Help nearby (Yandex project)

2023: Growth of borrowings by 2 times to 301.4 million rubles

The Help Nearby Charitable Foundation in 2022 attracted 301.4 million rubles, which is almost twice as much as a year earlier. Of these, 177.5 million rubles were collected by users from rounding up payments in Yandex services, and Yandex transferred 113.2 million rubles. Another 10.7 million rubles were direct donations and other receipts. The company told about this on May 29, 2023.

The number of users who included rounding reached 808 thousand. The average size of one rounding at the end of 2022 amounted to 7.24 rubles (an increase of 31.64% by 2021). Rounding has become available in five Yandex services.

Charitable Foundation "Help Nearby" in 2022 attracted 301.4 million rubles

There were three programs to support non-profit organizations: "Trips for NGOs," "Goods for NGOs" and "Digital Services for NGOs." More than 400 organizations that solve social problems in different regions of the country took advantage of them in 2022.

"Help Nearby" organized 381,730 taxi trips for non-profit organizations (an increase of 144.22%) and allocated 97.9 million rubles to NGOs for the purchase of essential goods. More than 350 NGOs used Yandex's digital services.

In the program "Goods for NGOs" a new format for selecting participants has appeared - a competition. In 2022, it received 133 applications. "Help is nearby" and independent experts have identified 20 winners - they are transferred funds for purchases during the year. The grant pool of the competition amounted to 50 million rubles.

Over the past [2022] year, "Help Nearby" has grown a lot - both quantitatively and qualitatively, "says Ilya Sharov, director of the Help Nearby Foundation. - For example, the number of participants in the procurement program increased from seven to 32, and the first cars with a lift appeared in the travel program - in Moscow they already come to some calls to wards in wheelchair seats. All this would be impossible without the support of Yandex users who have turned on rounding and help funds do their job. The results that we have achieved together are the best illustration of the possibilities of systemic charity.

2020

Launch of home testing for coronavirus for everyone

On April 16, 2020, Yandex announced the organization of affordable and safe testing for coronavirus at home as part of the Help Nearby social project. At the first stage, residents of Moscow who are at risk (from 65 years and older) will be able to undergo testing from accredited laboratory services. As the number of tests in laboratories grows, the opportunity to take the test will appear for people of other ages and regions. The first 10 thousand tests for people at risk are paid by Yandex in the form of donations to the partner funds Gift to an Angel and Friends.

On April 20, 2020, Yandex began conducting free testing for a new type of coronavirus for everyone. At the time of launch of the service, it is available only to residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, but the company promises to expand its geographical coverage throughout Russia.

To get tested, you need to leave a request on the project website. After confirming the testing time, a medical worker of one of the project partner laboratories arrives at the specified address on the Help Nearby project machine. All workers are wearing protective medical clothing. The health care professional takes a swab from the nose or mouth, packs the samples and takes it to the laboratory. 1-3 days after taking the analysis, the result arrives at the e-mail specified by the user.

Testing is paid, but on the project page there is a charitable form with which anyone can donate money to a charitable foundation to pay for testing to someone who cannot afford it. To get tested free of charge through donations, you need to fill out a questionnaire and leave an application on the project website help.yandex.ru. Yandex said that by April 20, 2020, the collected funds are enough to pay for testing in the near future, taking into account the current demand.

Affordable testing was made possible by combining the efforts of several companies led by RDIF. Representatives of the Russian Direct Investment Fund contributed to an increase in the number of certified test systems, as well as a significant expansion of the number of authorized laboratories.

Affordable testing is one of the key elements in the fight against the epidemic. It is very important to help those who fight for our health every day - doctors, social workers, donors, laboratories. By helping laboratory services safely and quickly conduct testing at home, we can limit or at least slow the spread of the virus. In addition, one of the next stages of the project, we plan not only to help in testing, but also to launch the delivery of tests for antibodies to the virus, says Tigran Khudaverdyan, Managing Director of Yandex Group of Companies

The partners of the project at the first stage were the laboratory services "ArchiMed," Citilab"," "" and Family DoctorLabQuest"," but other laboratories can join the partner program. The laboratories use the test systems of the DSP,, Generium Litech and, DNA Technology as well as express tests of the company in EMG which RDIF invested. Yandex, together with taxi partners, has formed a separate fleet, cars the drivers of which will bring laboratory workers to and from calls. All cars are equipped with a protective screen that separates medical workers from drivers for the safety of their health.

"Help is nearby" is a social project of Yandex. The project was launched to help medical and social services, the burden on which has increased many times during the coronavirus pandemic. Within the framework of the project, Yandex organizes trips of medical workers to calls at home, delivers food kits, medicines and tests for coronavirus.

We see that testing must be carried out precisely for those people who continue to work and ensure the safe life of the country's residents in this difficult time: on the streets, in shops, in social institutions, in the delivery of goods and products. Therefore, we decided to carry out all testing for free, - said Tigran Khudaverdya].

At the start of the project, the company invested 250 million rubles in it, which went to re-equip the cars of the dedicated parks, debugging logistics, regular disinfection of cars, payment for drivers' trips and other costs required to ensure the safety of the health of drivers, doctors and social workers.^[1]

Yandex began testing for coronavirus for free

As part of the project, Yandex opened a donation form on the help.yandex.ru website, with the help of which any person or organization can transfer funds to the charity fund to those who need them. The initiative starts in cooperation with the charitable foundations "Friends" and "Gift to an Angel," other foundations can join it. Donations will be used to pay for social travel.

Launch of the project

At the end of March 2020, Yandex launched the Help Nearby project, within which the company is ready to organize the transportation of doctors, the delivery of products, drugs and tests for a new type of coronavirus. To do this, the Internet company, together with partners, creates a separate fleet of thousands of cars connected to the Yandex.Taxi service.

The first projects for the transportation of doctors and the delivery of social food packages will start in Moscow and Kazan. Similar proposals for cooperation have been sent to all regions of Russia and to all markets where Yandex.Taxi, Food and Lavka services operate.

Yandex launched a project to transport doctors, medicines and essential goods

For a quick start of the project, Yandex allocates 250 million rubles to pay for drivers' trips on such orders. Drivers will be able to connect to the park and fulfill socially important orders of their own free will - they will not be able to accept other orders at this time. All cars involved will undergo regular disinfection, and drivers will undergo a medical examination.

Now it is important for us all to quickly mobilize all available resources to enable doctors and other social workers to take care of those who are sick at home or quarantined, "says Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh. - We in Yandex are ready to help with our technologies and infrastructure, as well as finance the payment for part of such trips. We also consider the support of hundreds of thousands of drivers and couriers, whose work in today's conditions, like the work of doctors, becomes a real feat, an important social part of this project.

Yandex offers to send a request to medical and social services that need help on the page help.yandex.ru. Companies that want to help fight the pandemic and finance some of the doctors' trips can write to the covid@yandex-team.ru.