Editor’s Note: This blog was updated on February 23, 2023 to reflect current refugee numbers. Due to the continuing crisis in Ukraine, Philanthropy Roundtable is providing a list of organizations offering assistance to those affected in the region. However, please be aware the Roundtable has not vetted all of these organizations, and we simply list them here for your review and consideration.
As an estimated 8 million Ukrainians have fled that country since the Russian invasion, Americans are seeking ways to help address the needs of the growing refugee and humanitarian crisis in the region. While there are a number of organizations providing a variety of support to those affected, Philanthropy Roundtable has compiled a list of organizations that are providing relief, including Global Empowerment Mission, Global Giving, Nova Ukraine, Razom for Ukraine, among others. For those looking to offer assistance in this time of great need, charitable donations can help provide transportation and relocation services for refugees, shelter, medical equipment, food and clean drinking water and other supplies.
These are some of the organizations that are stepping up to aid Ukrainians devastated by this crisis by providing direct humanitarian relief, as well as those offering other resources and research related to the conflict:
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF & AID
Free Russia Foundation
Free Russia Foundation is an international organization focused on helping evacuate at-risk activists and “providing humanitarian assistance to displaced people from Ukraine – including political exiles from Russia and Belarus who had lived in Ukraine as refugees.”
Global Empowerment Mission
Global Empowerment Mission works to “provide grassroots efforts with a large institutional impact for the most vulnerable populations affected by natural disasters around the world.” The organization has established a welcome center on the Poland/Ukraine border, where it “will focus primarily on its relocation programs along with support of short-term vital necessities. Ukrainian evacuees will be able to choose a country where they have family or friends that can take them in. Our Bstrong fund will be used for booking and paying flights and trains immediately, so people have an immediate place to go to.”
Global Giving
Global Giving “connects nonprofits, donors and companies in nearly every country in the world.” Its Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund is supporting “Ukrainians in need, with a focus on the most vulnerable, including children.” Donations are being used to provide, among other things: “shelter, food and clean water for refugees, health and psychosocial support, access to education and economic assistance.”
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee is working with local partners in Ukraine to “support the evacuation of women and children, and provide critical information and psychological support, as well as blankets, sleeping bags and warm clothes.” In nearby Poland, the organization is providing services such as legal counseling and translation assistance to refugees, and is distributing medical supplies, sleeping bags and other essential items to Ukrainians when they cross the border.
The Jewish Federations of North America
The mission of The Jewish Federations of North America is to “protect and enhance the well-being of Jews worldwide through meaningful contributions to community, Israel and civil society.” There are an estimated 200,000 Jews living in Ukraine, and Jewish Federations are supporting them by “maintaining critical welfare services, assisting internationally displaced people in multiple locations, launching an emergency hotline [and] securing temporary housing for people in transition,” among other efforts.
Mercy Chefs
Mercy Chefs has “boots on the ground” to provide food and water to Ukrainian refugees and those still in the country. The organization says, “We are getting food and relief to people deep inside Ukraine – within a few miles of the fighting.”
Nova Ukraine
Nova Ukraine is a nonprofit “dedicated to raising awareness about Ukraine in the U.S. and throughout the world and providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine.” Since 2014, Nova Ukraine has spent “over $400,000 on humanitarian aid to Ukraine, ranging from medical equipment for wounded soldiers to dresses and suits for graduation days in orphanages across Ukraine.” As the current crisis worsens, the organization is focused on helping “fellow Ukrainians face the adversity and persevere.”
Razom for Ukraine
Razom’s Emergency Response is “the SOS button that is pressed in times of need. … Today, the sovereign nation of Ukraine has to deal with the most horrendous and catastrophic emergency – a brutal invasion. Razom is responding to this by providing critical medical supplies and amplifying the voices of Ukrainians.” The organization’s response efforts include “a large procurement team of volunteers that tracks down and purchases [medical] supplies and a logistics team that then gets them to Ukraine.”
Samaritan’s Purse
Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian organization, is operating an emergency field hospital in Ukraine on the outskirts of Lviv with nearly 60 total inpatient beds and an emergency room that can handle 100 patients a day. The organization also is running a 24-hour clinic in Lviv and a mobile medical unit for refugees in Moldova. In addition to this, Samaritan’s Purse “has a partner network of 3,200 churches inside Ukraine,” and is “providing hygiene kits to refugee families and delivering food to local churches who will distribute it to fleeing Ukrainians.”
Spirit of America
Spirit of America is working with the U.S. military and State Department to “meet the urgent needs of Ukraine’s armed forces on the front lines.” The organization is focused on getting body armor, helmets, first aid kits and secure communications equipment into the hands of Ukrainian forces.
RESEARCH & FOREIGN POLICY
American Foreign Policy Council
The American Foreign Policy Council is focused on advancing the security and prosperity of this country by “bringing information to those who make or influence the foreign policy of the United States.” The organization is highlighting news and providing analysis about the events in Ukraine and Russia.
Atlantic Council
The Atlantic Council works to shape the global future by providing guidance to U.S. leadership about engagement in the world. “Experts from across the Atlantic Council are closely tracking Russia’s war with Ukraine,” and providing live updates and insights about what this conflict means “for Ukraine’s sovereignty, Europe’s security and the United States’ leadership.”
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments “has been a reliable source of independent, path-breaking research focused on the future of defense” for almost three decades. The organization develops innovative, resource-informed defense concepts, promotes public debate and spurs action to advance U.S. and allied interests.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies “conducts in-depth research, produces accurate and timely analyses, identifies illicit activities and provides policy options” aimed at “strengthening U.S. national security and reducing or eliminating threats posed by adversaries and enemies of the United States and other free nations.” FDD is providing resources like updates and policy briefs on the situation in Ukraine to help inform policymakers and others.
Institute for the Study of War
The Institute for the Study of War seeks to help the U.S. improve its ability to respond to national and international threats, as well as help them execute operations. They do so through research, often conducted by workers who are stationed around the world. The organization is offering daily updates on the crisis in Ukraine.
The Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor “draws on the insights and expertise of top regional specialists based in more than a dozen countries to analyze the emerging security realities and long-term trends defining Eurasia and the post-Soviet space.” The organization currently is operating two programs that relate to Russia: “Russia in Decline” and “Russia in the Middle East.”
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Atlas Network
Atlas Network’s Ukraine Freedom Fund aims to raise $500,000 to support the humanitarian needs of groups on the ground working to protect and provide for Ukrainians as the situation unfolds. Its partners “recognize that this is the moment to accelerate progress by unleashing the power of free enterprise, by defeating cronyism and through trade and integration with the global economy.”
Center for Disaster Philanthropy
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy provides “the when, where and how of informed disaster giving.” Its Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Recovery Fund is “focused on humanitarian needs that arise, particularly among internally-displaced peoples and refugees.”
DonorsTrust
DonorsTrust is a donor-advised fund provider committed to “protecting our nation’s constitutional liberties and strengthening civil society through private institutions rather than with government programs.” DonorsTrust is monitoring opportunities and facilitating donations through its donor-advised funds to organizations working in Ukraine.
National Christian Foundation
National Christian Foundation helps Christian families “send more to their favorite causes and connect with the larger movement of biblical generosity taking place around the world.” NCF has compiled a list of mostly U.S.-based charities that are working on the frontlines in Ukraine and surrounding countries.
Additional advising on this topic is available to members of the Roundtable donor community. Please contact [email protected] for further information.
