The main problem to be solved within the research project is the issue of the sense and social importance of ethnic cultural organizations (ECO) in the contemporary Russian society and in the Udmurt Republic in particular. What is the purpose of creating volunteer organizations based on ethnicity? Do these organizations make any contribution to the building of the civil society in Russia? What are their prospects? The study includes the content-analysis of the newspapers published by the youth ethnic cultural organizations (ECO): Jugendheim (the association of Russian Germans, a newspaper The Juhei ); Shundy (the Udmurt youth association, a newspaper The Gerd ); the biographic and expert interviews with representatives of the above-mentioned associations; the theoretical interpretation of the results of the content – analysis and interviews with the object of revealing specific mechanisms of ethnic identification; the use of specialized vocabulary: the clarification of the notions "ethnicity", "identity", "multiculturalism"; the construction of the author's model of ethnic identity. The research constituted a basis for the development of an analytical conception of ethnic identity. This conception allows one to consider ethnic identity as a process of constructing models and concepts of ethnicity within the theoretical and political discourse. Such constructing occurs when there is a "lack" of ethnicity in "the present" which has to be met through the constructs of "ethnic history" (the past) and ethnic "projects" (the future). The ways of constructing the Udmurt ethnicity as a part of "the Finno-Ugric world" were determined, as well as the ways of constructing "the German ethnicity" that shapes the image of German "Youth's Home". Further research on ECOs involves revealing major concepts underlying the discourse of these organizations, as well as clarifying the role of ECOs in ethnic policy pursued in the Udmurt Republic.