From Russia with Hope (Revisited)
Otis Fulton (left) and Katrina VanHuss (right) at White Nights Fundraising Conference
Three years ago, we were in Russia. How the world has changed.
We traveled to Russia for ten days to teach social fundraising to Moscow-based nonprofits and promote the release of the Russian translation of our book, Dollar Dash. We left with new friends and the expectation that we would return someday soon. Many of our Russian friends have now fled the country. They live in Lisbon, Istanbul, Tbilisi, and elsewhere, unsure of their futures.
On our second evening in Moscow, we were dining out with one of our hosts. The well-known Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been jailed the day before. We all had put our cell phones on the table during the meal. We heard a phone ring — our host pulled out his second phone from his jacket. We would later learn it was a “burner” phone, right out of a Jason Bourne movie.
He took the call at the table; we heard only his side of the conversation. It was about Navalny. He said, “If we can get him out on bail, and he hasn’t been tortured too severely, I can drive him out of the city in my car to a safe house in the country.”
Not the kind of nonprofit dinner chit-chat to which we were accustomed.
During our stay, we talked politics with some of the nonprofit leaders we met over meals and shots of horseradish-flavored vodka. Many told us they were involved in charities because the door was closed to social change through political means. Most were critical of Vladimir Putin but resigned to the country’s situation. Most, but not all.
To our surprise, we spoke with a number of nonprofit executives who were Putin supporters. They used the same language that MAGA supporters in the U.S. (including our family members) use to talk about Donald Trump. “He’s strong,” “he wants to return the country to a better time,” “he’s a friend of the common man.”
One comment from the CEO of a charity serving disabled adults sticks out in our memory. “Putin is corrupt, but he keeps the country out of war. As long as that is the case, I will support him.” We wonder how that person feels now.
When we hear news about the war in Ukraine, we think of the many Russians who are dedicated to the same nonprofit missions as their American counterparts. It breaks our hearts to know that their efforts are infinitely more challenging now.
For us, the nonprofit world turned out to be the perfect frame to understand Russia: how the Soviet rule had so deeply damaged its society; the terrible irony in promoting a collectivist culture that damages the ability of individuals to take care of one another.
This war is another sad example of individual Russians’ inability to control their destinies. As they have been for generations, they are prisoners of the State.
Below is the original blog we published in 2019 after returning from Russia. We were advised by our friend with the burner phone not to publish anything about the trip until we’d left the country.