Dozens of religious groups affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church win presidential grants

At least 47 organizations (monasteries, parishes, and so on) affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church won federal money in the second contest of the year held by the Presidential Grants Foundation, according to the newspaper Vedomosti. The groups received a total of 55.3 million rubles ($840,000) for dozens of different small projects. The foundation’s general director told reporters that the religious groups’ success is no mystery, given their experience in the “Orthodox Initiative” competition.

In 2018, the foundation awarded grants to 2,022 nonprofit organizations, paying out a total of 4.7 billion rubles ($71.4 million). As in 2017, some of the grant winners have been labeled “foreign agents” by Russia’s Justice Ministry.