Why is Alexander Svetakov interested in bright projects?

Multi-colored walls and windows, single desks, corridors with ramps - the new boarding school for children with mental disabilities in the village of Raisemenovskoye is not at all similar to similar institutions. The design was developed by the Laboratory of Visual Architecture, whose portfolio includes the Glavkino cinema complex, an apart-hotel in Sochi, business centers and luxury residential buildings in Moscow.

The school was built with private money - the Absolut-Pomosch charitable foundation of billionaire developer Alexander Svetakov (No. 34 in the Forbes ranking) invested more than 800 million rubles in the project. A town for foster families was also located on 5 hectares.

The regional administration allocated the land free of charge. The laying of the first stone took place in May 2008. Svetakov, who had recently successfully sold his bank, promised the authorities to open a boarding school by September 1, 2009. Due to the crisis, the project had to be frozen, but as soon as the opportunity arose, construction immediately continued.

Helping children with mental disabilities is not the most common area among private philanthropists (only four people on the Forbes list purposefully donate money for this purpose). The Svetakov Foundation has been helping correctional institutions since 2002. In 2013, $1.35 million was spent on treatment, purchase of medicines and rehabilitation equipment.

It all started like everyone else—absolutely unsystematic. In the 1990s, as Svetakov recalls, many turned to the company for help (he and his partners were then engaged in the supply of household appliances and electronics). One of the petitioners turned out to be the deputy director of the children's boarding school, Georgy Kryukov. Svetakov granted his request, but one day he visited the orphanage in person and was shocked. All donated equipment was in place, carefully covered from dust with napkins. But in the middle of the dining room there was a hole in the floor, which children with trays walked around the perimeter - the floor had collapsed. “I was building a country house then, hired a foreman and ordered all the materials to be taken to the orphanage,” says Svetakov. So he realized that one-time help was not much use. And Kryukov is now the director of the Absolute Help fund.

Other areas of the foundation's work are also related to children left without parental care. One of the programs is aimed at the socialization of orphanages. The foundation has equipped more than 50 institutions with production equipment, which teaches bookbinding and carpentry to boys, and sewing to girls.

The billionaire takes care of orphanages only in the Moscow region and has visited his charges more than once. He used to take his children (he has four of them) with him so that they “knew the other side of life.” Today, older people study abroad. The youngest is still small - he is less than a year old.

The foundation's next major project will also be implemented in the Moscow region, this time on its own site. Svetakov allocated 3 hectares in the Podolsk region for the construction of a modern nursery for 300 dogs and cats. His relatives encouraged him to take up animal problems - his sister oversees a nursery in Odintsovo, Svetakov helped her with the purchase of food. Gradually I got involved. “Once my family and I were in Kenya at a shelter for baby elephants,” says Svetakov. — I allocated money, and it so happened that I took patronage of the baby elephant, now they send us video reports about his life. This is cool". He wants to implement similar options for donors in his nursery. The project also provides a space for zootherapy, where sick children will be able to walk and communicate with animals. Construction will begin in the summer.

Philanthropist: Personal matter