Questions & Answers About Ukraine Relief

Since the war's earliest days, United Way Worldwide has supported the immediate and longer-term needs of Ukrainian refugees.  

Immediate support covered temporary shelter, food and medicines, transportation, critical childcare supplies (including infant formula and diapers), hygiene kits, and more.

With 15M Ukrainians – mostly women and children – forced to rebuild their lives in new communities or countries, longer-term support has been critical. If they've decided to resettle in nearby countries, refugees have to learn a new language, find permanent housing, get new jobs, integrate their children in schools and often deal with physical and mental health issues.

Our trusted partners on the ground -- United Way Romania, United Way Hungary, PHINEO/United Way Germany, United Way Netherlands, United Way Spain, and Fundacja Dobrych Inicjatyw (Good Initiatives Foundation) in Poland – continue to work with local NGOs on all of those issues. 

That work continues, even though United Way closed its United for Ukraine Fund to additional donations on March 31, 2023.

Learn more about United Way's impact in the first six months of the war, in our new United For Ukraine Interim Impact Report, or its executive summary, here.

All donations have supported immediate and longer-term needs, which vary country to country, and person to person. Help has included providing refugees with safe housing, food, mental health services, long-term job-seeking support, language training and comprehensive social and educational support for the children.

Local United Ways and our trusted partners at United Way Romania, United Way Hungary and Fundacja Dobrych Inicjatyw (Good Initiatives Foundation) in Poland, PHINEO/United Way Germany, United Way Spain and United Way Netherlands continue to support displaced families, working with partners on the ground to determine, monitor and meet immediate and longer-term needs. Learn more about United Way's impact in the first six months of the war, in our new United For Ukraine Interim Impact Report, or its executive summary, here.

To be clear, 95 cents of every dollar donated to the United for Ukraine Fund has gone to on-the-ground partners providing relief. The remaining 5% helps United Way vet our recipients, track and measure the impact and assure that fund objectives are met. 

Yes. United Way Worldwide strives for transparency and creates detailed reports that lay out where the donations to our emergency funds go. You can download the United for Ukraine Interim Impact Report here, which spells out United Way's impact in the war's first six months. 

A full report will be released in the summer of 2023. 

Please refer to the Ukrainian Assistance Resources on the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children & Families (ACT) and the Uniting for Ukraine process through the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) for more information on sponsorship. Anyone interested in the Uniting for Ukraine process is strongly encouraged to first review the DHS website, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website  including the Form I-134, Declaration of Financial Support, and the form instructions here. 

In the meantime, continue to direct donations to the United for Ukraine site. This will ensure there are adequate resources to support UW efforts for the duration of this ever-changing situation. 

There are a number of refugee resettlement agencies that do this well and we should reach out to them in our local communities to ensure they have the support they need. The link on the ACF site mentioned above has a good list of partners.  

211, the 24-7 resource supported by United Way, has a resource page here for those who are new to the U.S. 

United Way Romania  
United Way Romania is mobilized to quickly and efficiently provide immediate and basic needs to refugees at entry points at the borders, as well as in customs centers: transport from customs centers to accommodation locations, food, certain medicines, sanitary products, pillows, sheets, blankets / sleeping bags, formula milk and diapers for children, emotional support, documentation and translation assistance. They coordinate with community partners and constantly update the list of needs in order to promptly provide what is needed at this time.

Last year, United Way Romania launched a call for proposals to support refugees who decided to stay in Romania. Support is also being provided for mid- and long-term programs focused on three areas:

• Education - access and educational activities for refugee children.
• Financial Stability - career guidance, legal advice to navigate labor market.
• Health – access mental health programs (i.e., psychological counseling and therapy), creating an anxiety management guide in the Ukrainian language, and other health programs (i.e., emergency dental treatments).

United Way Hungary/United Way Magyarország
In cooperation with the local government of Kisvárda, United Way Hungary actively puts together immediate aid packages delivered by volunteers to those in need. In cooperation with the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, United Way delivers donations to the most appropriate locations, according to current demand. Through United Way’s network 400+ community partners, they work closely with schools in the affected areas to address local needs and provide targeted assistance. Targeted assistance includes basic needs, mental and physical health services, including integration into local communities, and specific needs such as disabilities or youth engagement activities.

