How to choose a Ukrainian organization that can be supported?
From February 24, 2022, the whole world saw Ukraine. The world knows about Ukraine, which is not part of Russia, past the USSR. Our country is not just a country with Chornobyl, borscht, embroidery, and wreaths. People see the real Ukraine: a country of hospitable, strong, brave, creative people who work for a progressive future, don`t give up in the face of difficulties, and plan the world for war. Ukrainians don`t think about reconstruction but innovation for a better life. In addition, Ukrainians have shown the world our thirst for independence, diligence, and work speed. Many partners are still surprised by our hardworking, stubbornness, and swiftness of response to situations.
Perhaps these reasons became the catalyst that today, Ukraine receives significant solidarity and support from the world: humanitarian aid, grants, and private donations. Many people choose to support Ukrainians by funding humanitarian organizations. But this funding does not always reach Ukraine for the specified purposes.
The National Network for the Development of Local Philanthropy, in cooperation with the international #ShiftThePower movement, has published an open letter to international non-governmental organizations and donors. The letter points to the need to reduce bureaucracy, allow local organizations to determine aid priorities, and provides recommendations on how international actors can express solidarity with Ukraine in the most effective way. Invest in empowering local organizations to tell their own stories and help them spread the word about their achievements and assistance. Funding promotes a deeper understanding and helps ensure direct access to resources. The full text of the letter is at the link.
What to do if you want to support a specific, local Ukrainian organization? You need to check it. Unfortunately, as in every country, we have people who want to profit from the kindness of others. We want to share our redundant procedures for checking volunteers and public organizations:
- Social networks
Today, every active fund and non-governmental organization will have at least a page on social networks, where it publishes information about current projects, reports, and announcements. Dynamic social networks are a good sign when choosing an organization to support, but not a hundred percent.
- Site
Some organizations only have a website. It is necessary to pay attention to the following points on the site, namely:
- Availability of reports. Many work initiatives were formed during the war and will not have financial reports for the past years. But at the same time, they may have success stories of ongoing initiatives since the beginning of a full-scale invasion;
- The name of the organization's head, founder, or representative. People trust people. If there is no information, then this is a reason to think;
- Partners. See if anyone has already supported these civil society organizations and if you know anyone from these organizations;
- Membership of the organization in some communities: network members, associations, unions. Cooperation with other organizations may not necessarily be the case, but in this point, you can ask for a recommendation from the community.
- Registration check
In the bank details, where you may be asked to transfer funds, the registration code of the legal entity (EDRPOU) must be indicated. You can use this code to check the organization's registration on the YouControl, Deltasoft, and Opendatabot sites. These services are usually in Ukrainian, but you can use the automatic functions of Google Translate.
What to check:
- Date of registration. If the organization was registered after February 2022, be sure to ask for recommendations for the organization or its head;
- Head of the organization. Through the services, you can see if a person has other legally registered organizations: LLCs, private enterprises, other organizations, or whether they are directors of other organizations. If so, then it is necessary to look at the services of the trustworthiness of these businesses: whether there are no tax debts, criminal or administrative violations, etc.;
- Founders of the organization, if specified;
- Including in the non-profit register (indicated on some services).
- Reviews
It is necessary to look in search engines for the organization's name in Ukrainian and see if there are any reviews of this organization on the Internet. You can also enter the name in the Facebook search and check for positive or negative thoughts.
What to do if the organization is on the networks but not very inactive, the service check showed an expected result, and does not have a website?
1. Ask for a recommendation from those who have already helped and provided funds to the organization;
2. You can find the photo and video testimonials from the beneficiaries (so that the video indicates that this is help from the organization you are checking);
3. Recommendations from partners - NGOs that help, advise and have more experience.
It may seem like a long and thorough check, but it usually takes no more than 15 minutes.
Our team can check the organization for you, help you choose the money transfer method. We can also recommend an initiative based on your priorities and interests. We believe in the power of local public organizations, so we encourage them to help.