In St. Petersburg and the regions, unlike Moscow, small-sized businesses are not ready for the ESG agenda, especially with regard to animal protection issues.

This was stated by Natalia Avlasevich, Head of the «Devoted Heart» Charitable Foundation, at the Round Table «Optimal Unification Strategy for the ESG Agenda Implementation and New Meanings Generation Through Marketing» to be held at EXPOFORUM as part of the International Business Exhibition of Goods and Services for Animals «Zooindustry 2025». «Business knows well that it is necessary to help people, but it understands to a much lesser extent that helping animals is also part of the ESG agenda», she explained.

Not all companies are ready for the social agenda and, consequently, only part of them implement it. However, according to Andrey Ponomarev, Head of the Project Management Department at the «Nika» Charitable Foundation, as soon as business realizes its desire to grow and starts looking for growth points, the social agenda becomes relevant. He agreed that most of the major charitable initiatives are implemented in Moscow, as there is higher concentration of large businesses there.

Andrey Ponomarev shared his experience, stating that usually, it is large companies that have a developed strategy for social responsibility, so it is easier for charitable foundations to build a fruitful dialogue with them. Herewith, as he noted, charitable foundations can help companies shape their social agenda.

«A company often wants to do something in this area, but does not know how and what exactly, as it has no appropriate expertise. But charitable organizations have it, which can help with filling out the social strategy», explained Andrey Ponomarev.

He advised that companies can be encouraged, for example, to identify two or three social issues to be most relevant to their own employees, and then people will gladly participate in charity events.

For working successfully, charitable organizations should come to various companies with different offers, as businesses have different objectives. For example, major companies are interested in large-scale system projects, while small- and medium-sized companies are interested in projects aimed at increasing brand loyalty or recognition, says Andrey Ponomarev. It is also very important that charitable organizations speak to businesses in a language that the latter understands, i.e. the language of numbers. «A charitable organization does not give the company a business plan for the project, but must provide the marketing description of what exactly it will get as the result of its implementation», said Andrey Ponomarev.

He believes that in Russia, the alliance of business and charitable organizations generally has a future.

«Russia has always had the culture of patronage. There is no doubt about participating in charity projects. But there are the questions what exactly and how to do it», says Andrey Ponomarev. He also noted that «it becomes increasingly important for people whether a particular brand has a social agenda. According to the statistics, the presence of the latter increases sales by 5%».