The Importance of Charity: Lessons from the "Okhmatdyt" Tragedy
Ruslan Shostak, President of TERWIN
18.07.2024
When the "Okhmatdyt" tragedy occurred, I realized one thing. If there were a charity competition in Ukraine, I would gladly participate and be happy to take the last place. The main thing is to have as many participants as possible in such a competition.
Let’s talk a bit about this.
I once came across a project online called "How Much Does Your Look Cost?" You’ve probably heard of it—a blogger approaches women and asks how much their outfit costs. The answers vary. I have nothing against it. But I came across an episode that has since disappeared from the internet. A woman invited the blogger to her birthday to tell how much her things cost. And these were hundreds of thousands of dollars. She wanted to increase her audience, knowing that this is what interests people.
But in the USA, there is a different trend. People take pride in the help they provide to those in need. If this woman from Ukraine had spent $1000 supporting "Okhmatdyt" or the Armed Forces of Ukraine, she, I am sure, would not have increased her Instagram audience as much as after inviting the blogger.
And this is a bad trend.
This is the culture of charity, which has long become a deep-rooted habit in Western society. A European or American willingly donates money to a university, a cancer fund, a scientific project, or a local volunteer hub. They see this as a great achievement for themselves, because by donating the same $1000, they gain the respect of society. And most importantly, respect for themselves.
I suppose that the habit of donating is an echo of religiosity. Many peoples of the world have a tradition of tithing. By giving a tenth of their earned money, they thereby acknowledge that they earned this money not only through their own labor but also due to circumstances beyond their control. In modern terms, tithing is gratitude to the Universe for the fact that luck smiled upon you and not millions of people elsewhere on the planet. That is, charity is needed primarily by the one who gives.
But we do not always talk about religion. In a well-known financial education book, Adam Khoo and Keon Chee from Singapore advise teaching children to donate from an early age. According to the authors, this is as important as being able to budget, save, invest, and grow wealth.
What do we have in Ukraine? Let's take the latest example—the "Okhmatdyt" tragedy, which united the whole world around Ukraine. Indeed, what could be more important than children? Hundreds of millions of aid were collected in just one day. I was very glad to see dozens of friends and colleagues among the donors. But unfortunately, even more people and businesses donated nothing. Someone might say that Ukrainians are tired of the war—tell that to our fighters on the front lines... Are they not tired of fighting and defending all the others who are tired? The reason, I see, is precisely that Ukrainians have an extremely low culture of charity. Simply put, we do not have such a social demand or tradition.
If you felt outraged by these words, it only means that you are an exception. Let's look at the facts together:
1. The amount of donations has decreased since the beginning of the war. According to Opendatabot, by 2023 people had almost halved donations to the three largest funds: the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation. Instead of $1 billion, they raised about half a billion.
2. However, donations to individual initiatives have increased. Hundreds of different people are raising money for drones, pickups, medicine, prosthetics, animal care, and equipment for specific military units.
3. If the donation dynamics remain the same in 2024 as in 2023, the total collections will reach only $2.5-3 billion per year. Friends, in a country at war, we are raising such money... When an earthquake occurred in Turkey, the Turks alone raised tens of billions of dollars in just a few days.
4. Now let’s remember that there are 60 million Ukrainians in the world. If each person paid $1000 a year—that's not much, only $1.5 a day, or 100-150 UAH. The price of a glass of wine or coffee, or half a burger at McDonald's! We would get almost $60 billion a year. That's another budget for the Armed Forces. An amount quite sufficient to provide the military with protection, weapons, electronic warfare, food, and much more. Moreover, we can help "Okhmatdyt" and other critically important projects.
It turns out that Ukrainians have money. But thousands of our compatriots do not consider donations more important than a new look or a trip to a restaurant or vacation. Helping someone is not a physical need for our people.
In my opinion, this is a social disease. As a society, we are very sick because we expect that we should be helped, not the other way around. We still have a long way to go to adopt the attitude of Americans or Europeans who refuse to buy goods or services if the seller does not fund social projects. In Western society, social responsibility is not empty words; it is everyday interaction.
One might say: it’s easy for you because you can afford it. But I know many people who can also afford to donate. 100-200 UAH daily is quite normal. For some reason, they do not do this. Overall, I call all these reasons the lack of a culture of charity.
But at the same time, this is good news. Right now, we can acquire this culture and simultaneously solve a lot of painful issues. At this moment, if you decide to join charity, just find a project you want to support and transfer 100 UAH, $100, or as much as you can.
With this amount, you will thank our military for one more day, and you will feel that you did not live it in vain. Liked the feeling? Make it a new habit.
Just imagine, an amount equal to the cost of one cup of coffee, but from everyone, can defeat the enemy.