What is the idea behind fundraising?
The idea is simple: raise funds or fulfil a request. As a volunteer, I take a request, receive full instructions from the military, collect funds, and place orders. You can also help another volunteer collect funds. For example, the concept of “friendly fundraisers” is very popular now, where you provide all the necessary materials to someone in need, helping them raise the required amount.
How do you find soldiers or volunteers who need support in fundraising?
It’s an interesting story. After the last exhibition, I organized three more events to promote Ukrainian culture and unite the community, as well as to collect donations. Since it was difficult to raise significant funds without sponsors and investors during the events, I eventually focused more on “friendly fundraisers” because we gather more together. I plan to continue organizing events in Porto, but for the past year, I have been focusing on fundraising.
How did you come to this?
Firstly, after the first two events, I had extra funds that I didn’t know how to spend. Then, a friend wrote to me that her father joined the army to defend the country and needed thermal imagers. And I was like, “Of course, let’s start a fundraiser, get donations from the events and everything else.” That’s how it all started.
Secondly, I personally start fundraisers only for my close friends and acquaintances. Many of them are on the front line, and requests come from them, which I personally or other volunteers fulfil. At other times, I helped one of the experienced volunteers, Tung, whom I met at an exhibition in Porto. He saw that I am a designer and event manager and joined in helping with the first fundraiser for thermal imagers. He trusted me, which led to further cooperation with his team where many people work. For example, I handle the design of posts, merch, assist with auction lots, and collaborate with other bloggers and activists.
Sophie is very active in creating partnerships with various organizations. For example, with her activist friend Tung, she teamed up with the Ukrainian Wake Park and the wakeboarding school Stav14_wakepark to raise money for combat medics. She also organized a “friendly fundraiser” with Ukrainian singer Nikita Leontiev (ENLEO) and Sasha Ustinova, both from Mariupol. Their fundraiser, called “REBranding,” was aimed at supporting medics from the 67th Mechanized Brigade and providing them with protection against drones. You can support Sophie and join the fundraisers by visiting her official Instagram page.
What is needed to start a fundraiser and fulfil a request?
After two years of our team’s activity, I realized that for me, fundraising is a certain sequence of actions, but for someone doing it for the first time, it’s usually just a “starter pack” – a photo with a description of what they are raising funds for. And that’s also okay if their audience trusts and fulfils the fundraisers. But usually, especially for a foreign audience, it’s a bit more work than this starter pack.
If you want to fulfil a request yourself, we have an instruction that includes:
– Communication with the military;
– A video request – this is when the military records a video, either in balaclavas or with their faces blurred (for security purposes – author’s note), explaining that they are addressing these specific volunteers and what kind of help they need. This is done for trust, to show that you are not raising money for yourself but for a specific request from the military.
But first, it’s important to understand whether you can fulfil this request. Are you ready to take on such an amount? I had to figure all this out on my own because I couldn’t not to help my own family.
When looking for additional people for a friendly fundraiser, you need a “general fundraising goal” and a “personal fundraising goal” for each participant with their photos for an Instagram post.
For example, we provide them with everything: instructions on how to create a Monobank along with a description, text, and video request for the post. With this, a person can ask their audience to donate, repost, and comment. This is very important because people don’t always understand how crucial comments and reposts are for promoting the fundraiser.
We try to respond to and thank everyone who reposts. This helps people realize the importance of a joint effort.
Do you have any interesting statistics from your team that you are willing to share?
Of course. We have a file for each request where we store the total amount of funds raised, reports, and receipts, as well as the amount of excess funds that go to the next fundraiser. To date, our team has raised over 18,000,000 hryvnias (400K+ USD) solely from donations. This doesn’t include some requests that were fulfiled at auctions, where we raised another 400-500 thousand hryvnias (9-12K+ USD).
How do you feel when you see these numbers?
That we need more!
I planned to create an educational series on social media to help people not be afraid to engage in this. Over two years, I wrote to people asking for help to close fundraisers, but I noticed that some were shy. And I understand that it’s a difficult story to “show yourself,” so to speak. For example, creative people often receive various reactions from the audience that they get used to. But for someone not used to this, it’s very challenging. Therefore, it’s necessary to explain that it’s not that difficult; for instance, you can join someone already raising funds and help with it.
This is generally a Ukrainian phenomenon. People are already communicating through donations. For example, on Valentine’s Day, we made valentines for soldiers that could be sent along with a donation and a wish. And you understand that someone entrusted their feelings in this donation. Some even use it to send birthday greetings, which is also cool.
Photo from the charity exhibition in Portugal organized by Sophie, photo from her personal archive
Is there anything you would like to say to the Ukrainian and Portuguese communities?
This is always a responsibility, a question I often ponder. I don’t know the Portuguese well enough to say anything. Our communication usually happens in taxis, where, for example, they sometimes ask, “Is the war still going on?” and you give them a lecture on where to donate. Or they ask why there are no “good” Russians, and you explain it to them. So, there is always this educational communication about the war.
As for Ukrainians: please continue to work and seek new opportunities to earn money to help the country and be useful. For example, as a designer, I thought I couldn’t be helpful, but I created free templates for friendly fundraisers that people can use. There are many opportunities for this, especially for creative people – you can just explode the foreign and Ukrainian markets. Believe in yourself!
Especially for those who left Ukraine and don’t believe in life there and don’t want to return – I have nothing against them, it’s their right. But I want them not to ruin Ukraine’s reputation, not to criticize Ukrainians and the government. Because it’s better to do nothing than to do harm. And if so, quietly sit, be silent, and live the life you choose.
Do you have any plans for the future?
The biggest plan for the future is, of course, to return to Ukraine. But before returning, I want to prepare because I have already returned once, but then went back to Europe. I realized that in Ukraine, I can’t help as much as I can abroad. In Ukraine, you seize the opportunity to live each day and spend maximum energy on it, and you want to neglect work. Also, you can’t work with the volumes you want due to constant air raid alerts, exhaustion, and power outages.
I was in Kyiv for four months, trying to do something, but after pulling myself together, I realized that abroad I bring more benefit. Maybe this is an excuse – let everyone perceive it as they want, but I bring more value in promoting everything Ukrainian and am generally more productive abroad. Simply because you can work at night, not from the metro station, which serves as a bomb shelter for you, but sitting at home until four in the morning, planning future fundraisers for the coming weeks.
With these thoughts, I went to Portugal, but I really want to return back.
I also plan to find sponsors and investors for the Ukrainianarteria project, enrol in a one-year program at a university abroad for new knowledge, and make connections within the local community, which in the future will allow me to bring this experience and knowledge to Ukraine.
I plan to continue volunteering because the more funds you raise, the more you realize that more help is needed. This is why I don’t want to create the illusion that everything is fine in Ukraine. I realize that we have problems, such as corruption or the adaptation of soldiers after serving on the front line. But when you are in a circle of conscious people who believe in Ukraine, you understand what you can work with. It is through such a community that I have a lot of faith, positivity, and joy overall. Everything will be fine.
