Fundraising for Ukraine – a year on
Melanie May | 24 February 2023 | News
With today, 24 February, marking a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, here’s a look at some of the fundraising that has gone on in the UK over the past 12 months, and its impact.
A year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has now raised over £409 million including £25 million matched by the UK Government.
This makes it the biggest charity donor to the Ukraine humanitarian response in the world, according to the UN OCHA Financial Tracking Service.
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According to the DEC’s report, Ukraine: How Your Donations Are Helping, 71% of the funds raised has been donated directly to the DEC and 29% to DEC member charities who used DEC co-branding.
In the first six months of the humanitarian response, 13 DEC charities spent £85 million of the DEC funding delivering aid in five countries. 60% of the funds were spent in Ukraine and the rest in Romania, Poland, Moldova and Hungary. From this, 392,000 people received food assistance, 338,000 received cash payments, and 1.95mn gained access to clean water. 127,900 people accessed basic services at transit centres, 71,000 accessed primary healthcare, and 37,000 received mental health support.
One of its charities, Action Against Hunger is responding to meet humanitarian needs in Ukraine and in the neighbouring countries of Poland, Romania, and Moldova. To date, the organisation’s food security, health, water, sanitation, and hygiene projects have helped more than 650,000 people in four countries.
Commenting, Saleh Saeed, DEC CEO, said:
“Whether displaced inside Ukraine or those who have fled to other countries, the DEC funds are meeting people’s basic needs – food, medicine, cash, as well as helping children continue their education, providing mental health support and keeping vulnerable people safe.
“These funds have meant that we’ve been able to respond at every stage of the crisis and will continue to do so over the next two years as new challenges arise and needs continue to change. It’s making a huge difference to people who are going through the worst time of their life.”
Cafod has also reported back on how donations to its appeal have made a difference. The nonprofit says that since the beginning of the war, its largest local expert organisation Depaul Ukraine has been able to provide regular supplies to 22,000 people, while nearly 160 trucks full of aid have left the Caritas warehouse. In the past year its Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has raised £3,736,279.
Looking after the pets of Ukraine, the Blue Cross Ukraine Pet Welfare Fund has so far raised over £350k, 100% of which has been used to support four charity partners in Ukraine and over the border. Funds have so provided for:
- Over 500 tons of pet food (enough to fill more than 20 trucks) to prevent homeless cats and dogs from starving.
- More than 450 dog houses have been sent over.
- Thousands of dog jackets and blankets to help cats and dogs survive the brutal Ukrainian winter.
Anna Wade, Blue Cross Public Affairs Manager said:
“The war is having such a devastating effect across Ukraine and of course our thoughts are with all those suffering and struggling at this terrible time. As a pet charity, we immediately stepped in to help wherever we could. Both in providing quarantine for those who managed to flee with their pets and for those who have stayed with their pets and rely on support from charities. We are also helping the charity partners to care for hundreds of pets without owners fending for themselves in sub-zero temperatures.”
Elsewhere, JustGiving has seen over 25,000 pages set up to help and almost £54 million including Gift Aid donated in the past year.
Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager at JustGiving said:
“Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen an extraordinary response from people across the world wanting to support those affected by the war on Ukraine. Over 25,000 fundraising pages were set up on JustGiving, accounting for almost £54million to help people access necessities, such as food, shelter and clothes.”
Another big fundraising total, global financial app Revolut has raised £10mn in donations for refugees from Ukraine so far, with its app for Ukrainian refugees downloaded nearly half a million times.
To continue its support, it has now partnered with British-Ukrainian Aid. This partnership will support victims of the war in Ukraine, with specific items financed by donations going directly to those in need. Revolut has also added new feature Collections to its Donations platform, which groups charities around a common cause.
As the war continues, according to UNHCR, more than 13 million people remain uprooted from their homes, including nearly 8 million refugees across Europe and more than 5 million internally displaced people within Ukraine. It has just published two reports on the situation here.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.