Charity and volunteering during the war: attitudes and activity of the population

With the beginning of a full-scale war in Ukraine, the development of a culture of charity and volunteering, which began in 2014, has become even more active and widespread. Ukrainians are joining various formats of social assistance, many volunteer and charitable initiatives and organizations are emerging, and this area is attracting high public attention.

In particular, the first All-Ukrainian Forum Social Camp 2023 Odesa, which took place on July 22, was dedicated to the issues of the most pressing importance for the volunteer community. Terra U, together with Gradus Research, conducted special research for the event to find out how citizens feel about charity and volunteering in the middle of the second year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, whether and how they are actively involved in helping.

Increasing number of citizens who help

The results of the survey show a steady increase in the number of citizens helping the state and society. Over the past year, the share of people who help through volunteering, defense activities and aid to the frontline has doubled. This growth is primarily due to those who wanted to join – a year ago, there were 36% of such respondents, and now there are 26%, and they also have the potential to be among the citizens involved in helping.

It is noteworthy that the majority of respondents (53%) contribute to the aid on their own. 49% do it through relatives, friends or acquaintances, 39% use volunteer organizations, and another 30% through charitable foundations. That is, in most cases, citizens choose whom to help on their own. That is why the struggle for the attention of those who vote with their hryvnia wallets is intensifying. Along with the growth in the number of volunteer organizations and charitable foundations, this will structure the market and make the activities of these organizations more streamlined, understandable, and transparent.

Most charitable contributions are directed to the military

We also surveyed the areas of charitable contributions and donations. The leader here is military purposes – 61% of respondents allocate funds to them, and this figure has increased by 14% over six months. Humanitarian needs are in second place with a noticeable difference – 31%. The significant rate of direct assistance to the military is obviously related to the high level of trust Ukrainians have in the Armed Forces, which is consistently demonstrated by surveys on social trends during the war. In particular, as of April 2023, this figure is 69% and is the highest compared to other state institutions. Given this, it is quite difficult for foundations to compete with fundraising for the Armed Forces.

The survey was conducted by the Terra Ukraine NGO in cooperation with the Gradus Research company using a self-completion questionnaire in the Gradus mobile application. The audience of the survey: 1097 respondents (male and female respondents aged 18-60 living in cities with a population of more than 50 thousand). The sample reflects the structure of the target group by age, gender, macro-regions, and settlement size, except for the temporarily occupied territories and territories where military hostilities are taking place. The survey was conducted on July 17-18, 2023.