Crisis relief

Ukraine update: 20+ charities on the frontlines

UPDATED 2-24-2024: As Russian troops continue to attack Ukraine from almost every side and the rest of the world watches, wondering what they can do, many charities you know have risen to the occasion in remarkable ways.

The UN Refugee Agency estimates that more than 16 million Ukrainians have fled the violence, seeking refuge in Poland, Germany, Romania, and other neighboring countries. Eighty-eight percent of those displaced are women and children, and 78 percent have been separated from immediate family members.

Meanwhile, charities around the world have rallied since the conflict began, running toward the crisis to bring God’s love and care to victims of this war. They’re facilitating rescues and feeding, housing, and transporting refugees. They are caring for wounded soldiers and seeking to make sure the most vulnerable are not forgotten. Others are sharing God’s Word as comfort; providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; offering medical assistance; traveling alongside refugees until they reach safety. To date, nearly $75 million in grants has been given through the National Christian Foundation.

We encourage you to continue to pray for Ukraine and the millions who have fled to safety in other countries.

We compiled this list of U.S.-based charities in March and added updates from charities the week of December 15, so you would have the most current information. Because this is a developing story, we will continue to add charities as we receive new information. All of the charities listed are approved to receive grants through NCF. If you already have a Giving Fund at NCF, log in today to recommend a grant or search for more charities. If you don’t have a Giving Fund, you can open one in just minutes.

  • We encourage you to do your own research of these charities. Included on the list are some large, international charities that would likely know exactly what to do with a large gift. But the list also includes smaller, local charities which might have a smaller, more-focused goal that your grant can help them meet.
  • We also advise that you designate your grant for Ukraine. Some of these organizations are working in locations all over the world.

Aerial Recovery Group

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Aerial Recovery is an organization comprised of primarily former U.S. Military Special Operators who now use their unique skill set to assist people and places after natural and man-made disasters. Their specialized team of veterans and experts are conducting high-risk extractions of orphans and the most vulnerable who are in imminent danger from the Russian invasion and subsequent fighting. They are also setting up a safe haven in Lviv, which provides a secure place for these orphans to go inside of Ukrainian borders and under Ukrainian supervision. They are also serving as a food and supply distribution point for their partners, Global Empowerment Mission, to get their millions of aid to those who need it the most.

Americares

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Most recently, in Americares’ ongoing response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine (117 million in aid to-date), they have provided support to two ongoing partners to bring mental health services to special populations. Over the next six months, Nezabutni, a close and long-standing partner, will provide individual and group support sessions to people living with dementia and their caregivers across Ukraine. Over the next five months, Tabletochki, a leading pediatric oncology organization in Ukraine, will provide individual psychological support sessions to over 120 children with cancer, their siblings, and over 200 caretakers. 

Awana Ukraine

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For nearly 30 years, Awana Ukraine has been reaching over 25,000 children weekly through its gospel and discipleship programming. Eleven staff families serve 548 clubs (church partners) across Ukraine. In response to the crisis, they have shifted to assist church partners in providing basic supplies, like food, water, clothing, shelter, and funds for those sheltering in place and those who have been displaced within Ukraine. They are also providing funding to their clubs in northern Romania to help with the growing need for humanitarian aid to incoming refugees. (Be sure to specify that your grant is for Ukraine.)

CityServe

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CityServe believes the church is God’s infrastructure to bring spiritual, physical, and emotional healing and revival through Jesus Christ to the Ukrainian people. CityServe International and CityServe Europe have been resourcing churches throughout Ukraine, Poland, and Moldova since the beginning of the war. In partnership with 1,800 Ukrainian Christian churches, they have already served millions of vulnerable women, children, and elderly people. CityServe’s current four-fold strategy includes: helping churches build capacity as refugee centers; expanding its emergency supply pipeline into Warsaw, Poland; continuing to deliver food and supplies, including generators to provide heat and light to churches; and providing church partners grants for caring for Ukrainian refugees.

Convoy of Hope

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Convoy of Hope is a faith-based, non-profit organization that works with local churches, businesses, civic organizations, and government agencies to feed the world through children’s feeding initiatives, community outreach, and disaster response. They are providing for basic needs and emergency relief to survivors in eight different countries throughout Europe. Now, two years into the conflict, Convoy of Hope is still working to bring help and hope to Ukrainians in need. They have distributed more than 50 million meals to those left devastated by the war. 

In addition to the meals, Convoy has partnered with many different businesses and organizations to meet different needs in Ukraine. Big Blanket Co. has partnered with Convoy of Hope to provide warm blankets to Ukrainians as they grapple with harsh winter conditions. Some 1,500 blankets have been distributed to Ukrainians in need since the start of 2023. ROMA Boots partnered with Convoy of Hope to provide boots to refugee children displaced by the ongoing conflict. Through partnership with Champion Power Equipment, Convoy has sent more than 1,200 generators to Ukrainians so far. Generators are crucial in providing power during rolling blackouts, which are caused by damaged infrastructure.

