One of the most crucial processes of the initiative is finding resources to implement the idea. If traditional fundraising techniques like the usual crowdfunding or charitable events don’t work, there are ways to spice them up. Ukrainian organizations faced the challenge of the fast-growing competition for resources in the field. High demands of the Ukrainian defenders and civilians made initiatives create off-beat and effective ways of fundraising to make their help quicker.
Here are 5 examples by the Ukrainian teams of inspiring & resultative fundraising ideas.
Tech side
Challenging times call for challenging measures — and here is a chance for viral tech innovations to show their best. Inventions provoke interest and get media coverage, which is strongly needed for a good fundraising campaign. The ZibraAI team used this idea to create a charity NFT project, a gallery of war called Sirens.
The neural network generated 1,991 artworks depicting important events of the Russian war against Ukraine. They are exhibited online and available for purchase in the form of NFTs. All funds raised from the sale will be donated to assist Ukraine in solving the humanitarian crisis.
In August, ZebraAI announced they launch an international art project Save Ukr(AI)ne to help children who suffered from war. The team used artificial intelligence to show the stories of children who were rescued during the war. All proceeds will go to helping Ukrainian children.
Doing your best
It might be hard to come up with your first idea for a fundraising campaign. Here is a simple yet compelling question that will motivate you for your first step — what do you do best? Performers create charity concerts, and designers sell their pieces at charitable auctions. The Projector Institute, a leading Ukrainian private EdTech institution, joined the fight for Ukrainian freedom with their newly created Projector Creative & Tech Foundation.
The Projector Institute provides independent professional online education in IT & creative economies. So, no wonder their foundation aims to inspire and empower 5,000 Ukrainian externally and internally displaced women to start creative & tech careers. They fundraise with the thing they are experts in — education. The team proposes to schedule a professional consultation with the top managers and send the donation for this meeting to their foundation.
In October, the team will organize a charitable online conference Krupynka about the design of digital products. Top experts from companies like Google, Apple, Adobe, Meta, and Bolt will share their expertise. All the proceeds will go to Projector Creative & Tech Foundation to help women affected by the war find a new job.
Power of small donations
After the first month of the full-scale invasion, the number of donations by Ukrainians dropped. This was mentioned by the various foundations and volunteer organizations, but also the research of the Zagoriy Foundation. This phenomenon can be explained by the enormous amount of fundraising campaigns, people’s expectations of economic decline, and reduction in savings.
Some organizations believe the reason also lies in the common belief that small donations make no difference. However, Ukrainian fundraisers beg to differ — they stated that even 1 USD could change the whole picture. Ukrainian volunteer communities Franka na front and Vsi po 10 launched campaigns to motivate people to donate any sum of money.
Initiative Franka na front (Send Ivan Franko to the frontline) redesigned Ukrainian banknotes to speak about the issue. Hryvnias depict iconic Ukrainian people who influenced our history and culture. After the creative redesign, heroes wear military equipment to join the Ukrainian defenders on the frontline.
In this way, the creators motivate people to donate at least 50 cents (the approximate equivalent of 20 hryvnias, on the banknote of which Franko is depicted) or more to support Ukrainian volunteers and charitable foundations. Every day, the initiative selects relevant fundraising campaigns among various Ukrainian organizations and posts information about them on social media to boost the fundraising process.
Similarly, the initiative Vsi po 10 (meaning everyone sends 10 hryvnias) motivates to send microdonations. And this works — just in the first month, they fundraised 1 million hryvnias (25,000 USD).
Big idea
Ukrainians’ ambition and desire to do everything for the victory have already become a meme. From fundraising millions just in 3 days for Bayraktars (and also receiving a satellite for that sum of money) to getting an army of drones — Ukrainians show that the bigger the goal, the bigger our unity and devotion.
Some initiatives are not afraid to set up a big goal. Serhii Prytyla Charitable Foundation launched a fundraising campaign to get Bayraktars — the Turkish military drones that proved to be practical on the battlefield and became a symbol of war. The team planned to raise 500 million UAH in 7 days to buy 3 drones. Ukrainian donated 600 million UAH in 3 days, enough to buy 4 of that drones.
The case has got the name People’s Bayraktar and inspired people from many countries to launch similar campaigns. The Baykar Company, the developer of the drones, decided to give the drones for free, so the charitable foundation chose to buy a satellite instead.
United24 foundation, initiated by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, launched a campaign to provide the armed Forces of Ukraine with 200 drones which will constitute the so-called Army of Drones. Both cases worked well because of the bold & ambitious goal, engaged influencers, and the developed trust.
Community of donors
One of the reasons people donate is the feeling of involvement in something big. For many years, charitable initiatives have been building the communities around the project to fundraise, engage with donors, and build trust effectively. They create exclusive groups, events, and meetings and send special emails or brochures. Some of these steps were transformed through time as digitalisation steps in.
Ukrainian charitable foundation KOLO (meaning circle) was created by top Ukrainian managers of product companies like Tumblr, Bolt, Grammarly, Readdle, LUN, and many more. Before the full-scale invasion, they had never done anything connected to the army and logistics. Specialists united to create a charitable foundation with the business approaches — easy online donations, clear & sharp communications, strong branding and design, … and a loyal community.
Some of their projects show an excellent example of how to engage and work with different communities. Kolona is a digital column of people who agreed to donate 200 UAH every day to support the army. Kolosy is a similar project, but with the companies. Happy Kolo is an opportunity to schedule your birthday celebration on the special page for your friends to congratulate you with donations.
Summing up
Fundraising is not an easy process, full of planning and calculations, but it doesn’t mean there is no room for creativity and fun. Digital fundraising, crowdfunding, charitable events, and collaborations with businesses are popular and well-known ways to collect the needed resources. Still, there are various ideas for making those more powerful and visible.
1. Research what’s new in the tech world. Recent inventions can inspire you to make your projects more up-to-date and attract new audiences.
2. If there is one thing you or your community does amazingly, don’t be afraid to turn it into a profit. Use your strongest power.
3. Explain why your solution influences the global community to engage more and more donors and supporters.
4. Sometimes, huge, unbelievable, hard-to-get goals can motivate communities to unite and achieve.
5. Make people get together for a common goal. Build the group of donors everyone dreams of being a part of.
