The situation in Ukraine is dire. While major charities help at scale, grassroots fundraisers fill in the gaps by promptly facilitating emergency aid directly to people in need. Helpuanow.org provides a verified path to identify & donate to these fundraisers.

Hey Product Hunt community, While large, non-profit organizations play a crucial role in supporting people affected by this war, their ability to quickly respond to the needs of small groups in different regions of Ukraine is limited. Over the past several weeks, friends and families of people fighting on the frontlines, activists, and others, mobilized to support the people and military in Ukraine – at times risking their lives to deliver essential supplies to occupied cities. Many people around the world want to support Ukrainians directly without paying overhead costs or worrying about the impact of their donations. Every dollar donated to small, volunteer-driven fundraisers will have an immediate and direct impact on someone’s life and their chance to survive. It will help people who otherwise may not have been helped in time receive life-saving aid including medicine, protective equipment and food. 🇺🇦 How we evaluate fundraisers - Multiple people on our team source, onboard and thoroughly vet fundraiser’s information to ensure support is channeled safely and correctly. - Each fundraiser is linked to a credible social media page and is easily verifiable by a potential donor. - We prioritize fundraisers that have proven ability to deliver to the front lines. - In the near future, we hope to employ a group of trusted Ukrainians with connections to volunteer networks on the ground to further formalize our vetting process. 🇺🇦Safety - Sensitive information carries particular risks during wartime. Volunteers, especially those supporting the civil battalions, cannot share specifics like how many units are needed or the direct beneficiaries of the aid. To verify the legitimacy, we ask them to choose a trusted organization or individuals with a credible social media account to vouch for the fundraiser. - Until we have a secure solution, we are not hosting any payment information directly on our website. 🇺🇦You can help We are in touch with big media outlets in the U.S. and are working against the clock to improve the website before broader promotion. We need help. - UI/UX: join as an experienced designer to help with user testing, optimizing fundraiser pages and the website overall (Figma) - Front-end: we are looking for people experienced in at least one JS framework (we’re working with Next.js, React) who have the capacity to help implement smaller design changes over the next week or support the project long-term - Back-end & information privacy: we hope to display deposit information directly on the website and need help doing it safely - Analytics & A/B testing: join to help with the website or social media analytics - Social media: we need someone to help us lead our marketing efforts (managing content on Twitter/Instagram, featuring the stories of individual fundraisers, partnering with influencers) - Translations (UA/RU -> ENG): join as a translator to help onboard the fundraisers To join, introduce yourself in our Discord (https://discord.gg/UB25ep94vA) or use the contact form on our website. You can also support the project by sharing it across your network. Donate to the first batch of small fundraisers to start making a difference to people in Ukraine today!

As a Ukrainian myself, I have found it difficult to search for the vetted funds. This product changes it completely. Thanks for building it!

@svitlana_midianko Thank you Svitlana! If you have any ideas on how to make it even more clear and useful please be in touch :)

I was born and raised in Ukraine. Both of my parents are doctors and stayed in our hometown to help. My friends and their families are fighting in volunteer battalions in some of the toughest spots in Ukraine. This project is deeply personal to me. My main goal is to help as many people as possible stay alive by ensuring they have all the supplies essential to their safety and wellbeing. After being a part of the grassroots volunteering network myself and seeing the impact other volunteers have made on the lives of people in Ukraine, I believe that amplifying their fundraisers is the most effective way to make a meaningful impact.

An excellent initiative that connects you to specific fundraisers and more directly humanizes the war - it connected me to a volunteer battalion of a childhood friend, and the protective and medical gear to a young man fighting for his pregnant girlfriend. Other causes include supporting LGBT Military, direct cash payments to refugees, supporting a volunteer medical battalion, providing food, water, and emergency aid to civilians in combat zones, and more, and you can find causes, organizations, and individuals without the red tape.