Kindness without borders: the best volunteers honoured at the #WEARETOGETHER Forum

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The award ceremony for the 2025 International Prize #WEARETOGETHER was held on 5 December, Volunteer Day, at the National Centre RUSSIA. The venue also hosted the Founding Congress of the International Association of Volunteer and Non-Profit Organisations DOBRO, and the call for applications to join the volunteer corps of the World Youth Festival was launched.

In addition, the creation of the International Association of Volunteer and Non-Profit Organisations DOBRO was announced. Representatives of Belarus, Brazil, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and South Africa took part in the Founding Congress. The initiative to establish the Association was proposed by volunteer organisations from CIS countries at last year’s forum and received the support of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk sent a welcome address to the participants.

In his message, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia emphasised that the Association would make it possible to establish direct cooperation between NGOs, civic initiatives and volunteer communities, respond promptly to new challenges and concentrate resources on solving tasks important to millions of people.

"The initiative supported by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the result of many years of work to form a modern space for volunteering. It reflects the need for systematic, long-term cooperation between public associations and non-profit organisations in many states," noted Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexei Overchuk in his address.

The main goal of the Association will be to strengthen international humanitarian cooperation between public associations and NGOs of the CIS member states and other friendly countries. The organisation will make it possible to exchange experience and best practices, run joint educational programmes, study the civic sector and offer solutions that can develop the non-profit sector both within individual countries and at the transnational level.

On the final day of the forum, the most outstanding volunteers were recognised at the award ceremony for the International Prize #WEARETOGETHER. The special category "People’s Choice" was jointly won by the party project "SVOy Business" ("Own Business") and the urban district of Gorlovka. The awards were presented by the Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Public Projects, Sergei Novikov. He also presented the "Volunteer of Russia" badge of distinction to 33 volunteers from 19 regions.

"The #WEARETOGETHER Forum is the central platform for volunteering. Over these few days, 2,137 of your peers and colleagues have decided to take part in humanitarian missions in Donbass and Novorossiya, and in the Kursk region. And I would like, from the bottom of my heart, to thank you for this. Because right now, your help and your kind hearts are needed there more than anywhere else. Today we have delegations from all regions of our country and from 47 other countries. Our energy breaks down borders, spreads and inspires a culture of volunteering among our like-minded partners around the world," said Sergei Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects.

The urban district of Gorlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the single-industry town of Glazov in the Udmurt Republic won in the category "Municipalities and Single-Industry Towns". In the category "Leaders of Social Change: SMEs", the winner was the project "Heroes of Priazovye", submitted by the editorial office of the newspaper "Priazovye". In addition, the social project and free mobile application "Zastupnik" ("Defender") created by the Moscow Assistance Centre "Zastupnik" received a special prize from the technology company VK for the highest level of accessibility for users with perceptual and mobility impairments.

During the closing ceremony of the #WEARETOGETHER Forum, Director of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) Grigory Gurov opened registration for the volunteer corps of the World Youth Festival, which will take place in 2026. Registration is available on the Dobro.rf platform until 31 March 2026.

"They tried to make us deny that we stand together with Donbass and Novorossiya, that we are one country. The President of Russia took an important decision, and our citizens supported it — we reunited once again. They are trying to divide us even now. Despite this, young people from across the country are coming here to Russia. In 2024 we proved it — 20,000 people from 190 countries came to the World Youth Festival in Sochi. They were impressed when they saw the real Russia. It is important for us that everyone understands that Russians have open hearts and that truth will prevail. You — the volunteers — make an irreplaceable contribution to this major endeavour. Today, on Volunteer Day, at the #WEARETOGETHER Forum, we are launching the call for applications to the volunteer corps of the World Youth Festival, which will bring together 10,000 participants in 2026 to continue strengthening international cooperation," said Director of Rosmolodezh Grigory Gurov.

As part of the business programme, best practices for supporting the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, were presented by participants in the discussion "Donbass and Novorossiya: From the Humanitarian Front to Revival". Speakers included the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, the Head of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, and the Governor of the Kherson Region, Vladimir Saldo. According to regional leaders, it is time to move from survival to sustainable development.

Denis Pushilin noted that Donbass, like Novorossiya, has become a focal point for Russian volunteering. Without the help of kind-hearted people, he said, it would have been difficult to cope."The challenges relate not only to security but also to everyday issues, such as water supply, which has always been a very sensitive matter for the DPR. Every day at least 500 young volunteers go out to help deliver water. We know these difficulties are temporary. We in Donbass are patient people; we have endured a great deal to regain the opportunity to return home. Now we feel part of a big family," emphasised Denis Pushilin, Head of the DPR.

Participants in the panel discussion "The State and NGOs: Partnership Contours for the Future" noted that conditions have been created in Russia for the stable functioning of NGOs. Over 25 years, the NGO sector has grown from isolated charitable initiatives into a significant public force addressing social challenges. The discussion also highlighted several systemic issues within the non-profit sector. Among them are the lack of real-time, comprehensive information on the sector’s status and the fragmentation of socially-oriented NGOs — a mismatch in coordination at federal and regional levels.

At the panel discussion "Digits of Trust: How Technology Is Transforming Charity and NGOs", it was announced that a new digital platform for transparent philanthropy is being created. The platform is being developed by Dobro.rf in strategic partnership with Alfa-Bank in accordance with the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko. The new user-friendly service will incorporate the digital ruble jointly with the Bank of Russia, artificial intelligence tools, and integration with state systems, including the Gosuslugi portal and the national messenger MAX.

"We are building a digital infrastructure of trust where every transaction is transparent — people will be able to see complete information on fundraising, spending areas and the movement of their donations. The new service will become part of the Dobro.rf ecosystem, which currently unites over 9 million users and offers tens of thousands of opportunities for participation and support. We see that today three quarters of Russians are ready to engage in charity, yet only one in three trusts charitable foundations. This lack of trust holds back development. Our goal is to involve millions of people in private and corporate philanthropy, and to achieve this we will create user-friendly services," said Chair of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and Head of Dobro.rf, Artyom Metelev.

The Forum also featured the panel session "Cooperation Without Borders", where experts from Russia, Brazil and Ghana discussed humanitarian responses to global challenges, as well as the pitching session "Territory of Kindness", which presented social projects and volunteer initiatives. They were evaluated by a jury that included experts from Rosatom, the State Duma, the Dobro.rf Association and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

Speakers and guests of the business and atmosphere programme on the final day of the Forum included: Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Yugra Ruslan Kukharuk; Deputy Director General for Human Resources at the State Corporation Rosatom, Tatyana Terentyeva; Director General of the Mashuk Knowledge Centre, Anton Serikov; Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects, Alexander Zhuravsky; Head of the Presidential Directorate for Strategic Partnership and Cooperation, Vadim Titov; State Duma deputy and member of the State Duma Committee on Labour, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs, Yekaterina Stenyakina; Head of the National Centre for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation, Yelena Malysheva; Director of the Department of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Alla Babkina; and many others.

Agreements on cooperation were also signed on the sidelines of the Forum between Dobro.rf and the Roscongress Foundation, the social network Odnoklassniki, ANO "Pokolenie" ("Generation"), the Central Federal District, as well as the MFC and the Committee for Youth Policy of the Murmansk region.

To conclude Volunteer Day, the Dobryno Academy set a Russia record for the largest number of in-person participants in educational events within a single project. The certificate registering the record was presented to the educational centre’s team at the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Yugra.

The #WEARETOGETHER Prize is founded by Rosmolodezh. The organiser is Dobro.rf. The general partner of the Prize is Alfa-Bank, and the strategic partner is the Rosatom State Corporation.