Direct Relief

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Direct Relief is working with Ukraine’s Ministry of Health and other groups in the region to provide requested medical aid, from oxygen concentrators to critical care medicines, while preparing to offer longer-term assistance to people displaced or affected by the war. They have donated 1,250 tons of medical aid and $24.9 million in financial assistance, and $749.3 million in material aid since the conflict began, including direct cash aid to support over 400 local healthcare organizations to help Ukrainian refugees obtain needed medications at no cost. Mass displacement has led to a host of health problems. Direct Relief is already working with medical manufacturers to source the medical aid needed in the coming weeks and months.

Feed My Starving Children

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Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) has provided more than 24 million MannaPack® meals in Ukraine in the last year through their established and vetted distribution partners. Meals will continue to be sent to their existing partner there and to their existing partners in Poland, Romania, and Moldova. FMSC has prioritized feeding refugees and the elderly. Donations will be used to fund ingredients for their MannaPack® meals.

HOPE International

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HOPE International fights poverty by investing in families in the world’s underserved communities, providing loans, savings services, training, and discipleship. Ukraine is the first country where HOPE served in 1997. Before the Russian invasion, HOPE operated 13 offices across Ukraine, providing loans for small businesses, educational expenses, housing improvement, and agriculture.

Initially supporting local churches that were providing aid to internally displaced people arriving in their communities, HOPE has since relaunched and expanded lending to small businesses, started a business grant writing service to facilitate small business access to government grants, and helped local church partners shift from aid to longer-term investment in families through training and savings group programs. As of February, HOPE has made over $3.3M in loans to Ukrainian businesses since the war began, supporting more than 300 businesses employing over 700 people.

International Rescue Committee

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The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has nearly 90 years of disaster response expertise, including seven years helping refugees in Europe. They provide emergency aid, health and sanitation, and psychosocial support to refugees and migrants, ultimately integrating them into the fabric of host communities. IRC’s trained staff is on the ground in Poland, working with local partners to help families that have fled. They are also working with local partners and civil society organizations in Ukraine to quickly mobilize emergency support for families, such as economic assistance, survival supplies, and protection services.

Last Bell Ministries

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Last Bell Ministries has been serving orphans and orphanage graduates in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, since 2006. Ukrainian staff members mentor, counsel, apprentice, and disciple these young adults, living out a mission of loving and restoring orphanage graduates toward life and community. Grants will provide aid for staff and 500 youth in the form of gasoline, diapers, water, lanterns, medication, food, and hygiene supplies. 

Lifesong for Orphans

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Lifesong for Orphans has been serving the vulnerable for 20 years. Beyond helping children, their goal is to preserve families and prevent more children from becoming orphaned. They are providing targeted delivery and distribution of supplies (food, medications, toiletries, etc.) in the Kharkiv (500 recipients per week), Chernigyv (300 recipients per week), and Zaporizhzhia areas (300 recipients per week).

Mercy Chefs

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Mercy Chefs is a faith-based, non-profit, disaster relief and humanitarian organization. Since 2006, it has served 18.5 million professionally prepared meals for victims, volunteers, and first responders in natural disasters and national emergencies. Mercy Chefs is working with local churches and missionaries to provide meals and needed necessities and transporting these items into Ukraine from a warehouse along the border. They are also mobilizing to assemble emergency relief food packets and assessing long-term opportunities for continued relief.

Mercy Corps

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Mercy Corps continues to work to meet evolving humanitarian needs and supporting local partners to help provide lifesaving services to thousands of people. Overall insecurity and lack of access have hampered humanitarian operations across the region. Despite significant challenges, Mercy Corps continues to expand its team, local partnerships, and impact. By the end of 2022, Mercy Corps and its partners brought humanitarian aid to at least 100,000 Ukrainians and other people in the region affected by the war.

Mission Eurasia

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Mission Eurasia’s plan for the winter includes wood-burning stoves, Christmas gifts, and warm winter clothing for children.
Stoves – Because much of Ukraine’s power grid has been destroyed, people in Ukraine will suffer a very harsh winter. They are fundraising to purchase and distribute 1,000 wood-burning stoves to churches and families. A gift of $250 sponsors a stove and a two-week supply of firewood.
Gifts – The same matching opportunity is available for those wanting to participate in the delivery of 100,000 Gifts of Hope to suffering, displaced, and refugee children. Gifts will include toys, sweets, hats and mittens, hygiene items, and a children’s Bible or other copy of children’s Christian literature.
Clothing – Warm winter clothing sets for children – coats, hats, mittens, and warm blankets – will be delivered to shelters, war-damaged homes, refugee assistance centers, and temporary shelters. The cost of each set is $75. Each set also has a children’s Bible or another piece of children’s Christian literature.

