Like a burning flame
Aug. 26th, 2022 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12It's just over six months since Russia's fullscale invasion of Ukraine, and I just saw (and was briefly enraged by) a particularly disingenuous piece of tankie disinformation on Twitter, so I felt it was high time for a post bringing together links to organisations to whom to donate.
Before I do this, a bit of a preamble to preempt some potential questions.
There are a lot of horrendous, cruel, unjust and devastating things happening in the world, so why do I continue to focus solely on this one? There are a couple of reasons. The first is that I think individuals (unless they are extremely powerful, extremely wealthy, or involved in policymaking) are far better off picking one single issue to focus on with laser-like intensity, rather than spreading themselves thinly across a multitude of tragedies and injustices. That way lies burnout, despair, and, quite honestly, a lack of meaningful help. I think it's better to focus energies in a single direction — this is the direction I've chosen to focus mine, but obviously others can do the same by focusing singlemindedly on other issues.
The second reason is that I think this invasion — and its outcome — is probably going to be the most important geopolitical event not just in the region where I live, but also globally, for at least a generation.
And finally, the invasion itself just outrages me on a moral level. I don't like bullies, and although the world has political bullies aplenty, this is a rare instance where — with help — a bully might actually not get what they want, although getting to that point is going to be very, very hard.
Another question: why am I sharing links for donations? I'm on the record several times as saying that signal-boosting collections of donation links is a terrible form of activism (it's barely activism at all, and it often does more harm than good). However, my issue is not with making donations and encouraging others to do so — it's with passively clicking that retweet/reblog/share button without actually scrutinising the organisations (or, worse, supposed individuals) where money might be sent. (Worst example I've seen in the case of this war: a multitweet thread describing in minute detail how the tweeter in question allegedly singlehandedly destroyed a Russian pontoon bridge in Luhansk region, followed by an immediate solicitation of funds via PayPal. If anyone believes that a soldier, in June, in Luhansk, had the time or energy to painstakingly describe such things in an essay-length thread, I've got a destroyed pontoon bridge to sell them.)
So my issue is not with people making donations and encouraging others to do so — it's with people feeling they need to demonstrate they care about an issue and just clicking a button to share long lists of charities (or some random person's PayPal account) without any thought or scrutiny. However, that's not what's going on here: the list I'm going to share is basically the organisations and individuals I've been supporting — there is nothing on this list that I wouldn't (and haven't yet) given my own money to.
Finally, some explanation about the range of organisations/invididuals and my thinking behind choosing them (and not others). I made a deliberate choice to focus on Ukrainian organisations operating at either a national or local level, rather than big international aid organisations, because I could see that the former were able to offer more targeted, needed assistance, even if on a smaller scale. I also made a deliberate choice to spread my donations widely across a broad range of types of aid — military, humanitarian, rebuilding, or just simply ways to ensure a functioning society and state. I tend to pick different organisations each week, although I come back to some repeatedly. (This week, for example, I've decided to look into organisations helping civilians in Kharkiv city or Mykolaiv region, as these places are being destroyed bit by bit with daily shelling to the point that it seems to have become routine and lost in the media noise.)
With all that in mind, here is my list. Each organisation/individual has a bit of explanation and context.
Come Back Alive is an organisation which buys protective/defensive equipment for the Ukrainian military, as well as using funds to train members of the military, and combat medics, to provide rehabilitation for injured servicemembers, and to help them train to switch to civilian careers. They do not use funds to buy weapons (although they do buy things like drones). Funding the military is not a moral issue for me in this context, but I know it may be for some of you, so I would recommend reading their website in detail if you need further clarity.
United24 is the main Ukrainian government fundraising initiative. You can specify whether your donation goes towards military and demining, humanitarian aid, or rebuilding the country.
Humanitarian Support for Kherson. Funds here go to a group of volunteers who buy and distribute aid (food, medication, nappies and sanitary products, etc) to people trapped in the occupied Kherson region. (Basically they go and buy this stuff in Odesa and then in various complicated ways get it to the people in the occupied villages, at great personal risk.)
The Kyiv Independent is an independent Ukrainian English-language news organisation. As the daughter of two journalists, a functioning media is really important to me, and in wartime, with clouds of disinformation distorting the situation, this is particularly important. I have elected to make monthly payments to the Kyiv Independent on Patreon, but it's also possible to make a one-off donation on GoFundMe or contribute to their fundraiser supporting Ukrainian media more broadly.
Olia Hercules is a Ukrainian chef based in the UK. She has been fundraising via various initiatives. I support her on Patreon, becuase she gives the funds to her parents — who run a business in occupied Nova Kakhovka but have fled the region — and her parents use this to pay the wages of their employees who are obviously out of work due to the war and occupation.
I'd also like to open up this post for other people to share links of their own. They can be either in support of Ukraine, or in support of another cause. I ask for two things when sharing:
1. I cannot vet everything you share, so please ensure that you've scrutinised it thoroughly — it should be something you've either given your money to in the past, or would be comfortable giving your own money.
2. Please provide context for what this organisation or individual funds. If they're for something unrelated to Ukraine, please specify the country (and, if relevant, region). Basically, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights' is too vague, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights in NAME OF STATE, in the United States, where abortion has just been banned' gives the needed context.
I will make a top-level comment for Ukraine-related, and non-Ukraine-related organisations, and link those comments in this post. Please post your own links under the relevant comment so it's easier for other people to view them. Any comments that aren't links to charities can be made as normal.
Edited to add:
Top-level comment for posting links to organisations/individuals helping Ukraine
Top-level comment for posting links to organisations unrelated to Ukraine
Before I do this, a bit of a preamble to preempt some potential questions.
