Tomsk State University has held a series of activities dedicated to International Charity Day and the 145th anniversary of the University, with the participation of Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. The University solemnly opened the portrait gallery of TSU's philanthropists and celebrated the revival of charity traditions in the endowment fund. TSU also announced the opening of the fund’s new area of support for talented international students.
“Tomsk State University and the Research Library mainly grew thanks to the donations of notable philanthropists,” TSU Rector Eduard Galazhinskiy reminded. “Today the University and the Vladimir Potanin Foundation revive the traditions of charity.”
The TSU endowment fund has been collaborating with the Vladimir Potanin Foundation since 2012. The results of the 13-year activity of the endowment fund and the implementation of the 2021 joint project were presented at the ceremonial meeting of the endowment management bodies of TSU. The project is financed from the Fund for Socially Significant Projects and aims at promoting science awareness among the public. Over two years, the project has held more than 40 events for schoolchildren, students, and residents, created a Science Slam community for science popularization and a community of science volunteers, and implemented other activities related to scientific, educational, and cultural activities in Tomsk.
According to Oksana Oracheva, Director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, endowment capital is a way of developing nonprofit organizations for their sustainability, and for this reason, the Foundation has been supporting organizations for many years. The Foundation has allocated around 320 million rubles to the Tomsk Region organizations as part of various programs.
The total number of contributors to the Endowment Fund of Tomsk State University currently exceeds 2000 people. Alumni, families, and all other interested people contribute to the endowment as an expression of their gratitude. For example, TSU alumnus Timur Khismatullin established a scholarship to support underprivileged students. Every year he increases the base sum of his donations, and today the number of his scholarship beneficiaries is the largest, 175 students. Sardor Sharapov, a postgraduate student of the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, annually contributes to the endowment fund on New Year's Eve with the words, “In gratitude for the training received and for the university’s development, I wish TSU sustainable development”. An interested visitor to the Botanical Garden contributed to the TSU endowment, enabling a recreation area next to the exposition of Mediterranean plants.
The management of the TSU endowment fund announced the initiative to create another endowment to support talented international students.
“We constantly have a group of talented international students who need support. They are interesting to their countries, they have the highest creative potential and are well-motivated. When they return home, most of them will remain grateful representatives of our university abroad,” Artyom Rykun, TSU Vice-Rector for International Affairs, highlighted.
The total volume of the TSU endowment fund is over 187 million rubles, and the income over the past years of operation has reached over 30 million rubles. The key areas for funding are scholarship programs (14.2 mln rur), the Siberian Botanical Garden (3 mln rur), higher music education (2.7 mln rur), and publishing activities (770,000 rur).