On communications and donations
Donations
If we identify the main problems, we can see that there are difficulties with connecting donation systems. Currently, we are working on enabling donations in cryptocurrency. This will allow us to receive donations from people located both in Russia and other countries.
Communications Department
Main results
In the spring of 2022, the Foundation’s team decided to transform our social media channels and website into an integrated media hub for queer news. This decision was made because news about the LGBT+ community in Russian-language media is typically reported only because of newsbreak events, such as propaganda cases or legal crackdowns. This decision was further reinforced by the information access restrictions introduced by the “LGBT+ Propaganda Prohibition Law” at the end of 2022.
As planned in the previous year, we began to talk more about the Sphere and other important LGBT+ events. We launched a Telegram help bot and passed the management of Russian LGBT Network social media, which was created and maintained by our team until the end of 2022.
Website and social networks
The main achievement of 2022 was an increase in followers across all of Spheres’ social media, as well as the launch of a new website.
In 2021, we launched Sphere’s website on Tilda as a temporary solution. Due to the liquidation and war, we were unable to complete a full-fledged layout of the site until the fall of 2022.
By the end of 2022, with the support of WordPress (thanks to Sphere’s director, we won a contest, so an entire team worked with us) we created a site framework based on the 2021 Technical Project. However, we failed to account for the major changes that occurred over the year, such as the introduction of new programs, the expansion of our views on media content, Sphere as a legal entity being liquidated, which reduced the amount of necessary materials on the site.
Interaction with the audience
In 2022, we launched help bot and opened comments in Telegram.
The bot was fully launched in September after passing the test phase among Sphere staff. During this period, we received 116 applications: 59 for psychological assistance, 44 for legal assistance, 11 for emergency assistance, and 2 questionnaires on monitoring discrimination. We also promptly responded to direct questions.
Although Sphere is currently building its own media, we still collaborate with other media platforms, sharing materials about our cases and providing expert commentaries on the situation with LGBT+ rights in Russia. Throughout the year, “Sphere” has been featured in over 50 media materials, including CNN, Metro, The Moscow Time, Aljazeera, TIME.
