In line with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s decision to support the initiative of the former Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexey II, the Charity Foundation for the Restoration of the New Jerusalem Monastery was established in October 2008 (hereinafter, the foundation).

On October 20, 2008, the two men co-chaired the first meeting of the foundation’s board of trustees at the Kremlin. In all, four meetings had been held so far. The board of trustees is the foundation’s highest public oversight body. Currently, the board of trustees is co-chaired by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The fund’s managing board and its executive director are also part of the oversight body.

So far, two facilities have been renovated under the aegis of the foundation:

- The Jerusalem Monastery's Gate Church; the refurbishment of the church’s interior decorations (including the creation of a carved wooden iconostasis, chandeliers and icons) will be completed by yearend;

- The church-run school now used as living quarters for monks. The building includes 16 monastic cells. By 2016, the building will be renovated and adapted to host a Sunday monastery school.

Work on the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, including the underground church of St Konstantin and St Yelena, continues; reconstruction of the crumbling belfry at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ is also ongoing. The cathedral’s 17^thcentury tessellated iconostasis is being preserved at the All Saints Church located at the first level of the belfry. Work to shore up the northern slope of the hill on which the monastery is located has also begun. Under an agreement with the Russian Ministry of Culture, a new project for the restoration of the Patriarch Nikon’s Epiphany Poustyn (skete) and its adaptation for church purposes has been drafted. Restoration of this site will begin in 2013.

The state budget has been allocating 1 billion roubles a year for the restoration of the monastery. A decision to increase funding to 3 billion roubles annually has been taken.

Since 2008, companies and individuals have donated 821 million roubles to the restoration fund. All the donations have been used to fund the reconstruction of the monastery.