Last year, United Way Hungary launched a call for proposals to help NGOs alleviate the humanitarian disaster. United Way is providing support to 27 NGOs for programs across Hungary to improve the well-being and integration of refugee families, children and young people. The grants are also designed to provide help in critical areas:

• Education access and participation for refugee children and youth.
• Financial stability initiatives for the self-sustainment of refugees.
• Access to adequate healthcare and disease prevention. 

In Poland, United Way partnered with the Good Initiatives Foundation (Fundacja Dobrych Inicjatyw, or FDI) 
The concept for the (FDI) Good Initiatives Foundation was born during the European Voluntary Service in the country of Georgia in 2009, although the organization was registered in 2014. Initial activities focused on cooperation with Georgia and Ukraine: youth exchange projects, volunteering, and material support. In 2017, FDI launched a special program, called #FDIAid, to support children and young people from eastern Ukraine.

Since the first days of the war, FDI has supported the relocation of refugees, provided accommodations, equipped places with essentials, and continues to organize transportation, and work with NGOs in Ukraine to finance evacuations, prepare care packages of food (including food for infants), clothes, sleeping bags, cosmetics, hygiene basics, and more. FDI, in coordination with other organizations, organizes activities like summer camps, and Polish language classes for children and women, including children transitioning to Polish orphanages. FDI has involved 1,000+ volunteers in Poland in this effort, including many Ukrainian citizens who came to Poland to build new lives.  

PHINEO/United Way Germany 
The Ukrainian-focused relief work has been led by a Ukrainian staffer who quickly identified pitfalls in the German support system as well as interventions that could produce immediate, significant impact. The most significant initiative is the formation of ‘WE AID gGmbH,’ a non-profit subsidiary of PHINEO, to ensure critical funded initiatives are provided the legal, administrative structure, and charitable status to implement initiatives that advance refugee relief efficiently. Through WE AID, long-term basic social needs of Ukrainians are supported through the creation of the “United for Ukraine (UFU)” platform, a self-help network of refugees from Ukraine who provide legal advice, housing and integration support. PHINEO/United Way Germany supports the programs and implementers and provides operational expertise with the support of ECOVIS Germany (a leading consulting firm) for back-office tasks, and an agency for communications and social media support.

• For instance, Airbnb has offered digital travel credits to PHINEO/United Way Germany to be used by call center agents to make bookings for displaced individuals. WE AID has also mobilized private funds nationwide and scale up successful initiatives.
• PHINEO/ United Way Germany is focused on empowering Ukrainians to create startups and become economically independent through their Startup Incubation program.

United Way Spain 
United Way Spain co-designed a program and an intervention plan with the Red Cross, the Cepaim Foundation and the YMCA to help Ukrainian refugees tackle some of their biggest challenges, including filling gaps left by the government and providing assistance with next steps once refugees leave shelters. Programs include:

Varied integration activities and access to professionals (psychologist, social worker, housing experts, learning support and care for children, Spanish trainers) in different regions of Spain (Castile-Leon, Madrid, Aragon, Andalusia, and Region of Valencia).

To support long-term housing for refugees, United Way Spain launched a nationwide campaign to encourage populations to rent their empty or second homes to refugees, with a call to tear down the walls of discrimination that refugees suffer. 

United Way Netherlands 
United Way Netherlands operates a wide variety of programs to support refugees, starting long before the Ukraine war. Learn more  here. 

Their ‘Home From Home’ program supports Ukrainian women’s integration into life in the Netherlands. United Way provided a safe environment, a base in Amsterdam run by Ukrainians for Ukrainians, to help refugees rebuild their lives, including:

• Empowering women refugees with English and Dutch tutoring, and specifically English for teenagers.
• Bringing in employment, accommodation, and legal specialists to consult.
• Providing childcare, psycho-social support, physical activities.

United Way also established the Ukraine Refugee Women Association, to support growth and awareness of initiatives for refugees. In the future, the hope is to expand the ‘Home From Home’ model across the Netherlands, and possibly across Europe.