On 30 April, the milestone Fifth Professional Meeting of Endowments of Kazakhstan was held.
The meeting was traditionally organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MSHE) and the Aurora-Ala Foundation, with the active participation of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the support of the Standard Investment Company.
The meeting was opened with welcoming remarks by Gulzhan Dzharasova, Chair of the Committee on Higher and Postgraduate Education of the MSHE. She spoke about the prospects for the development of endowments, including plans to launch pilot endowment funds and objectives for increasing their capitalization, and made special mention of the contribution of Svetlana Lavrova, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Aurora-Ala Corporate Foundation, to the development of the sector.
Participants discussed key issues in the development of the sector:
As is customary, an important part of the event was a segment devoted to presentations by various endowment funds. Timur Makenov, Director of the Science and Education Endowment Fund (a corporate endowment fund), presented the Fund's concept and immediate plans to the community publicly for the first time. In the educational segment, Nadezhda Yusupova delivered an interactive lecture on fundraising from corporate donors. She emphasized the importance of this type of donor for endowment funds, given the significant tax preferences available to endowment contributors.
At the close of the meeting, Farkhad Kuanganov announced the launch of the Kazakhstan Endowment Association and described its objectives and operating principles in detail.
Concluding the event, Svetlana Lavrova extended special thanks to the hosts of the meeting, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, for organizing the event and supporting the development of a new type of institutional investor. She also invited participants to the "Perpetual Contributions" Assembly of the National Endowment Association of Russia, to be held in St. Petersburg in May 2026. In her address, she gave particular attention to the professionalization of specialists in the sector, which will continue on a permanent basis within the partnership between the Aurora-Ala Foundation and SDU University.
The meeting was traditionally organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (MSHE) and the Aurora-Ala Foundation, with the active participation of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the support of the Standard Investment Company.
The meeting was opened with welcoming remarks by Gulzhan Dzharasova, Chair of the Committee on Higher and Postgraduate Education of the MSHE. She spoke about the prospects for the development of endowments, including plans to launch pilot endowment funds and objectives for increasing their capitalization, and made special mention of the contribution of Svetlana Lavrova, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Aurora-Ala Corporate Foundation, to the development of the sector.
Participants discussed key issues in the development of the sector:
- the registration and re-registration of endowment funds;
- legislative amendments developed following the outcomes of the Fourth Professional Meeting of Endowments of Kazakhstan.
As is customary, an important part of the event was a segment devoted to presentations by various endowment funds. Timur Makenov, Director of the Science and Education Endowment Fund (a corporate endowment fund), presented the Fund's concept and immediate plans to the community publicly for the first time. In the educational segment, Nadezhda Yusupova delivered an interactive lecture on fundraising from corporate donors. She emphasized the importance of this type of donor for endowment funds, given the significant tax preferences available to endowment contributors.
At the close of the meeting, Farkhad Kuanganov announced the launch of the Kazakhstan Endowment Association and described its objectives and operating principles in detail.
Concluding the event, Svetlana Lavrova extended special thanks to the hosts of the meeting, the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, for organizing the event and supporting the development of a new type of institutional investor. She also invited participants to the "Perpetual Contributions" Assembly of the National Endowment Association of Russia, to be held in St. Petersburg in May 2026. In her address, she gave particular attention to the professionalization of specialists in the sector, which will continue on a permanent basis within the partnership between the Aurora-Ala Foundation and SDU University.