Mission to the World

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Mission to the World (MTW) has been planting churches in Ukraine since 1995. Through their latest initiative, Crates for Ukraine, an effort to collect and distribute aid to churches throughout Ukraine, the North American church came together to serve our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in need. The effort supplied more than 1,300 crates from more than 250 churches. The crates, filled with specially requested items from toothbrushes to medical supplies, have been sent to their network churches around Ukraine, from Lviv to Kherson to Kharkiv and across eastern Ukraine. A second Crates for Ukraine effort is now underway. Learn more at cratesforukraine.com.

Mission to Ukraine

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Mission to Ukraine has been working in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, for 25 years. They serve 900 women facing crisis pregnancies and 600 children with disabilities each year, meeting the needs of this overlooked population and sharing the gospel. During Russia’s war against Ukraine, the ministry has shifted focus to respond to the needs of their staff, clients, and community. During the winter and increased attacks by Russia upon the countries’ utility sources, the two greatest needs are warmth and portable food to survive the winter. These items are available for purchase in Ukraine which allows them to save on the cost of shipping.

Novo

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Novo works to multiply movements of the gospel and mobilize the church for mission. They’ve been working in Ukraine for more than 20 years. Since the Russian invasion, they are providing food, shelter, and basic physical needs of internally displaced refugees. In addition to meeting basic physical needs, the team is addressing the psychological and spiritual trauma that this type of war has generated with Novo’s specialized team in Malaga, Spain – counselors and trauma specialists who are doing all they can to serve those on the ground in Ukraine.

OneHope

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For more than 30 years, OneHope has worked with local churches in Ukraine to reach the next generation with God’s Word. In response to the current crisis, OneHope has broadened its support to local church networks by providing for the physical needs of vulnerable children, both within Ukraine and those living as refugees in bordering countries. Funds received are being used to help churches meet daily, physical needs of vulnerable children and their families in Ukraine, Poland, and Moldova. They are funding five major church networks, providing funds for food, shelter, clothing, and transportation, as well as digital and print evangelism materials that can be used to share hope in these challenging times.

Project C.U.R.E.

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Project C.U.R.E. is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies, equipment, and services to doctors and nurses serving the sick and dying in more than 135 countries. They have been working throughout Ukraine since 2000 and are now providing humanitarian support to hospitals and partners there, as well as standing by to send needed medical equipment. In January, they delivered 7,000 pairs of Bombas socks and 400+ Kits for Kids to Kyiv, Ukraine, for distribution to areas impacted by power outages and shortages of supplies and winter clothing. Additional shipments of medical supplies and equipment, solar lanterns to be used in healthcare settings currently without power. Their work extends into Moldova, Romania, and Poland, supporting other organizations serving refugees there.

Razom for Ukraine

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Razom (which means “together” in Ukrainian) is a charity made up of Ukranian/American professionals who launch projects to support Ukraine and amplify the voice of Ukraine for an American audience. Their current project focuses on immigration, educational, and work assistance for more than 200 displaced Ukrainian families in New York and New Jersey. They are creating partnerships with Ukrainian religious organizations to provide community resources and housing.

Revived Soldiers Ukraine

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Revived Soldiers Ukraine is a well-established 501(c)(3) U.S. charity that has been providing medical and humanitarian help to Ukraine for many years. They are working to deliver medical equipment and supplies, arrange humanitarian aid, and provide medical treatment to injured Ukrainians. They operate Next Step Ukraine in Irpin, the only neuro rehabilitation center in the entire country.

Samaritan’s Purse

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Samaritan’s Purse has provided much-needed relief throughout Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict and now has long-term programming staff working in the country. In partnership with Ukrainian churches, their teams continue providing food, water, shelter, and other supplies to families who are suffering. In January, the 200 millionth Operation Christmas Child shoebox was delivered to a child in Ukraine.

Save a Life International (SALI)

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Save a Life International (SALI) has 12 Life Centers in Ukraine helping women in crises as well as women refugees. They teach and educate women about their worth in Christ, so they can raise babies in the love of the Lord. Each Life Center has helped more than 4,000 moms, and 1,000 babies have been saved. Since the beginning of the war in 2022, SALI has provided shelter, food, and, most of all, psychological support through the gospel of Jesus.

Save the Children

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Save the Children is concerned for children caught in the middle of armed conflict, forced from their homes in freezing temperatures, and exposed to injury, hunger, and cold. They are working to provide help to children and families with food, water, hygiene kits, digital learning and psychosocial support, and cash assistance.

Send Relief

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Send Relief, a collaboration between the International Mission Board (IMB) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB), is the Southern Baptist compassion ministry. They are working with local Baptist churches and partners in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and several other neighboring countries to minister to Ukrainian families displaced by the war. Over one million survivors have been served by Send Relief projects in Eastern Europe. Your gifts provide for the greatest needs of families who have fled the country: emergency food supplies, shelter, transportation, medical care, hygiene kits and, most importantly, gospel hope.

