Ukraine Rapid Response
This page contains updates from the original post.
Following the Ukraine invasion on the 24th of February 2022, the TrustBridge network has received a surge in inquiries from donors asking how to help. As a result, TrustBridge is activating its Rapid Response Fund.
WHAT IS THE RAPID RESPONSE FUND?
The Rapid Response Fund is an opportunity to give into a pool that is administered by a panel of experts with connections and experience in funding charities and programs in the region. Tapping into this expertise ensures efficiency and effectiveness for your gifts. Additionally, your gifts combine with other generous givers from around world to make maximum impact. Funds received have already begun being deployed to charities working on the ground! As the response and Fund grows the panel will ensure resources are used wisely over time.
WHAT NEEDS EXIST?
TrustBridge has begun making grants to charities working primarily in Ukraine and neighboring countries to assist with displaced families. Food, shelter, medical care, transportation, and all manner of physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are being addressed. The following organizations have received grants and are working intently to help affected people: Bible Mission Global, HMK, Hodos, M4 Europe, Mission Eurasia, Ukraine Partnership Foundation (UPF).
Volunteers and organizations are trying to find and connect with families that are sheltering in basements, bomb shelters, and other places where movement is restricted or constrained. Many people, primarily women and children, are crossing borders with Poland, Hungary, and Romania while others including elderly and those with disabilities are unable to flee for border crossings. TrustBridge is continuously receiving updates from charities and connections sharing new opportunities to assist with these and other direct and indirect needs.
Charities seeking assistance can reach out to contact us for further instructions. TrustBridge performs due diligence on each charity and requires post-grant reporting for all grants from the Rapid Response Fund.
HOW CAN YOU GIVE?
SWISS AND INTERNATIONAL DONORS (FUNDING WINDOW CLOSED APRIL 20, 2022)
For all donors seeking to make charitable donations, you can learn more about the TrustBridge Ukraine Rapid Response Fund by clicking on the link to our Global Charity Directory. This site provides giving options for donors from any country in the world.
Note: TrustBridge Global Foundation is a tax-deductible Swiss charity. TrustBridge has Network Members that may be able to provide charitable tax benefits for donors in other countries. See below for specific links for U.S. and U.K. donors.
DONORS IN THE UNITED STATES (FUNDING WINDOW CLOSED APRIL 20, 2022)
Donors can make tax-deductible contributions to the National Christian Foundation (NCF).
DONORS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (FUNDING WINDOW CLOSED APRIL 20, 2022)
Donors can make tax-deductible contributions to Stewardship UK. You can give directly to the TrustBridge Global Foundation, Switzerland - Ukraine Rapid Response Fund.
PANELISTS
The following individuals will be serving as Ukraine Rapid Response Fund panelists. As an independent and neutral advisory board, they will sort through and recommend grants to the TrustBridge team. Each of these individuals have extensive connections, service, or specific knowledge of Ukrainian matters. In addition to these Panelists a group of advisors is also being consulted to make sure grants are effective in assisting refugees and those affected by the conflict in Ukraine.
The Panel is being coordinated by Johanna Sheridan from the TrustBridge Global Board of Advisors. Johanna leads SaltExchange, a private community of philanthropists that empowers strategic giving through a collaborative ecosystem designed to eradicate inefficiencies and drive collective impact.
Lee Behar - Lee Behar is the Senior Director of Finance for Generosity Path and he also serves as the Regional Director for the Russian-speaking world. Lee Behar served as the Chief Operating Officer for Generous Giving before joining the staff of Generosity Path in 2015. Lee also serves at the Maclellan Foundation, which he joined in May 2006. His focus for the Foundation is Europe, Eurasia and the Turkic world.
Alana Taube - Alana and her husband David are part of the thriving Ukrainian community in the United States, with family living and serving in Western Ukraine. Alana works at Impact Foundation, a donor advised fund dedicated to investing charitable capital for social, economic, and spiritual impact. She received MBA at Chicago Booth and worked in philanthropy for several years before landing at Impact Foundation, a faith-driven organization which shares her passion for stewarding God's resources well. She is the proud granddaughter of WWII refugees, who came to the US through church sponsorship.
Scott Amis - Scott Amis is a Program Officer with Cornerstone Trust, a private foundation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Trust partners with Christian organizations to catalyze and accelerate Kingdom change in the least-reached and least-resourced areas of the world. Scott has a Master's degree in Global Leadership, with an emphasis in International Development and Urban Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Prior to his role with the Trust, Scott served for over 16 years in Central Asia in a number of leadership and program roles.
COLLABORATION
We are especially grateful for the valuable role of collaboration in times like these. We are working with a collaborative community of partners to make giving globally easy. The Rapid Response Fund is receiving support from these generous organizations:
A brief note about TrustBridge’s role:
TrustBridge Global Foundation can receive donations from virtually anywhere in the world in any currency. The TrustBridge team relies on the panelists for recommendations on the grants and performs comprehensive due diligence on all charities it grants to. For TrustBridge’s work to facilitate cross-border granting making, all outbound grants to charities receive a 1% grant assessment to cover TrustBridge’s personnel, administrative costs, wire and banking fees.