Ukrainian charities seeing reduction in donations, despite high need

AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
A drone carries a big national flag in front of Ukraine's the Motherland Monument in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.

As the war in Ukraine passes the six-month mark, charities supporting the country from Canada are noticing fewer donations.

Devon Goldie, board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, says this is something many Ukranian organizations are experiencing.

“We are experiencing the same thing that most other Ukrainian organizations are seeing, and I don’t think that’s surprising,” Goldie said.

Shannon Craig, chief marketing officer of CanadaHelps told CBC News that donations started flooding in just before the war, but have fallen off dramatically, despite the need.

“We were bringing in around $457 million every single day during that 40-day period,” Craig said. “Today, we’re now into August, and what we’re seeing is that daily donations have dropped to just $11,000.”

It’s not an uncommon trend.

Dayna Lee-Baggley, registered clinical psychologist told CBC News that there is war fatigue among Canadians which could affect donations.

“Donations for Ukraine have really followed a trend that we’re used to seeing with humanitarian relief efforts,” Lee-Baggley said. “Really what we see is Canadians just having an overwhelming response when the initial news story breaks. But then shortly thereafter, we see a drastic decline.”

Goldie said the need is greater than ever for hosting Ukrainian refugees in Canada.

“If we are not able to get a significant increase in hosts, we may have to temporarily shut down our matching program and just focus on the guests that we have here,” Goldie said. “Despite the fact that we have a wait list of over 2,000 people who want to come to theIsland.”

In the early days of the war, donations flooded into the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, according to its Victoria Grando.

“It is much quieter,” Grando said. “But again, it’s summer and we tend to forget that terrible things going on around the world. We are hoping that it is going to pick up.”

While the war drags on a world away, the need here is greater than it’s ever been.

-With a report from CBC The National reporter Katie Nicholson

Mary GriffinMary Griffin

Recent Stories

Send us your news tips and videos!