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Ukraine’s government sets up national fundraising platform

Howard Lake | 5 May 2022 | News

Announcement by President Zalenskyy of United24 online giving platform for Ukraine. Image: United24
President Zalenskyy announces the launch of United24 giving platform. Image: u24.gov.ua

Two months after the Russian invasion Ukraine’s government has set up a fundraising platform to accept financial donations from around the world.

United24 was launched by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, as “the main venue for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine”. It is designed to accept donations from around the world.

The site is available in English and Ukrainian. It is a project of the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the office of the President of Ukraine, and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

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Donations are being sought for three areas, which given the ongoing fighting and scale of destruction, go beyond traditional charitable activities:

According to the platform, “funds will be transferred to the official accounts of the National Bank of Ukraine and allocated by assigned ministries to cover the most pressing needs”.

Payment methods on United24

Four methods of giving via Ukraine's United24
Four ways to give via United24

The site accepts donations via

For donations to defence and demining, donations via PayPal are not accepted, presumably because of PayPal’s terms and conditions.

Why a new platform?

Many other appeals have been created to support a wide variety of causes in Ukraine, including appeals to support those in the armed services. The new platform states its goal is “to increase donations to Ukraine and ensure the efficiency and transparency of their distribution. The Official platform protects you from delays, intermediaries, and fraud.”

Transparency

"We provide fund distribution reports every week" (from United24 website)
United24 commits to provide weekly donation distribution reports. Image: United24

The site emphasises that it will be transparent in its reporting on donations received and used. “We provide fund distribution reports every week” is its prominent pledge, and at launch it was announcing that “our first report will be available on 12.05.22”.

"Our first report will be available on 12.05.2022" - United24 fundraising platform's promise
A promise to report on donations after one week. Image: United24


The creation of a national giving platform like this is unprecedented, especially given that the Ukrainian government is handling and distributing the donations. Other countries have suffered major natural disasters but not made this move, so this platform no doubt speaks to the scale and speed of devastation wrought on Ukraine and its people.

In announcing United24, President Zelenskyy commented that “other projects and programs will be added soon” to complement the giving platform.

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