More Organizations to Support
The scale of the crisis in Ukraine will require the work of many organizations, beyond the 9 that we profiled above. Below is a more comprehensive list of organizations working in the areas of current, urgent need. In selecting organizations to support for immediate, crisis response, look for ones with a track record in addressing the need in similar situations and local connections and knowledge. For more on effective crisis response, Lessons and Practices for Effective Crisis Grantmaking.
Select pooled funds that can respond to the needs as they inevitably evolve
In alphabetical order, asterisked organizations are profiled in our main guidance
Center for Disaster Philanthropy‘s (CDP) Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Recovery Fund focuses on addressing humanitarian needs that arise among the most vulnerable, marginalized, and at-risk internally-displaced peoples and refugees. The CDP will tap into its extensive network of international humanitarian experts as well as its board, advisory council, and staff to guide its grantmaking strategy.
*GlobalGiving has supported other nonprofits by connecting them to donors and companies since 2002. Donations to their Ukrainian Crisis Relief Fund support local partners in providing shelter, food, and clean water for refugees, health and psychosocial support, and access to education and economic assistance.
*The King Baudouin Foundation US launched a Humanitarian Response Fund for Ukraine pooling contributions to be distributed to three local nonprofits working on the frontlines – Caritas Ukraine, People in Need Ukraine, and the Polish Red Cross. These organizations work to provide food, shelter, and medical assistance to vulnerable people in Ukraine and seeking refuge across borders.
*UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is currently reinforcing existing operations in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania by sending more staff, resources, and relief items to the region to support refugees. In Ukraine, they work with Mission Proliska (Luhansk, Donetsk) to provide direct humanitarian assistance and have also launched a Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.
Nonprofits currently addressing medical needs
In alphabetical order, asterisked organizations are profiled in our main guidance
Direct Relief, responding to direct communication from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Direct Relief is mobilizing to obtain and distribute needed medications and medical supplies. Because of the preexisting health crises in the region before the conflict began – Ukraine has the second-highest rates of HIV/AIDs in the region and has been struggling with a polio outbreak – distributing both trauma-focused medical supplies and basic supplies is key to preventing a second wave of emergency medical needs following attacks.
Doctors without Borders/Medicines Sans Frontieres (MSF) is setting up emergency response activities in Ukraine as well as deploying teams in Poland, Moldova, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. They have distributed war-wounded kits as well as provided telemedicine training for trauma care to 30 surgeons in eastern Ukraine. Emergency teams are currently deployed at the Polish-Ukrainian border and are sending essential staff and supplies into Ukraine to provide assistance on both sides of the border.
*International Medical Corps (IMC) has been working in Ukraine since 2014 to increase access to medical services and mental health and psychosocial support services in partnership with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and local organizations. The organization’s team inside the country is providing hygiene kits, blankets, and other critical items for refugees at special reception centers as well as mental health support and gender-based violence response services to refugees.
Malteser International is a worldwide humanitarian relief agency that has been providing aid during and following conflicts and disasters for the past 60 years. Their Christian values create the foundational basis for their work toward providing emergency relief regardless of people’s religion, background, or political ties. Currently, while Malteser organizes their emergency response team, they have been elemental in partnerships to provide psychological support services to those suffering from the conflict.
Project C.U.R.E. has been sending cargo shipments of medical supplies to Ukrainian facilities throughout the country and was recently recognized by the National Health Council of Ukraine for their significant contribution to the development of Ukraine. The value of a typical cargo container is worth approximately $400,000 worth of donated medical relief. Project C.U.R.E. has sent 53 cargo shipments to Ukraine since 2000 and has two cargo shipments currently underway to the country.
Project HOPE is working with the WHO Health and Logistics Clusters and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to ship essential medicines and medical supplies to Ukraine and surrounding countries.
*Razom for Ukraine is a diaspora-led organization responding to the attack on Ukraine by providing medical supplies and amplifying the voices of Ukrainians. Like many other diaspora organizations, this nonprofit formed after the 2014 annexation of Crimea and has hyper local connections to Ukrainian communities.
