Ukrainians show unwavering support for army with almost $1 bln in donations, volunteer list surges 1.5 times in 2024
Photo: resh.news
Ukrainians are increasingly donating to "jars" [a "jar," also known as a "piggy bank," is a unique savings account that clients can create for themselves, their family, or their friends. It uses gamification elements to help accumulate funds for a specific purchase – ed.] rather than for large foundations and charitable organizations. In addition, the official list of volunteers in Ukraine has increased 1.5 times since the beginning of the year – to 10 thousand people.
Opendatabot reported this.
This year, the register saw an increase of approximately 3,500 volunteers. On average, the official list expanded by 310 people each month. The majority of volunteers, 1,600 (15.6%), were registered in Kyiv, followed by 951 (9.1%) in the front-line Kharkiv region and 896 (8.6%) in the Kyiv region.
The largest increase in new volunteers this year occurred in the Rivne and Zaporizhzhia regions, as much as 1.8 times.
However, not only officially registered volunteers help the army and hold meetings, but also ordinary people, in particular, by collecting funds for "jars" in monobank.
So, this year, 115 thousand people are opening volunteer banks every month. For comparison, 1.3 times fewer people opened banks last year – about 85 thousand.
Experts stress that both volunteers and military personnel may hold "jar" deposits for convenience, making it difficult to distinguish a specific group of owners for these deposits.
It is noted that Ukrainians have become more likely to donate to jars than to large foundations and charitable organizations.
For comparison, the three largest foundations in the country—the Prytula Foundation, Come Back Alive, and United24—collected about UAH 19 billion [approximately $460 mln—ed.] over the past year.
Around 2 million people donate to the jars every month, a 15-fold increase compared to the early months of the full-scale war. Additionally, donations have risen substantially from 1 million transactions per month in 2023 to 8.8 million per month.
Compared to the first year of the full-scale war, the average donation amount increased by 1.6 times, from 250 UAH to 410 UAH.
Therefore, the total amount of funds collected also increases. Currently, "jars" have already collected almost 40 billion UAH in the current year, which is 1.4 times higher than the total amount collected last year and nearly five times higher than in 2022.
According to reports, Ukrainian citizens contributed 27.4 billion UAH through monobank in 2023, nearly triple the amount from the previous year. The number of donors also rose to 5.4 million, compared to 3 million in 2022.
At the same time, large volunteer funds recorded a significant decrease in donations to support the military in 2024, which indicates the gradual exhaustion of Ukrainians' willingness to finance defense.
In addition, Ukraine fell to seventh place in the world charity ranking this year. In 2023, Ukrainians occupied second position.
For reference:
Ukrainian agencies have also led the development of two new Cyrillic fonts – Taktika Sans and TwidGrotesk. This is a step towards supporting the de-Russification efforts, as many of the previously used fonts in Ukraine were designed by Russians. Users will receive a link to download the font for a donation of 500 hryvnias or more. Part of the funds will go to the Port Frankivsk fund, which supports the supply of necessary equipment to the front. The other part goes to the "Da Vinci Wolves" fund, which supports the military brigade of the same name.
Furthermore, with the support of the N-iX company, Anatolii Berchanov from Kharkiv collaborated with other individuals who shared his vision to create the Donatta app – a unique way of donating to Ukrainian soldiers in the form of a game.
During the second wave of the all-Ukrainian tour, the MUR creative association put on 25 shows commemorating the Executed Renaissance and raised a substantial sum for the needs of Ukraine's armed forces.
