Exactly 101,162 non-governmental organizations – that’s the number of them registered in Ukraine as of July 2023. Each of them has its own mission, but they are all looking for one thing: funding to help.
The main sources of income are private donations, grants, and funds from international organizations.
Communication with local, Ukrainian donors is often more understandable – they know our context and challenges better. But how do you convince foreign partners to give money to your initiatives?
Liki24 Foundation has raised more than €2.5 million in aid since the start of the full-scale invasion. We have provided medicines to more than 155,000 families and launched two key programs to restore the health of veterans.
Behind these results is daily work: building trust, transparent reports and convincing arguments.
This article is about a specific experience that will help Ukrainian NGOs effectively build a dialogue with foreign donors, stand out among other initiatives, and turn support into real change.
Identify your uniqueness
What makes your organization different from others?
It is important not just to exist among thousands of civil society organizations, but to stand out in your niche. This will make your story much more convincing.
Do you help orphanages, support large families, raise funds for military treatment, and at the same time feed animals in frontline areas? This is important, but being unfocused makes it difficult to communicate with donors.
Focus on what matters most. Identify one area and become experts in it.
Liki24 Foundation has a clear focus – health:
- Liki24.com provides access to medicines through an online platform.
- Nasnaga helps to take care of health and prevent diseases.
- LAB24 specializes in laboratory testing.
Each of our projects has its own mission, but they are all united by a common goal: providing access to quality healthcare. This focus helps us to speak to donors in the language of specifics, not generalities.
Donors want to see a clear focus, not just activity. Invite niche experts to your team. They will strengthen you, add credibility, and increase trust from your partners.
Work with numbers
Donors want specifics. The more specifics, the better.
Saying that your organization supports women raising children on their own is good. But it sounds much more powerful: “Our NGO helps 247 women in Vinnytsia region who are raising children on their own, and by the end of 2025 we plan to support 150 more mothers.” This demonstrates a strategic approach and a clear vision of development.
Of course, the number of people you help may change from month to month. In this case, update this data regularly on your website, for example, quarterly.
Don’t forget about reporting. This is another key to trust. If you have the resources, publish short interim reports on a monthly or quarterly basis. How many people you helped, what you bought, how much money you spent.
Numbers, transparent data, and regular updates show that you are a reliable partner.
Inspire, not sympathize
Think about how you scroll through your news feed and see another post about raising funds for treatment. Especially if the photo shows a patient in a hospital bed, wrapped in bandages and connected to dozens of tubes. You might stop, but most people just scroll on.
Why does this happen? Because pity doesn’t always lead to action. Donors are more likely to respond to stories of strength and opportunity than to stories of despair and hopelessness.
Instead of telling them how hard it is for mothers to raise children on their own, show them how they overcome challenges and strive to give their children a better future.
Attract resources for solutions, not for temporary relief.
Helping with food or medicine is important, but its long-term impact is hard to measure. Instead, if you send a mother to an HR specialist course and help her find a stable job, it will change her family’s life forever. And this is already a concrete result that shows the effectiveness of your NGO’s work.
Tell stories that show potential, not just need. They inspire and make people want to join your mission.
Be visible and talk about yourself
You need to be seen and heard. When it comes to international partners, you need to speak about yourself in English on international platforms and resources.
Keep a blog and share your expertise. Talk about your successes and challenges. Look for partners with whom you can team up and solve these problems.
Register a foundation page on LinkedIn, duplicate content there, and look for partners and benefactors through this page.
Participate in forums and panel discussions, and actively promote yourself. Liki24 Foundation actively attends events in Ukraine and abroad. Personal meetings are always more effective than dozens of letters. One 10-minute conversation with a potential donor can yield more than months of correspondence.
Recognition does not appear by itself. It is a systematic work.
Attracting foreign donors is not about one-time donations, but about long-term relationships built on trust, transparency, and real results.
Focus, numbers, stories of strength and proactive communication bring results. Foreign donors support visions, not requests. Not words, but actions. Show them that your activities have an impact, and tell them in a way that they can hear you.
Volodymyr Nerubenko
Entrepreneur and healthcare innovator. Co-founder of the LIKI24 Foundation and Nasnaga, which develops technology solutions to improve access to healthcare. He has many years of experience in creating social projects and building partnerships between the public sector and business. Member of the Advisory Board of the Strategic Regional Innovation Cluster of Communities of Ukraine.