Sunflower of Peace, another diaspora-led organization, raises money to put together first aid backpacks for paramedics and doctors on the front lines. In 2014, the organization also raised money to build the first aid backpacks for medical professionals providing aid to those fleeing the annexation of Crimea.
Nonprofits meeting basic needs like food, water, and fuel
In alphabetical order, asterisked organizations are profiled in our main guidance
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee helps elderly and low-income Jewish people in Ukraine through a network of care services and Jewish community programs. They are currently providing essentials like food and medicine, arranging transportation for displaced people, and coordinating emergency response with other agencies.
*CARE is working with partner organizations like People in Need to provide emergency assistance to the people of Ukraine affected by this crisis, focusing on distributing urgently needed emergency supplies such as food, water, hygiene kits, and cash to cover daily needs. Specialized staff will also provide additional psychosocial support to mitigate the psychological consequences and trauma of the conflict. Donors can give to a specialized Ukraine crisis fund, which CARE estimates will reach 4 million people.
Catholic Near East Welfare Association has been providing Eastern churches and devoted sisters the funds to do their essential work and strengthen Christian communities since 1926. Currently, CNEWA has been working closely with the Caritas Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in their mobilization to serve the needs of the displaced through humanitarian aid, medical help, and spiritual or psychological support as those needs arise.
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Fund provides direct support to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and their partners on the ground in Ukraine to help the most vulnerable. Assistance will include food, shelter, medicine, and other basic needs.
The Global FoodBanking Network’s Emergency Response Fund will support the work of their trusted partner, the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), which represents food banks in 29 European nations, including Ukraine and neighboring countries.
Polish Center for International Aid has supported Ukraine before the Russian invasion, but has increased its fundraising efforts to finance the work of its Ukrainian humanitarian partners. The organization is supporting evacuation efforts and supporting refugees with food, shelter, and coordinating the rest of their journeys once they cross the border into Poland.
Polish Humanitarian Action is a non-governmental organization and public benefit organization that has been providing humanitarian aid throughout the world since 1992. The organization is currently providing humanitarian aid including food and other forms of support to both people who are internally displaced as well as refugees arriving in Poland through an emergency aid point in Rawa Ruska, a Ukrainian border town between Ukraine and Poland.
United Ukraine, like many other diaspora organizations, formed after the 2014 annexation of Crimea. It is a 100% volunteer organization focusing on fundraising events and raising awareness about the war in Ukraine. They are also raising funds for humanitarian relief, and receive and distribute donations, food and medical supplies to Ukrainian refugees.
*World Central Kitchen (WCK) has responded to natural disasters, man-made crises, and humanitarian emergencies around the world to get meals to the people who need them most. Beginning hours after the initial invasion, WCK is working at a 24-hour pedestrian border crossing in southern Poland as well as supporting local restaurants preparing meals in five Ukrainian cities including Odessa and Lviv. There are also WCK teams on the ground in Romania and Moldova and arriving to Slovakia and Hungary to support families in need.
World Food Programme, following an official request from Ukraine’s government, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency operation to provide food assistance for people fleeing Ukraine. WFP has teams on the ground in Kyiv, where food supplies are running critically low, as well as a number of neighboring countries.
Support women and children
In alphabetical order, asterisked organizations are profiled in our main guidance
Save the Children supports children in Ukraine by improving their access to education, providing psychosocial support, distributing winter kits and hygiene kits, and providing cash grants to families so they can meet basic needs. The organization also partners with local schools and community centers to help children overcome the psychological impact of conflict and violence.
*Ukrainian Women’s Fund is the only Ukraine-based women’s fund. It provides resources to women’s rights/feminist organizations: grants, expertise, training, facilitation, platforms for cooperation. The Fund fosters the development of a strong, massive and effective women’s /feminist movement capable of protecting women’s rights and promoting gender equality in all areas. Their website offers resources to understand the situation in Ukraine from a gender perspective. The fund is mobilizing resources to support its rapid response grants to women’s rights and feminist groups.
