This second country-focused article, after Fundraising in Switzerland, kickstarts the launch of a new blog article series dedicated to giving an overview of fundraising practices in different countries across the globe.
Svitlana Kuts, Director of the Institute of Professional Fundraising and Ukrainian professional fundraiser, shares great insights on the state of fundraising in Ukraine and how it evolved with the beginning of the war two years ago. She draws from a comprehensive study she is currently working on for the Institute of Professional Fundraising entitled “Third Sector as Third Power: A Study of Resource Mobilization”.
1- The power of voluntary fundraisers
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the world’s communications space was flooded with appeals for supporting the urgent needs of Ukrainian defenders and civilians from fundraising individuals and organizations. Phenomenon of volunteering, its Ukrainian version of voluntary fundraisers raised as a mass happening in 2014 at the first phase of war, has revived in full force. Individuals, on their own initiative, started collecting funds for the purchase of necessary things for the Army and Territorial Defense Units, and for the rescue of civilians, at the same time duly executing the case for which support had been received. They quickly came together with other activists and organizations to form logistics chains and operational arrangements, often nonformal. Often, celebrities became headliners of campaigns of foundations and public organizations created before the war and newly created ones. The number of CSOs has increased dramatically, which has led to a more organized and capable civil society. Since the day of the full invasion this movement has not stopped, neither in the number of collections, nor in the numbers of participating people and organizations.
War not only raised the level of problems of the organizations’ beneficiaries, but also became an impetus to help the defenders and the civilian population affected by the war. That is why private individuals, initiative groups and CSOs actively participated in the provision of such assistance, alongside the collection of funds for this. Consequently, the full-scale invasion gave impetus to the activity of various civil society players from private sector individuals of different sectors, professions, lifestyles, etc.
2- Indicators of giving in Ukraine
According to the global annual World Giving Index of the Charities Aid Foundation Ukrainian society’s giving has got to the second place in the world, both in terms of funds and non-material resources in 2022. According to the overall summary indicator of giving, which consists of the level of assistance to strangers, donation of funds and volunteering, Ukraine received an indicator of 62 points in 2022 and rose from 49 points in 2021 to 2nd place among 142 countries. The researchers of the Index recognized that Ukraine thus demonstrated a world record in increase of giving: in 2021, Ukraine was at 10th place. During the days of the war, Ukrainian society considers the needs of military defenders to be the main object of donations and mainly donates to this sector. Humanitarian solutions to the crisis received support, and disasters that affected the lives of the civilian population influenced the dynamics of donations towards its sudden increase, but they were not stable. Perhaps this is due to the presence of massive aid programs from international humanitarian response organizations.
3- The strategic ability of fundraisers
In this process, an important role was played by individuals and organizations that created platforms to attract and process donations, noting the high capacity of society for self-organization.
Interestingly, despite the alarming downward trends in donations noted by fundraisers (both individual and charitable foundations) in 2023, this overall level of philanthropy in Ukraine has remained fairly stable throughout the entire period of 2 years since the start of the full-scale invasion. The strategic ability of fundraisers to respond to a drop in donation scopes, which allowed to maintain the overall level of donations, shows not only the presence of knowledge and skills in working with donors, but also the qualities and skills of strategic market analysis and the rapid departure from stable fundraising practices that did not pay.
A fairly large segment of donors donate regularly – this confirms that fundraisers are increasingly introducing the offer of regular donation. Of course, such offers must be organized either on the recipient’s website or through the donor’s own payment instrument. But the way to regular donations is obvious because they allow fundraisers to count on a certain amount of steady income.
Different segments of donors responded to the call for donations in different ways. This confirms that fundraisers follow trends in different categories of donors according to their gender, age, education, income level, place of residence and changes in life practices when choosing strategies for attracting donations.
4- Organizational shifts
A significant dynamic towards organizational formal forms of work and formation of the sector is observed as a move of informal activists’ groups to organized structures. In general, the following categories can be distinguished among them: these are private individuals who have initiated fundraising on their own initiative, groups or communities that have come together to help war sufferers or defenders on an informal basis, and charitable or civic organizations. Personal history is often the motivation for getting involved in a common cause, bringing people together, and transitioning to institutionalized or project-based activities.
The increase in the number of charitable foundations since the beginning of the full-scale aggression in Ukraine was more than a third of the current number. Private individuals and initiative groups were instituted as charities, often to facilitate formal fundraising and resource procurement procedures, especially for the military. Some private fundraisers registered as volunteers, which is allowed by Ukrainian legislation. Thus, the dynamic formation of civil society takes place.
Institutionalization of the sector correlates with the dynamics of involvement in fundraising: organizations arise as a response to the needs of systemic fundraising. After all, among the private fundraisers there were those who had experience in raising funds since the beginning of the 2014 war or the Revolution of Dignity, there were also those who joined after the invasion. Existing charities or civic organizations at the time of the full-scale invasion already had experience in fundraising, so they continued to work for their beneficiaries, whose lives became more difficult since the beginning of the war and began to actively help the affected civilian population and changed their focus to help the defenders. A part of the CSO sector was created after the invasion exclusively to support the country during the war and attract funds from citizens of Ukraine or other countries to overcome the consequences of the war and support the army.
5- The power of social media in times of crisis
At the beginning of the war, fundraisers actively used communication with potential donors through social networks, mainly Facebook/META, Instagram, videos on YouTube, communication through Telegram channels or groups in messengers. Appeals for donations in social networks sometimes brought an unexpectedly large result, and donors confirmed that social networks were one of the main sources of information for deciding about a donation. However, most fundraisers noted that since mid-summer 2022, appeals on social networks ceased to be effective and switched to other formats of work with donors: donor stratification, introduction of regular donations, fundraising events, organization of multi-level campaigns, meetings at workplaces and negotiations. So, social networks began to be used more for communication with donors, multiplication of appeals, and recruiting potential donors. However, most of the successful fundraisers we interviewed didn’t lose their donor audience in social media: they continued to post video stories that raised funds. We received an explanation from one respondent, who directly said that their brand, or rather, high brand recognition, contributed to their success.
6- But strategic fundraising remains key in the long run
During two years of war, there was a gradual transition to strategic fundraising. Sporadic meetings on social networks and emotional stories cease to bring outcomes. Therefore, organizations and activists are moving to use methods and approaches based on long-term results: stratification of donors, integration of activities in the campaign, attraction of regular donations, creation of networks of partners for fundraising, business project proposals and attraction of large donors through negotiations.
The innovation and uniqueness of fundraising champions has been achieved through their willingness to streamline and focus on one exceptional service that this organization can deliver and that has built a brand. Thanks to them, Ukrainian civil society was able to create a network imbued with trust and solidarity, with myriads of contacts, connections, relationships, empathy and mutual support – social capital.
For more information on Svitlana or to contact her, please click here.
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