“Ukrainians have started donating less!” To see why such headlines fake the reality, read our study on Ukraine’s charity sector.
Zagoriy Foundation, together with Info Sapiens, held a traditional annual survey of the charity sector in Ukraine. The goal was to study charity practices, their prevalence, trends, and challenges for civil society. The study surveyed 2,400 Ukrainians aged 18+ and 400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and conducted 20 in-depth interviews with civic sector representatives. The study was presented at the “Engaged” conference on CSR in Ukraine on December 3.
“Ukrainians have forgotten about the war.” “Ukrainians donate less.” “Ukrainians are tired.”
Such headlines are used to promote pro-Russian narratives discrediting Ukrainian society in the eyes of foreign partners and provoking distrust within the country. Still, the annual survey of the charity sector by the social projects bureau of Zagoriy Foundation proves these claims to be unfounded.
“Sociological surveys are a way to fully feel the spirit of the times. Zagoriy Foundation has been systematically conducting them since 2019, when cash in physical boxes was still the main way to raise donations, and charity was supposed to be quiet. Just imagine how much has changed since then. The annual survey itself helps obtain operational information, as well as track trends and predict new challenges. In the previous few years, we studied individual aspects of the charity sector work in detail due to the dynamic situation, but now we are happy to return to the annual format,” explains Iryna Hrytsaienko, Zagoriy Foundation CEO.
More on what really happens with donations, efficiency of charitable organizations, and relationships between the public sector, the state, the business, and society further on.
Key Takeaways:
86% of Ukrainians are involved in charity
According to the study, the charity prevalence index has indeed decreased compared to 2022: from 7.7 to 6.7 on a 10-point scale. However, this indicator is higher than in 2021, when the index was 4.5.
The share of Ukrainians involved in charity remains high: Over the past year, 86% of them engaged in providing aid in various ways. Also, we can talk about the norm forming, for the share of people who donated over the past year increased from 65% to 73%. This refutes the narrative of “war fatigue” as well as Ukrainians’ own assessment of their involvement in charity.
Cash donations remain the main form of involvement in charity. Compared to 2022, the share of cash donations increased (from 76% to 85%), with the share of other forms of assistance falling, namely, food, clothing, medicine (53%), and volunteering (50%).
Donations are most often transferred specifically to bank cards: 48% of people do so compared to 32% in 2022. On average, a Ukrainian transfers UAH 840 per month to charity. Nevertheless, people indicating that they are involved in charity donate more — an average of UAH 2907 per month.
In most cases, the average donation amount accumulates from one-time donations. Only 14% of respondents prefer regular monetary deductions (subscriptions) over one-time ones.
Most of those willing to help charitable foundations prefer helping local foundations with their money or volunteering (51%). Only 10% of respondents declare their willingness to support international charitable foundations.
The most recognizable foundations (spontaneous knowledge) are also the most trusted ones in Ukrainian society. Without hinting, respondents name the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation (24%), Come Back Alive (14%), and the Red Cross (8%) as those they know. These same foundations were named as trustworthy by 40%, 51%, and 38% of respondents, respectively.
In addition, it is these three foundations that people are most willing to help: 33% helped or plan to help the Come Back Alive Foundation, 29% helped the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, and 12% helped the Red Cross. The survey also showed that the level of recognition of the Sternenko Community (6%) among respondents is higher compared to UN charitable initiatives (5%).
Volunteering in Ukraine has become widespread: While 86% of Ukrainians involved in charity last year, half of them volunteered. This figure increased from 39% in 2022 to 43% in 2024. Youth, rural population, and public sector employees are the ones most involved in volunteering.
Among those ready to help, the majority choose volunteer initiatives (70%) rather than charitable foundations. This does not exclude the possibility of a volunteer initiative helping a charitable foundation in a large fundraising campaign but rather emphasizes the trend toward as direct donations as possible minimizing the number of auxiliary links between donors and beneficiaries. Top aid recipients include military personnel, relatives and family, as well as volunteer initiatives.
The civic sector in Ukraine faces a variety of challenges. Almost 70% of the surveyed organizations noted that it has turned more difficult for them to raise donations for non-military causes, as military support remains the primary priority of donors. In addition, they face such issues as complexity of grant programs, competition for resources within the sector, and donor priorities misaligning with organizations’ actual needs.
Currently, 54% of the surveyed organizations interact with the business either regularly or occasionally. Organizations providing assistance to the Ukrainian defense forces (31%) and humanitarian aid (30%) or supporting education (21%) have the largest number of such contacts.
In addition, the majority (88%) of organizations assess interaction with the business as efficient, and 34% believe that its efficiency has grown in the two years since the full-scale invasion began.
Ukrainians still prefer targeted assistance, with their main motives being compassion (33%), patriotism (17%), and the sense of duty to society (16%).
Methodology
The study was held in three stages:
The complete study can be downloaded here.
Other Zagoriy Foundation studies can be accessed on the website.
Zagoriy Foundation is a social projects bureau supported by the Zagoriy family. All the projects that we initiate or support aim at developing and empowering communities: through spaces, knowledge, communication projects, and research or grant programs.
Giving Tuesday is an international charity movement. It originated in the USA in 2012, and came to Ukraine in 2018 under the support of Zagoriy Foundation, Tabletochki Foundation, Dobrodiy Club, and Ukrainian Forum of Philanthropists. The initiative is currently developed by the Zagoriy Foundation team. The first Giving Tuesdays in Ukraine followed the American concept, but over time, they had to consider local realities. Since volunteering and donating are now a daily practice in Ukraine, Giving Tuesday becomes a day when we recap our annual charity results.
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