As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, I have felt this overwhelming need to help. Whether it was through donations to charities verified through Charity Navigator, or helping a friend set up a Change.org petition to change the street names of all Russian Embassies in the USA to pro-Ukrainian names, I’ve done it.
But I admit that I prefer to help people in crisis directly. Which seems like a big obstacles as I don’t personally know anyone from Ukraine. Except that I was not alone in this thought, and I wanted to share with you what I found when I looked.
Ukrainian Artists
Ukraine has a rich art community, and with today’s technology, we have access to many of the artists and creative people. And three of the places I frequent have actually highlighted these folks, so you can get money directly into their pockets, which is great, especially if they’re displaced.
SPOONFLOWER
In conjunction with their parent company, Shutterfly, Spoonflower, who custom prints fabric, has curated 100+ Ukrainian artists whose art you can buy right now. You can purchase in a variety of sizes and types of fabrics, and you can do this by artist, or using Spoonflower’s Fill-A-Yard of Fabric option, you can support multiple artists in one go.
This is the option I chose, and I picked the 12 square option for napkins.
Until midnight March 20th, you can get 20% off your order with code AFTERPAYDAY.
ETSY
Now, yes, Etsy has been problematic lately, as we creators gave them record profits last year, and they’ve decided to up our fees and whatnot. But in light of this current crisis, they have done right by the people who need it most by canceling all current balances and fees for Ukrainian shops.
And they have curated a wonderful collection of Ukrainian artists, so we can buy directly from them. Between digital downloads of prints and patterns, you can support artists and crafters without them worrying how to get a physical product to you. These are some of my favorites:
RAVELRY
A wonderful place for fiber artists, Ravelry sells patterns for crochet, knitting and any other craft that uses yarn. They have created a link to their search option that specifically shows patterns from Ukrainian fiber artists.
As yarn and I are longtime nemesises (nemesi?), I cannot recommend any of these, but I wanted to share anyway, in case your yarn relationship is better than mine.
The Art Newspaper has a list of other ways and places to support Ukrainian artists, too.
Ukrainian Musicians
You can support Ukrainian musicians, too!
BANDCAMP
Bandcamp, the online record store and music community, has created a page where you can listen to and follow Ukrainian musicians in a variety of different formats and genres of music.
Urvakan Compilation
Just a day before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia the Urvakan festival, which takes place annually in Yerevan, Armenia, released A Collective Memoir, a compilation of music featuring artists from Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, and Georgia. All proceeds from the sale of the compilation, via Bandcamp, will be split equally between a humanitarian organization in Ukraine and the cultural organization in Artsakh, which works with children of war.
Go here to find out more and purchase the compilation.
JINJER
Ukrainian metal band Jinjer have released two new shirt designs with the slogans “We Want Our Home Back” and “Peace to Ukraine” to raise funds for various Ukraine-based charities.
If-Only has compiled a list of Ukrainian musicians and how you can support them directly.
Gaming for the Ukraine
If you know anything about the gaming community, then you’re aware of how giving we can be. And this crisis is no exception.
HUMBLE BUNDLE
Humble Bundle is well-known for its charitable endeavors, donating money all the time to many charities around the world. They have put together a bundle in support of Ukraine with over 120 pieces of content worth over $2,500 that includes:
- Back 4 Blood, Satisfactory, Metro Exodus, & Fable Anniversary
- Pathfinder, Starfinder, & Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay books
- GameMaker Studio 2 Creator (12 months), Music Maker EDM Edition, RPG Maker VX, & Polygon game dev assets
- and so much more
100% of the proceeds will go to Razom for Ukraine, International Rescue Committee, International Medical Corps, and Direct Relief. Humble Bundle is huge about transparency, so you can click on their links to see exactly how the money is being used.
Though this is part of their Pay-What-You-Want payment system, it’s recommended that you send at least $40.
Want to see how your favorite gaming company is supporting Ukraine? Check out these articles:
How the video game industry is rallying around Ukraine (Games Radar)
The gaming industry unites to support Ukraine and boycott Russia (Financial Times)
Ukrainian gov’t calls for game companies to cut off Russia during invasion (arstechnica)
Final Thoughts
I hope this has given you alternate ways to help during this ongoing crisis. With our modern technology, it’s wonderful to have ways to assist. I will continue to send emails and make phone calls to my representation in hopes that we, as a country, can provide continued assistance to a people and a country who need us.
Please let me know of other ways you may have seen to help Ukrainians directly.
