It is becoming increasingly difficult to collect every hryvnia: how will Ukrainians contribute to the needs of the Armed Forces?

IA “FACT” analyzed how much Ukrainians will donate to the Armed Forces and which funds were most trusted during the two years of the war.

In the first month of the war, people reacted emotionally to a full-scale invasion. Many donated significant funds to help the Armed Forces. In the first 24 hours, more than 30 million dollars were collected on the United24 platform. USA. One of the Ukrainian businessmen donated UAH 10 million to the “Army of Drones”. And there are many such examples. However, as of now, the founders of the funds say that donations have halved over the past year.

Overview of popular funds:

Serhiy Prytula Foundation: one of the most famous funds that collects funds to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to Forbes at the beginning of the war, the fund collected more than UAH 1.8 billion. In the interview “Radio Svoboda” the founder of the foundation, Serhiy Prytula, emphasized that donations depend on the situation in Ukraine. At the beginning of the war, when the horror of shelling and the uncertainty of the future hung over Ukraine, people rushed to help en masse. Donations became a way for volunteer organizations to express their anger and hatred and at the same time make their contribution into the fight.”Are you bombing us? Receive our fury in the form of army help! We will fight, defend ourselves!” – this is what many people felt when making transfers. Now, during the war, the tendency to donate is still maintained. Serhiy Prytula clearly outlined the problem that the volunteer movement in Ukraine is facing – a decrease in the level of trust in funds. Corruption scandals really have a negative effect on motivation inform people, because they do not want their funds to disappear into the pockets of dishonest people. This phenomenon is infuriating. People are angry with the officials, who by their actions harm the volunteer movement and, ultimately, the Ukrainian soldiers who do not receive the necessary help.

The Serhiy Prytula Foundation differs from others due to its unique reporting system. There was such a case when the fund collected 600 million in three days.  Contributions of up to UAH 100 collected almost half of the amount, and the three largest donations reached UAH 5, 2, and 1 million.  During the two years of the war, the fund collected 18 billion hryvnias. 84% of donations are from Ukraine, 16% from abroad (mostly from Poland and the USA). Average donation: 813 hryvnias (1,000 hryvnias in 2022, 600 hryvnias in 2023). Largest donation: $1 million (May 2022).

NBU special accounts for military and humanitarian needs: 692 million hryvnias for June.

According to the magazine Forbes  Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainians have transferred UAH 17.6 billion to the fund. On February 24, the National Bank of Ukraine opened a special account to collect funds to help the Ukrainian army. This account is multi-currency, that is, funds can be transferred to it both in foreign currency and in Ukrainian hryvnia. Funds came here from international partners and donors can help Ukraine by transferring funds in a currency convenient for them. Ukrainian businesses and citizens could also contribute to the support of the army by transferring funds in hryvnias.

As of today, more than 17 billion hryvnias have been deposited into this account, of which almost 5 billion hryvnias are in foreign currency. Aid also came in such currencies as: Chinese yuan renminbi, Japanese yen, Swiss francs, Polish zlotys, Australian and Canadian dollars. According to National the Bank of Ukraine received almost UAH 20.3 billion equivalent in its special account for assistance to the Armed Forces, of which over UAH 7.2 billion came from abroad in foreign currency. Funds came both from citizens and enterprises in Ukraine, and from the international community.

Account for humanitarian needs. As of April 9, 2024, the balance of funds in the account of the Ministry of Social Policy is more than UAH 139 million. Over the past week, more than 62 million hryvnias have been deposited into his account, more than 10.6 million hryvnias have been transferred, but in 2024, fewer and fewer donations are coming. The authorities are trying to get people interested in donating through various auctions and events, but as practice shows, it doesn’t work very well. 

“Come back alive.”

According to data published by “opendatabase” in his review of army collections, the “Return Alive” fund collected the most funds for the army. In August 2023, he broke the record: then half a billion hryvnias were deposited into his accounts, which is the best indicator for the last year and a half. 

Volunteers of the foundation deliver protection (body armor, helmets), non-lethal weapons (thermal imagers, scopes) to the front lines. In June, the foundation received heavy equipment from abroad for the supply of the Armed Forces.  Oleg Karpenko, head of the department for work with partners of the “Return Alive” foundation, told the magazine Forbes: if on February 28, UAH 410 million was received in one day, as of July 6 – about UAH 9 million, and this is a significant reduction. According to him, at the beginning of March there were about 100-200 companies that actively helped the army.

“At the beginning of March, there were agricultural companies that sent UAH 15 million at a time, but now it is spot-on, sometimes businesses send UAH 1-2 million“, says Karpenko.

Ukrainians began to transfer funds to the fund’s account less and less, so in order to maintain the level of donations, the fund is changing the structure of the site and making it more user-friendly.  “Return Alive” plans to establish closer cooperation with the international community. For this purpose, the foundation wants to open its branch in the USA in order to attract funds from the diaspora and American business and to constantly support the Ukrainian theme in the American environment.

Nova Ukraine was founded in 2014 by Americans of Ukrainian origin.

Its purpose is to help the development of post-revolutionary Ukraine. Before the war, the organization collected $300,000–400,000 a year. The funds were spent on helping Ukrainian charitable foundations and cultural initiatives. After a full-scale invasion, 1.2 million hryvnias were collected. Main areas of assistance: Food and basic necessities, medical equipment, medicines and first aid supplies for the Armed Forces. On the website of the organization, they write that in 2023, donations became significantly less.

Why do Ukrainians donate less?

In 2024, Ukrainians began to donate much less than a year ago. This is evidenced by the results of a communication agency survey Postmen.   Olena Hasynska, operational director of the Markus Foundation, is on the air Public told about the reasons for this: 

“Of course, this research is true, because earlier, like the first time we collected for pickups, it was in May of last year and we collected 51 million dollars in four days. Now, of course, such collections are impossible. But I want to emphasize that it’s not betrayal, it’s not that people stopped wanting to win, it’s just that people started living more, focusing more on their lives“.

What other reasons?

• Over time, people have become less sensitive to information about war, which can lead to a decrease in empathy and willingness to help.
• Economic hardship: Rising prices, unemployment, and other economic problems have forced people to focus more on their own survival than on helping others.
• Psychological fatigue: People experience emotional exhaustion due to the constant stress of war, which reduces their motivation to act.
• The desire for a normal life: people want to return to their usual life, which leads to a decrease in their willingness to sacrifice their resources.

Why are Ukrainians tired of the war?   

• The number of victims of war, those who have lost loved ones, housing or work is constantly increasing, which leads to emotional exhaustion and a decrease in willingness to help others.
• Feeling hopeless: Some people feel that the war has dragged on and nothing is changing
• Lack of opportunity to plan one’s life, staying in a long state of uncertainty.
• Life under constant shelling on alarm signals.

Among the reasons contributing to the reduction of donations for the needs of the Armed Forces is also ineffective communication on the part of charitable foundations: Some of them do not convey information to people about exactly how their donations are used, which leads to a decrease in the level of trust and willingness to help. In addition, the number of fraudulent schemes connected with the help of the Armed Forces has increased.

At the same time, according to the data monobank, the number of people donating money to military gatherings in Ukraine increased significantly in 2023. In 2022, 3 million people transferred funds to help the Ukrainian army through monobank, and in 2023, their number increased to 5.7 million. The amount of donations also increased significantly: from 8.5 billion hryvnias in 2022 to 27.4 billion hryvnias in 2023. The average donation also increased: from 258 hryvnias in 2022 to 349 hryvnias in 2023. There are no data for 2024 yet.