations to charity. In particular, we support three orphanages in Russia: Moscow Orphan House No. 22, an orphanage in Udomlya town and the Raduga Social Rehabilitation Centre for Children in Uglich, with PwC volunteers visiting them and providing them with financial and in-kind support. The main initiative here is New Year Charity Campaign which includes Charity Auction being held at PwC Russia’s annual New Year’s party and Charity instead of Business Gifts program.
Funds raised from 2005 New Year Charity auction went towards buying a minivan for an orphanage in Udomlya, Tver Region. The lots at 2006 year’s auction — sculptures and other artwork by children from Moscow orphanages — were provided by the Maria’s Children art studio, one of PwC charity beneficiaries.In total the auctioned artworks raised $13,500. PwC Russia matched this amount and onated it to supporting rehabilitation and art programmes for children from orphanages.
It has also become a tradition that PwC Russia employees buy tickets to the New Year corporate party for their friends and relatives and all these proceeds go towards children’s charity. In 2006 employees were invited to name the price for these guest tickets themselves, which raised a record sum of $35,000.
The main idea behind the Charity Instead of Business Gifts programme is the reassignment of funds initially allocated for Christmas gifts to clients as a donation to charity. It started in 2005 when PricewaterhouseCoopers Russia took the decision to transfer its gifts budget of $100,000 to pay for a New Year’s party for orphaned children. This amount also went towards one year of funding for the special educational needs of 258 children with autism, and towards training and art classes for 152 children with learning disabilities. In 2006 PwC allocated another $100,000 to fund a New Year’s party for 400 orphans from Moscow Region at Et Cetera theater and to sponsor the educational needs of 500 children with learning disabilities over 2007 year. PwC’s initiative was received with great enthusiasm by the business community, mass media and charities.
