168 projects from the Novosibirsk region participated in the first round of the Presidential Grants Fund competition in 2025. 29 of them won. 5 winning projects are related to the war in Ukraine, patriotic education, or military propaganda. The federal government will allocate 5.7 million rubles to fund these five projects.
Patriotism as a Grant-Winning Strategy The Lukomorye Tourism Development Center, based in the science town of Koltsovo, was founded in April 2023. In less than two years, it has created four social tourism projects, two of which cater to military families: Among Our Own and Among Our Own: Winter Retreat. Among Our Own is the only one of the five patriotic-themed projects in Novosibirsk to receive funding in early 2025 specifically for war participants. The Lukomorye team will organize a free three-day nature retreat for returning soldiers and their families, aiming to help them "reconnect with their homeland’s landscapes and bond for socialization and mutual support." The center has been running similar retreats since 2023. The project’s website states that the initiative aims to "preserve and continue the best national traditions—uniting and supporting each other in difficult times for the Motherland." According to the grant application, Lukomorye plans to take 200 people on these tours between May and September 2025. From Orphan Care to War Support The Children of Russia – Future of the World charity foundation has been assisting orphans and children without parental care since 2004. The organization’s website highlights its efforts to prevent orphanage graduates from abandoning their own children or seeking abortions. After the war in Ukraine began, the foundation started organizing meetings between military families and members of the Volunteer Veterans Union. In 2024, this partnership evolved into the Homefront Brotherhood project, where war veterans began supporting military families and engaging with children. The foundation's latest project, Backup Support, focuses on legal and social assistance for families whose relatives have gone missing in the war in Ukraine. It will provide legal consultations, psychological sessions, and household help through volunteer teams—essentially continuing the activities of the Homefront Brotherhood. Victory Day and War Commemoration Victory Day in 2025 will be grander than usual, as Russia marks the 80th anniversary of its most significant wartime event. Anticipating this, regional organizations have tailored their grant applications around May 9. The Rodnik organization, led by librarian Alla Sirota from the town of Kupino, won a grant for its Small Town for a Big Victory project. With the funding, Rodnik will organize history-themed quizzes and contests for children and teenagers. Participants will create video essays and write compositions about World War II. Additionally, "memory lessons" will be held in schools across the Kupino district. For Victory Day, Rodnik will install information stands in Kupino featuring local WWII veterans and broadcast a Immortal Regiment of the Kupino District tribute on the town library’s website and the Russian video platform RuTube. Patriotism Through Art and Education The Your Atmosphere Resource Center in Novosibirsk, founded in 2023, specializes in mobile workshops for children and parents. On government premises, the center conducts classes in painting, sculpting, and card-making. In January 2025, it hosted a screening of the propaganda film Suvorovets in a church. The center received a grant for the project Homeland: History in Our Hearts. Presidential grant funds will be used for workshops in painting, clay modeling, and wood painting—each centered on patriotic themes. Children aged 8 to 15 will attend lectures on historical events and local figures who "left a mark on various periods of Russian history." The lectures will emphasize Russia’s role in "protecting its citizens and interests" during World War II and in more recent conflicts. The center plans to host 14 workshops and lectures for 220 children from large, low-income, and military families. The project's stated goal is to "enhance the level of patriotic education." Meanwhile, the Resource Center of the Ust-Tarka District of Novosibirsk will promote Russia’s role in WWII through its Remember and Be Proud project. The grant application states that schoolchildren in recent years have received insufficient education on the war, leading to poor knowledge of the events from 1941 to 1945. To engage children in preserving the "heroic history of our people," the center will organize a series of events, including quizzes, patriotic games, 50 classroom sessions, 20 library talks on war memorial days, a patriotic song festival, and a Music of Victory concert across seven villages in the district. The Trend Toward Patriotic Grants An expert evaluator for the Presidential Grants Fund, who agreed to speak with 7x7 anonymously, noted that patriotism-related projects are currently "trendy and at peak popularity." Organizations are increasingly submitting such applications. The expert, who reviews 30–40 proposals per competition cycle (held twice a year), said that about 10% are patriotic projects. "Teams and organizations submitting these applications have become bolder—they increasingly reference the President’s call for support, feel emboldened by their perceived priority, and emphasize that ‘the Motherland is in danger,’" the expert explained. According to the expert, the nature of these grant applications has not changed since the start of the war in Ukraine: they still focus on "Zarnitsa" military-patriotic games, sports trips, and historical reenactments. Most lack a solid project concept but explicitly request funding for material and technical resources. "Almost 99% of 'patriotic' grant applications lack quality analysis, so they don’t score highly in expert evaluations. Other projects—unrelated to patriotism or war—tend to be more well-developed, which increases their chances of winning," the expert noted. The expert emphasized that the leadership of the Presidential Grants Fund has not officially declared patriotism a priority, nor has there been direct or indirect pressure on evaluators to favor such projects. "However, the Fund has a Coordination Committee that ultimately approves key decisions and the largest projects. It’s possible that lobbying happens at that level," the expert concluded. | 