Serving Orphans Worldwide

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Serving Orphans Worldwide (SOW) works with Christian children’s homes and orphan care projects. SOW currently supports five partner homes in Ukraine, all of which had to evacuate the staff and children. Through this effort, they successfully evacuated 310 children across the border to safety. Today, they are continuing to support the work of their partner homes as they resettle in different parts of Europe. SOW was able to not only evacuate the children, but also partner with a coalition of churches in Germany, Poland, and Romania, as well as connect with the European Theological Seminary. Through these partnerships, they were able to facilitate the rescue of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians and mobilize over 20 tons of food and supplies to those who need it most.

Slavic Gospel Association

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For decades, Slavic Gospel Association’s (SGA) ministry has reached across 8.5 million square miles of former Soviet countries (including Ukraine) to help share the gospel, equip the church, and help the forgotten. SGA has provided missionary pastors and their churches with hygiene items, clothing, medicine, other emergency items, and fuel to help move people to safety. They are caring for refugees in Poland, Russia, Georgia, and potentially other nearby countries. SGA has also provided meals for tens of thousands of people impacted by the war. Each opportunity to meet an urgent physical need is an opportunity to reach more hurting people with the love and gospel of Christ to offer eternal salvation.

Sports Catalyst

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Sports Catalyst is a global sports ministry, training athletes to become leaders in their communities. In 2022, these athletes responded to the crisis in Ukraine, rescuing 411,000 refugees and delivering 2 million pounds of emergency food and supplies.  The work in Ukraine is currently shifting from immediate, emergency relief to early and ongoing recovery. Warm meals, clean water, and safe shelter are the biggest needs. Last summer, 20,000 kids experienced much-needed distraction and healing from the war through weekly sports camps. Sports Catalyst plans to continue this effort by holding sports camps with integrated trauma healing programs for an additional 25,000 young athletes in 2023.

Tomorrow Clubs

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UPDATED: Tomorrow Clubs partners with local churches to provide weekly Bible clubs for kids and teens. As of February, working through a network of hundreds of local church partners, Tomorrow Clubs has provided food, shelter, medications, and transportation to more than 850,000 internally displaced people. In addition to meeting physical needs, Tomorrow Clubs has restructured their ministry in Ukraine to welcome thousands of traumatized kids into a healing and nurturing environment anchored in the hope of the gospel. Last summer, 23,000 children and teens, mostly refugees, attended Christ-centered day camps providing much needed distraction and spiritual regeneration.

Water Mission

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Since the onset of the war in Ukraine, Water Mission has produced more than 26 million gallons (100 million liters) of safe drinking water throughout the southeastern part of the country across a mix of more than 70 fixed and mobile water treatment systems. Their full report on their work of the past two years can be found on their website.

Wide Awake International

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Wide Awake International is a non-profit organization based in Oregon and Zhytomyr, Ukraine, with a vision to deinstitutionalize and bring hope, dignity, love, and improved quality of life to orphans with special needs in Ukraine. Support is being raised to care for staff, along with providing shelter for people with disabilities and their families. They are also continuing to provide humanitarian aid and therapeutic support for people with disabilities who still remain in institutions.

World Help

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Since the start of Russia’s invasion, World Help has been serving displaced Ukrainian families by providing them with essentials like transportation, shelter, food, clothing, trauma counseling, and more. During the brutal winter season, they expanded their efforts to provide emergency supplies like coats, blankets, wood-burning stoves, and generators. World Help’s strategic approach serves suffering people both inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries such as Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova.

World Hope International

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World Hope International (WHI) strives to be the reflection of Jesus Christ’s compassion to those who suffer. WHI is working with global and local partners in response to the conflict in Ukraine and the outflow of refugees into neighboring countries. Their response continues to evolve to ensure that basic needs – such as water, food, protection services, and more – are being met and that those who have fled, as well as those who have stayed behind, have access to hope and help.

World Relief

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World Relief is working with partners and churches in the region to provide food, shelter, and supplies to those in the most vulnerable situations. As circumstances continue to change, they will be there to adapt to needs as they arise. World Relief is also preparing to resettle Ukrainian refugees and is working to provide assistance to those already in the United States who are searching for families.

World Vision

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World Vision is supporting refugees in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. They’ve shifted their focus to long-term support and adding psychosocial support and educational programs for children and families. Working with local and national organizations, including faith-based organizations, in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Romania, they’re providing knowledge and expertise so that they can build and strengthen aid efforts, from emergency food-aid distribution, winterization efforts, education in emergencies, psychosocial support, to cash-based programming, and more.

Photo courtesy of Mission Eurasia

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