Friends House Moscow works to promote peace and a just, fair and caring society, and help underprivileged groups and individuals, in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. We also tell Russian-speaking people about Quakers, who we are and what we do.
Дом друзей содействует укреплению мира и гражданского общества, а также помогает обездоленным группам и отдельным лицам в России и странах бывшего Советского Союза. Мы также рассказываем русскоязычным людям о квакерах, кто мы и что мы делаем.
The work of Friends House Moscow reflects the deepest values of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
To read more about us, click on the ‘+’ signs below…
Friends House Moscow is an initiative of members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), working in Russia and its neighbouring countries.
We practise and encourage Quaker spiritual values including Equality, Integrity, Community and Peace; and we support the activity and growth of like-minded groups.
Trusting in “that of God” in everyone, we work towards building bridges of understanding between different people and nations.
Our priorities are to:
- Provide training in alternatives to violence and conflict management resolution
- Promote alternatives to military service
- Protect the rights of and provide services for underprivileged groups and individuals, including women, the elderly, disabled people, refugees, homeless children and orphans
- Promote the development of a culture of voluntary social work
- Support Friends and individual seekers interested in Quaker faith and practice
- Conduct Quaker outreach in the Russian language via websites, social media, and translating texts into Russian
We carry out our mission through two kinds of activity:
- We give grants to small NGOs for projects in peace work, conflict resolution, and community action.
- We conduct outreach work ourselves “in house”.
Friends House Moscow is a collaboration between Quakers worldwide. It is overseen by an International Board which is composed of Quakers from Russia, the USA and Europe. The Board sets strategy and makes funding decisions for the charitable activity that we carry out in Russia and Ukraine.
There is a British registered charity (Friends House Moscow, reg. charity 1055965) and an American nonprofit (Friends House Moscow Support Association) who raise funds and are jointly responsible for the charitable work. Trustees and Board members from these organisations are represented on the International Board.
Charitable activities in Russia and Ukraine are carried out by commissioning work from a company (OOO Friends House) that provides services in the following areas: developing and maintaining our Russian language website and social media presence; translating and publishing Quaker and other texts in Russian; and managing operational aspects of project work including grant administration, reporting and evaluation. The company staff are Russian Quakers who are international members of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Europe & Middle East Section).
Quakers in Russia – History
Quakers in Russia today
There are two Quaker worship groups in Moscow, and small numbers of Quakers scattered elsewhere. Quakers in Russia come under the oversight of the Friends World Committee for Consultation, Europe and Middle East section (www.fwccemes.org/). FWCC looks after Quakers in countries where there is no Yearly Meeting at a national level.
You can see information about Russian meetings here: www.fwccemes.org/fam/?mg=14%20 or find out more by contacting the Moscow office of our service providers (for details see the “Contact” page).
PLEASE NOTE that Friends House Moscow (which is a charitable collaboration between Friends in the USA, UK and elsewhere in Europe) does not have any official connection with the Russian meetings.
FHM aims to support local people who want to work for peace and nonviolence, and to take initiatives to improve the lives of their fellow citizens, in ways that uphold our Quaker values.
We do this by providing grant funding for projects, and we hope where possible to give “seed money” to get an idea off the ground which may later become self-sustaining.
Most of the people and organisations we work with are well known to us, with a trusted relationship built up over time. Details of some of our “project partners” can be found in the list of “people and causes we support“.
Information about Quakers:
Quakers in the USA: www.quaker.org/
Quakers in Britain: www.quaker.org.uk/
Quakers internationally: FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation) supporting Friends worldwide: www.fwcc.world/
Magazines about Quakers:
(USA) Friends Journal: www.friendsjournal.org/
(Britain) The Friend: www.thefriend.org/
Quakers in the Russian speaking world: Квакеры в русскоязычном мире
The Europe and Middle East section of FWCC has information about Quaker meetings in Russia: www.fwccemes.org/
Our Russian Language site about Quakers (run by FHM) can be found here: www.quakers.ru/