Suffering Ukrainians Need More Than Your Likes — Here’s How to Help

The headline of a Washington Post piece last week read, “The war in Ukraine doesn’t need your likes,” pointing out that Ukrainians want us to understand the invasion isn’t a game. HOW to help is an ongoing question, with the outpouring of eagerness in America and Europe matched only by the mountain of support available from scores of charitable organizations aimed at serving every corner of need.

The Guardian (London) has published a list of organizations receiving high marks (three to four stars) from Charity Navigator, a monitoring agency that assesses a group’s efficiency, transparency and other factors helping determine where to send contribution(s).

Donation links highlighted.

• GlobalGiving supports nonprofits around the world through verified crowdfunding. Its Ukrainian crisis relief fund is working toward a goal of $7 million to provide food, water, shelter, and other assistance to refugees.

• Direct Relief is working to fulfill a list of medical needs provided to the organization by Ukraine’s health ministry.
• Care, a 75-year-old organization operating in 100 countries, is working to provide food, water and hygiene kits to those suffering in Ukraine. Care seeks to support 4 million people. Donate here.
• Doctors Without Borders, a 50-year-old Nobel-winning organization, has teams in Ukraine as well as surrounding countries working to send staff and medical supplies to the hardest-hit areas. Donate here to support its efforts in Ukraine and other countries (funds go where the needs are greatest).
• Save the Children, a century-old organization that has worked in 100 countries, has a Ukraine crisis relief fund aimed at providing children and families with food, hygiene kits, funding, and more.
• The International Rescue Committee has teams working in Poland aiding displaced families. The organization, founded in 1933, operates in 40 countries and donations go to food, medical treatment, and other emergency care in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen. Donate here.
• Razom, a Ukrainian-focused charity founded in 2014 (after Russia annexed Crimea), is furnishing medical supplies to the country and working to “amplify the voices of Ukrainians” from secured meeting spaces. Razom has not been evaluated by Charity Navigator but has received wide coverage in the New York Times and other U.S. media. Donate here.

Fight Putin’s propaganda.

Almost as important as shelter, food, and water, Ukrainians need to know what’s happening. Putin just imposed criminal penalties on world journalists reporting about the war he refuses to call a war. Russia has imposed a news blackout. Twitter and TikTok are restricted and Facebook is blocked, while Putin’s approval rating in Russia has leapt from 65% last year to 71% in February 2022.

The Kyiv Independent (English-language media outlet) was launched three months ago to bring the world “trusted, important information about the facts on the ground.” To help both its own and other Ukrainian journalists continue doing their dangerous work, the organization has set up two GoFundMe campaigns:

• The first, established pre-invasion, was originally intended to launch the Kyiv Independent online, but has since been partly redirected to equip its reporters with wartime protective gear, e.g., body armor and satellite phones.
• The second fund is devoted to supporting other independent Ukrainian outlets. “Our thinking was that it’s entirely unpredictable how things will go but it was clear overall that the media will need huge support,” acting CFO Jarub Parusinski says. “Their market is gone, their government may be gone, their civilization is gone.”

Airbnb wants to offer free short-term housing to as many Ukrainian refugees across Europe as people are willing to offer space in their homes. The idea was born when American Airbnb Guests began reserving visits to funnel resources to Ukraine without ever planning to check in. Donate here to host a stay.

Just as critical are the words of support Ukrainians hear from “strangers” as other forms of communication are stymied.

American Guest: “I hope that you, and your lovely apartment, are safe and that this horrible war is over … and Ukraine is safe. God bless you and God be with you, your city, your country,” the message said.

Ukrainian Host: “We will be glad to see you in the peaceful city of Kyiv and hug,” came the immediate response.

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These are just a few of the groups you can support. See more links at The New York Times and The Washington Post (some may overlap). Also here are Guardian’s guides for residents of the UK and Australia.

Please give what you can.