Foundation is engaged in the development of systemic philanthropy. The aim of its work is to effectively address social problems faced by families with children. The organization conducts applied research, to discover what issues such families are most concerned about and to identify the key areas of focus. A further goal is to support best practices, tools, and technologies for helping families and children. To this end, the Foundation holds a grant competition for social projects. Non-profit organizations and social institutions are eligible to participate. Project ideas are evaluated by independent experts. The key criteria are: no overlap with the current activities of the applicant organization, achievable goals and objectives, relevance to the target group and the community, and a logical coherence of the projects.
The social projects competition has become a tool for improving the quality of life in areas. Severstal considers its funding to be a social investment and a contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 10: Reducing Inequality, SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 17: Partnerships for Sustainable Development, etc.
The contest promotes the goals of the company’s sustainable development strategy[54] and corporate charity, as well as the state policy in the field of family, motherhood and childhood.
TERRITORIAL COVERAGE
From 2008 to 2011, the grant competition was held in Cherepovets. Today the geographical coverage of the competition corresponds to the territories of Severstal’s operation.
In 2012, the following cities were included for the first time:
• Vorkuta (Komi Republic);
• Veliky Ustyug (Vologda Region);
• Balakovo (Saratov Region);
• Kostomuksha (Republic of Karelia).
In 2022, the geography of the contest was further expanded to the following territories:
• Cherepovets and/or Cherepovets District (Vologda Region);
• Vologda and/or Vologda district (Vologda Region);
• Totma and/or Totemsky District (Vologda Region);
• Sheksna village and/or Sheksninsky district (Vologda Region);
• Veliky Ustyug (Vologda Region);
• Krasavino (Vologda Region);
• Olenegorsk (Murmansk Region);
• Stroitel (Yakovlevsky district, Belgorod Region).
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the contest is to identify and support local initiatives that address the urgent social problems faced by families and children and offer solutions consistent with the activities of the Foundation.
Objectives of the grant competition:
• Identifying active specialists, setting up and developing partner communications in the field of childhood.
• Improving the competencies of social design, project management and project evaluation specialists.
• Developing technologies to improve the well-being of children, families with children, and specialists in the field of childhood.
RELEVANCE OF THE GRANT COMPETITION
Different stakeholders find the contest relevant for different reasons. For example, winning the competition is a growth driver for the grantee organizations, as well as for the overall development of the culture of philanthropy, evaluation and involvement of service recipients in management processes.
Specialists involved in the projects get new opportunities for self-realization, career growth, development of competencies and network of professional contacts. Winning projects enable them to test hypotheses and practice innovative social mechanisms.
The significance of the contest for The Road Home Foundation grows each year.
The contest has a serious impact on the non-profit sector in the regions where the company operates. First, the winners find new ways to address pressing social problems, thereby adding to the Foundation’s portfolio of practices. Second, participating in the competition requires embracing the Foundation’s principles and values, which promotes evaluation, evidence-based approach, subject-to-subject approach, and a culture of philanthropy in the social sphere. Third, participating in the project implementation creates a unified approach and allows professionals to act in concert in providing assistance to beneficiaries (primarily families with children). Fourth, the competition program helps build the proper image of the Foundation and the company, raising the awareness among key stakeholders.
The Foundation conducts applied research, to discover what issues such families are most concerned about and to identify the key areas of focus and supports best practices for helping families and children.
The stakeholders of the competition are:
• The donor (Severstal): allocates funds for organizing and conducting the contest and implementing the winning projects; a company representative is a member of the jury for the contest. High influence.
• The Foundation team: organizes and conducts the contest; supports the winning projects. High influence.
• Winning project teams: develop and implement projects. Low influence.
• Beneficiaries: participate directly in the projects, evaluate the projects. Medium influence.
• Partner organizations: support the implementation of winning projects, provide human and material resources. Medium influence.
WHO MAKES THE ROAD HOME FOUNDATION GRANT COMPETITION
The competition team can be divided into three groups, each participant having a different role and function.
1. Administrative team:
• the director of the Foundation is the decision-maker;
• the deputy director of the Foundation organizes expert review of the applications;
• the head of the resource and methodological center of the Foundation manages the competition, consults all participants;
• the head of the media department of the Foundation provides information support;
• the economist and methodologists of the Foundation provide consultations on drafting the budget and applications.
The winners find new ways to address pressing social problems, thereby adding to the Foundation’s portfolio of practices. Participating in the competition requires embracing the Foundation’s principles and values, which promotes evaluation, evidence-based approach.
2. Joint implementing team:
• the competition committee – in-house and third-party experts in the Foundation’s areas of activity, experts in the field of social design, applied and evaluative research, following evidence-based approach in evaluating the results of social practices;
• the competition council – a collective body created specifically to make the final decision determining the competition winners;
• programmers – maintenance of the contest website[55].
3. Partners:
• media in the territories covered by the competition – information coverage of the competition and its results;
• city administrations and specialized departments in the contest territories – engaging grantees, developing a pool of urgent problems that require project ideas, and providing partner support to the winning projects;
• NGO resource centers in the contest territories – engaging grantees, assisting in executing applications and implementing the winning projects.
WHO EVALUATES APPLICATIONS AND HOW
The projects eligible for the competition last from 6 to 36