UNICEF is scaling up their operations both inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries. They offer “Blue Dot” centers at border entry points to deliver emergency services to vulnerable families. UNICEF is also providing critical health services in countries bordering Ukraine to help families whose care has been disrupted.
*Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is supporting women, trans, and nonbinary people in and surrounding Ukraine through flexible funding and security support to in-country grantees and partners like the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, the only Ukraine-based women’s fund. They are currently responding to requests from people on the ground seeking support with emergency evacuations and relocations, legal, financial, and medical support, security and disaster survival training, increasing shelter capacities for women and children, and access to alternative communication channels.
*Voices of Children, a Ukrainian grassroots organization operating since 2015, is working on the frontlines in Donetsk and Luhansk to provide children and families affected by war with psychological services. The organization is currently assisting families evacuating the country as well as providing emergency psychological assistance.
Additional Resources
Resource lists from other organizations
Asylum Access, an international non-profit advocating for a humanitarian response to forced displacement, compiled a list of organizations that are providing immediate direct assistance to Ukranian refugees seeking refuge in neighboring countries.
The Council on Foundations (COF) in partnership with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy have compiled this list of up-to-date response funds and resources to guide philanthropic response.
Benevity, a Canada-based company that provides charitable donation-management and grant-management platforms, compiled this list of vetted U.S., Canadian, U.K., and Australian-based humanitarian non-profits that are providing food, medicine, shelter and other necessities to people on the ground in Ukraine or assisting with refugee settlement outside of the country.
USAID and the Center for International Disaster Foundation have compiled this list of reputable relief organizations working on the ground in Ukraine that can be sent cash donations.
CAF America, a global grantmaking organization assisting corporations, foundations, and individuals. As the crisis escalates in Ukraine, CAF has compiled this list of organizations providing support that is continually updated by their charity partners on the ground.
The Global Shapers Community, supported by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, has created a crowdsourced information platform with a comprehensive list of official funds, requests, and materials that is updated hourly.
Fidelity Charitable, in partnership with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy has compiled a highly vetted list of organizations providing relief for internally or externally displaced Ukranians and assisting other ongoing needs.
Philanthropy Europe Association has compiled this list of members and affiliates working on the ground in support of those effected by the Ukraine crisis.
Reliable sources of information for real time updates of needs
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy has developed a Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis page with some initial information for funders to keep in mind on how they can help, and they note that they will continue to update this information as needs come into greater focus.
Devex, is an independent News organization delivering frontline reporting for the global development community. Follow Devex Newswire for updates on Ukarine’s humanitarian crisis.
The Harriman Institute’s Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University aspires to build a vibrant and multi-faceted program that integrates Ukrainian studies into broader intellectual and policy agendas while promoting research and scholarly work on contemporary Ukraine in the United States. Refer to their website for events and information on the attack on Ukraine.
The Ukranian Research Institute at Harvard University (HURI) advances knowledge of Ukraine through teaching, research, and publication. Visit their website for resources that explain the current situation via FAQs, voices from Ukraine, and quality news reports.
News sources in Ukraine
In addition to the Kyiv Post, which is funded by the Ukrainian government, there are several independent news sources in Ukraine that provide reliable information:
Euromaidan Press (EP) is an online English-language independent newspaper launched by Ukrainian volunteers in 2014 providing translations of Ukrainian news, original articles, and independent research. EP is a registered NGO in Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent, is months old and created by journalists who were fired from the Kyiv Post for defending editorial independence, is a Ukranian English-language media outlet dedicated to reporting fair and reliable news about Ukraine.
The New Voice of Ukraine is Ukraine’s largest independent English language news source has been publishing extensive coverage of the crisis.
UkraineWorld is an English-language multimedia project about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine that produces articles, podcasts, video explainers, analyses, and books about Ukraine in English.
Ukrainska Pravda is Ukrainian online newspaper published in Ukrainian, Russian and English, the newspaper is tailored for a general readership with an emphasis on the politics of Ukraine.