The amount of donations given to Ukraine has fallen significantly during the two and a half year war.
When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Finnish purse strings were open to help the people who were in the middle of sharing the fate of Finland during the wars.
Food, clothes, tent stoves and even bulletproof vests were sent as donations. Large Finnish companies donated children’s playgrounds and ambulances to the country.
In addition to donations of goods, several aid organizations reported historically large monetary donations immediately after the war began. Among other things, the children’s rights organization Plan said that it had collected almost 50,000 euros in the first hour of its emergency aid collection.
This week marks two and a half years since the start of the war. Iltalehti found out now at nine from a different organization that collects donations for Ukraine, information about how the amount of donations has changed during that time.
In the survey, all organizations were asked the same series of six questions, which focused on the amount of donations and their uses. All the answers shown in the story have been received by e-mail.
Finns’ desire to donate to Ukraine has waned over the years, although help is still needed. A photo of a Ukrainian school that was badly damaged by a Russian airstrike. Antti Yrjonen, Church’s foreign aid
A sharp drop in donations
Several large aid organizations, such as Unicef, the Finnish Red Cross, Kirkko ulmaanapu and Pelastakaa Lapset ry all report that donations have decreased drastically during the years 2023 and 2024.
For example, SPR, which collected the largest sums in Ukraine, says that the amount of donations dropped from the 39 million euros collected in 2022 to around 5 million euros the following year. In 2024, around 1.5 million euros in donations have been received.
In 2022, Plan’s donation amount, which collected 50,000 euros per hour, has remained at a total of 43,000 euros this year.
The figures in the table include donations made by private individuals, companies and churches. The table does not show, for example, the support granted to aid organizations by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the European Union.
A large number of organizations said that they only accept monetary donations. Other organizations reported that monetary donations were the largest share of the donations they received.
Saltivka, one of Ukraine’s largest suburbs in Kharkiv, has suffered severe destruction during the war. As a result of the fire, approximately 70 percent of the buildings have either been completely destroyed or damaged. Antti Yrjönen, Church’s foreign aid
What’s rotting?
According to several aid organizations, the reason for the decrease in donations is the same: crises interest donors during the first weeks, and after that the attention shifts elsewhere.
– As the war has dragged on, donor fatigue has started to show. However, the need for help in Ukraine continues, and we are grateful for every donation we receive, UN Women is told.
However, several aid organizations point out that the aid granted to Ukraine was longer than usual.
– Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, the donation amounts remained high for a very long time. Donations continue to be exceptionally active compared to other collection sites, SPR says in its response.
The activity of donations also varies for natural reasons. Individual donations, often granted by companies, appear as spikes in the amount of aid, and more donations accumulate around Christmas, when people are ready for the holy season with a generous mind.
The role of the media and reporting on the war in Ukraine are also mentioned in the answers.
– The events of the war and the media’s coverage have a great impact on the willingness to donate. Big events that cross the news threshold, such as the destruction of the Kahovka dam in the summer of 2023 and the shocking attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv last month, are visible as clear spikes in donations, Unicef says.
In its response, Plan says that it received its single largest collection amount at the time of the Apua Ukrainaan 2 support concert organized by Yleisradio in 2023. According to UN Women, the collection in Ukraine has been the largest in the organization’s history.
Director of communications and fundraising for Save the Children Sanna Kuusisto estimates that active war reporting can also have a negative side.
– I believe that the reason behind the calculation of the donation amounts is that most Finns have already made a record of participating in helping Ukrainians during this period. On the other hand, long-term coverage of the war may have exhausted people and numbed the desire to help, says Kuusisto.
The war in Ukraine is also not the only crisis in the world for which aid organizations collect donations. Marketing and resources must naturally be channeled to other collections as well.
– There are currently several other serious crises and conflicts in the world, so both Save the Children and many other organizations have actively asked for donations to other destinations as well, Kuusisto adds.
The Church’s Foreign Aid supports Ukrainians in a school built underground in the premises of the Kharkiv subway. For example, KUA has hired psychologists who visit schools regularly. Psychologists help children deal with the situation through play and art. Antti Yrjonen, Church Foreign Aid
Still need for help
Despite the crises happening elsewhere, the need for help in Ukraine has not disappeared. At the moment, psychological support for children and young people is especially taken into account in the answers.
– In Ukraine, the importance of psychosocial support in the midst of war has been talked about for a long time. Almost everyone knows someone who has gone to war or died there. All Ukrainians live under air threat. The stress in families and communities is enormous, the Church’s foreign aid points out.
The organization, like a few others, has begun to channel its help into psychological support on foot. Doctors Without Borders says that the organization had 717 mostly local employees in Ukraine last year, among whom were also psychologists.
– There is a great need for psychosocial support and mental health services for children and families, and responding to that is at the center of World Vision’s aid work, the organization’s head of humanitarian aid Miikka Niskanen tells.
The coming winter will also cause its own challenges, and World Vision and Plan, for example, say that they are already focusing on the purchase of winter equipment.
– At the moment we are preparing to offer winter equipment and heating and other support to war-torn people whose lives are made difficult by winter conditions, Director of Fundraising at Plan Nora Huhta says in his answer.
Your Finnish Friends was the only one of the aid organizations that responded to the survey, whose donation amounts had remained clearly on the rise. The chairman of the organization, Kasper Kannosto, estimates that the reason is at least transparency. Your Finnish Friends
An exception in the crowd
Among those who answered Iltalehti’s questions, one aid organization stood out, whose donations are still clearly on the rise.
In 2023, Your Finnish Friends (YFF), which collects money and supplies for people staying in and leaving Ukraine, was able to collect a total of 370,000 euros for its cause. In August 2024, the previous year’s amount had already been exceeded by 10,000 euros. The organization says on its website that it received the fundraising license in December 2022.
Chairman of the organization Kasper Kannosto can’t say the exact reason why they have managed to collect more and more money in Ukraine. However, he believes that the trust enjoyed by the organization helped in getting donations.
– The continuous growth of our own operations is certainly based on the fact that we have earned the trust of our supporters with extremely small side costs, transparent use of money and thank-you videos of aid recipients, says Kannosto.
According to him, among other things, the bank’s service fees and the software used for accounting take about one percent of the donation as administrative costs, and the rest of the funds go directly to procurement.
– No one in the association receives a salary or bonuses.
So far, the money has been used to buy cars, gas masks, tourniquets, ambulances, helmets, protective plates, backup power sources, tools, hospital supplies and one fire engine.
Monetary donations, which are in a good upswing, are also only part of the aid collected by the association. YFF receives a lot of necessary goods directly from donors.
– The most we have received are hospital supplies and gas masks. For example, gas masks in unopened packages are still usable on the front, even though the date has passed, says Kannosto.
According to Kannosto, the need for help is still constant in terms of material. According to the chairman, direct monetary donations are the most convenient way to help.
– We always accept useful material donations, but a monetary donation gives us the freedom to acquire what is needed. Material is used up all the time and the requests have remained pretty much the same. Cars don’t last terribly long in the Donbass mountains, and tourniquets are disposable.
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