The material was published in the Detector Media
Foreign aid to Ukraine during the war is not limited to large-scale financial, humanitarian or military support from governments. Individual citizens of different states also help our state – in particular, thanks to crowdfunding platforms. Donations in favor of Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens can now be made both through the usual popular crowdfunding platforms and through specialized resources aimed directly at supporting Ukraine.
CEDEM team, as part of the project “Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity”, prepared a list of the main international crowdfunding platforms through which foreigners support Ukraine on a daily basis. All of these resources can also be used by the citizens of Ukraine.
Foreign aid to Ukraine during the war is not limited to large-scale financial, humanitarian or military support from governments. Crowdfunding platforms operate abroad, where, among other things, you can now support projects for the benefit of our state. In addition, many international organizations and foundations specialize in fundraising for Ukraine.
Gofundme – this crowdfunding platform, founded in 2010, can be considered one of the leaders in helping Ukraine. It is on this resource that the spouses Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher managed to raise more than $35 million to support Ukraine. Other successful fundraising campaigns include the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund project, which received $2.5 million in donations, the Help Ukraine Emergency Appeal campaign cooperating with Caritas Ukraine and raising almost £2.5 million. Campaigns to benefit Ukraine at Gofundme aim to help in a variety of areas: media support, medical and veterinary care and support for companies and individuals.
JustGiving – this platform, founded back in 2000, has a reputation as one of the largest and most reliable resources for charity. JustGiving is a platform for dozens of aid projects in Ukraine, including the Play Your Part for Ukraine initiative founded by Andrii Shevchenko. The project’s resource has already raised £300,000. Other major projects include the Mail Force Ukraine Appeal with £3.5 million to help refugees and the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, which has already raised a £1 million for the same purpose. Users can also launch parallel campaigns in support of certain initiatives on the platform. For example, this is how a 12-year-old boy from Britain, who makes wooden tableware in the Clarkie Woodwork workshop, has already raised over £250,000 for the Ukraine Appeal campaign by Save the Children.
Kickstarter – on one of the most famous crowdfunding platforms, which have been operating since 2009, you can find projects which are indirectly intended to support Ukraine. For example, here they raise money for the documentaries about Ukraine or the resumption of production of a Kyiv company that produces wooden cards. The latter, thanks to Kickstarter, has already managed to raise almost $140 thousand (although their goal was a mere 5 thousand). The platform is designed in such a way that only a specific product can be supported, so it is impossible to make a donation that will directly go to humanitarian purposes.
Indiego – on this proven resource for supporting ideas and innovations, which has existed since 2007, you can support individual fundraising campaigns. Unlike Kickstarter, here you can donate not only to make a certain product, but also to support the activities of volunteers. On the platform, you can find various projects related to Ukraine – mostly all of them are aimed at humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.
MightyCause is a rather young (founded in 2017), but a well-known resource for non-commercial fundraising. Accordingly, as in the case of Indiego, a donation here can be made directly to humanitarian projects: for example, to support refugees. Although this resource has only existed for about five years, the most successful project to help refugees has already collected almost $150,000 on the platform. In addition to humanitarian aid, you can also support projects to provide medicines or volunteer support in Ukraine.
Organizations and foundations
Many of these organizations already have a long history of helping Ukraine and with the start of a full-scale war they only had to adapt.
Ukraine Now – this resource is both a volunteer and a crowdfunding platform. On the one hand, you can offer your physical help. On the other hand, you can financially support volunteering. The organization began supporting Ukraine right after the full-scale invasion started and for a month and a half it has already managed to raise about $170 thousand. These funds are used for various needs: delivery of humanitarian goods, evacuation of citizens, purchase of medical assistance vehicles.
Nova Ukraine – Nova Ukraine was founded in December 2013 and since then it has managed to raise more than $15 million to support the development of a democratic society in Ukraine. The website of this organization is both a crowdfunding platform and a volunteer platform. The peculiarity of the resource is that it is focused on cooperation with the US donors and volunteers. The platform is well versed in the North American context. In particular, a donation can be made even with shares.
Save Ukrainian Culture is a platform launched by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine together with blockchain company Everstake on April 25, 2022. The purpose of the platform is to raise funds for the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage: helping endangered cultural sites and restoring destroyed ones. You can support Ukrainian culture on the platform using wire transfers or cryptocurrency.
Razom – founded in 2014 in the U.S. by natives of Ukraine, this NGO has been supporting various projects in Ukraine throughout its existence. Currently, Razom supports the military and provides humanitarian aid to Ukrainians. At the same time, the organization’s website can also be considered a separate crowdfunding platform. Donations can be made here in cryptocurrency, by check, and even by purchasing Ukrainian artwork. Visitors can choose what they want to donate to: humanitarian aid, assistance to animals or support for displaced people. In addition, Razom invites visitors to start their campaign for the organization on the Gofundme platform.
The U.S. – Ukraine Foundation – the foundation has been operating on the territory of Ukraine since 1991 and during this time it has received nearly $50 million in funding. The organization offers help in a variety of ways: sending medical supplies, creating a fundraising event or donating money. The foundation aims to support Ukraine’s institutional capacity and the primary role of civil society in Ukraine’s development. Accordingly, in addition to donating for humanitarian purposes, the foundation can be used to donate to the development of civil society organizations.
Canada-Ukraine Foundation – a foundation established by the representatives of Ukrainian diaspora in Canada in 1995 and collecting funds to help Ukraine in different ways, in particular organizing benefit parties and concerts. Among other things, you can donate to the foundation directly through the website. The organization has already helped with the evacuation of 2.5 million hearing-impaired citizens of Ukraine and provided humanitarian assistance to 20,000 refugees.
British-Ukrainian Aid is a foundation that prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was engaged in helping orphans, the elderly, people with disabilities and internally displaced persons. Since February 2022, its focus has been on medical aid to Ukraine. For example, the organization recently purchased two ambulances for Ukraine. You can support the organization online. In addition, the foundation is actively organizing a variety of charity events in the UK.