There are a lot of horrendous, cruel, unjust and devastating things happening in the world, so why do I continue to focus solely on this one? There are a couple of reasons. The first is that I think individuals (unless they are extremely powerful, extremely wealthy, or involved in policymaking) are far better off picking one single issue to focus on with laser-like intensity, rather than spreading themselves thinly across a multitude of tragedies and injustices. That way lies burnout, despair, and, quite honestly, a lack of meaningful help. I think it's better to focus energies in a single direction — this is the direction I've chosen to focus mine, but obviously others can do the same by focusing singlemindedly on other issues.
The second reason is that I think this invasion — and its outcome — is probably going to be the most important geopolitical event not just in the region where I live, but also globally, for at least a generation.
And finally, the invasion itself just outrages me on a moral level. I don't like bullies, and although the world has political bullies aplenty, this is a rare instance where — with help — a bully might actually not get what they want, although getting to that point is going to be very, very hard.
Another question: why am I sharing links for donations? I'm on the record several times as saying that signal-boosting collections of donation links is a terrible form of activism (it's barely activism at all, and it often does more harm than good). However, my issue is not with making donations and encouraging others to do so — it's with passively clicking that retweet/reblog/share button without actually scrutinising the organisations (or, worse, supposed individuals) where money might be sent. (Worst example I've seen in the case of this war: a multitweet thread describing in minute detail how the tweeter in question allegedly singlehandedly destroyed a Russian pontoon bridge in Luhansk region, followed by an immediate solicitation of funds via PayPal. If anyone believes that a soldier, in June, in Luhansk, had the time or energy to painstakingly describe such things in an essay-length thread, I've got a destroyed pontoon bridge to sell them.)
So my issue is not with people making donations and encouraging others to do so — it's with people feeling they need to demonstrate they care about an issue and just clicking a button to share long lists of charities (or some random person's PayPal account) without any thought or scrutiny. However, that's not what's going on here: the list I'm going to share is basically the organisations and individuals I've been supporting — there is nothing on this list that I wouldn't (and haven't yet) given my own money to.
Finally, some explanation about the range of organisations/invididuals and my thinking behind choosing them (and not others). I made a deliberate choice to focus on Ukrainian organisations operating at either a national or local level, rather than big international aid organisations, because I could see that the former were able to offer more targeted, needed assistance, even if on a smaller scale. I also made a deliberate choice to spread my donations widely across a broad range of types of aid — military, humanitarian, rebuilding, or just simply ways to ensure a functioning society and state. I tend to pick different organisations each week, although I come back to some repeatedly. (This week, for example, I've decided to look into organisations helping civilians in Kharkiv city or Mykolaiv region, as these places are being destroyed bit by bit with daily shelling to the point that it seems to have become routine and lost in the media noise.)
With all that in mind, here is my list. Each organisation/individual has a bit of explanation and context.
I'd also like to open up this post for other people to share links of their own. They can be either in support of Ukraine, or in support of another cause. I ask for two things when sharing:
1. I cannot vet everything you share, so please ensure that you've scrutinised it thoroughly — it should be something you've either given your money to in the past, or would be comfortable giving your own money.
2. Please provide context for what this organisation or individual funds. If they're for something unrelated to Ukraine, please specify the country (and, if relevant, region). Basically, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights' is too vague, 'this organisation campaigns for reproductive rights in NAME OF STATE, in the United States, where abortion has just been banned' gives the needed context.
I will make a top-level comment for Ukraine-related, and non-Ukraine-related organisations, and link those comments in this post. Please post your own links under the relevant comment so it's easier for other people to view them. Any comments that aren't links to charities can be made as normal.
Edited to add:
Top-level comment for posting links to organisations/individuals helping Ukraine
Top-level comment for posting links to organisations unrelated to Ukraine
Comment to gather links to help Ukraine
Date: 2022-08-26 11:53 am (UTC)Re: Comment to gather links to help Ukraine
Date: 2022-08-26 03:16 pm (UTC)For financial contributions, I have been donating to World Central Kitchen, a DC-based charity that provides hot meals to people experiencing humanitarian crises. In Ukraine they work closely with local restaurants and farmers, so they both feed people and put money back into the economy. They are also simultaneously working in Afghanistan and other hotspots, and you cannot specify which crisis you want your money to go to, so I wasn’t sure which thread to post this in, but Ukraine is the major focus of their hunger relief efforts at present.
Re: Comment to gather links to help Ukraine
Date: 2022-08-26 03:21 pm (UTC)Re: Comment to gather links to help Ukraine
Date: 2022-08-26 03:29 pm (UTC)I have no reason to believe he’s any more deserving than any other Ukrainian artisan, mind. But he’s the one I know, and as you say, you have to pick a sliver of a cause to focus on.
Re: Comment to gather links to help Ukraine
Date: 2022-08-26 06:05 pm (UTC)Current health-related funding priorities for Project Kesher Ukraine, as listed on the website, include providing menstrual products and other sanitary products such as adult diapers, prenatal vitamins and umbilical cord care kits, and baby-care products like diapers and formula. Other projects include funding and educational support for Jewish girls preparing for their b'not mitzvah, in order to maintain continuity of Ukrainian Jewish life, and the redirection of an existing loan program to specifically support female small business owners in Ukraine, to plough money back into the Ukrainian economy. The full list of projects is available here.
A note: sister organization Project Kesher Israel also exists and is directing funds towards supporting Ukrainian refugees in Israel. The two are organizationally linked. If you are concerned about your money potentially going to Israel in any way, you may read about the relations and funding allocations between different PKs in the annual reports. I myself am comfortable donating to the Ukraine emergency fund, which I estimate can provide targeted support thanks to a grassroots community network of long-standing trust within Ukraine, and because of their approach to stimulating diaspora life in Eastern Europe through education.