Emergency funds and resources for media and journalists in Ukraine

Coordination

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, GFMD has been working with other organisations on mapping the needs of many Ukrainian organisations as well as the potential assistance that could be provided to them. During these coordination meetings several technical needs were identified and addressed by the different organisations:

• Financial support: Organisations outside and inside Ukraine are partnering with donors and funders to provide funding and emergency financial assistance for journalists and media organisations. The Fix, together with the Ukrainian NGO Media Development Foundation, and media partners around Europe provides operational funds for ongoing work and moving part of media operations abroad. Similar crowdfunding and fundraising campaigns have been launched by International Federation of Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists; N-ost, a Berlin-based European network of journalists; Rory Peck Trust; Free Press Unlimited; IREX; Internews; International Press Institute; Gazeta Wyborcza in partnership with a range of Nordic media organisations and associations and others. This support varies depending on the organisation and it is also granted through different mechanisms, sometimes avoiding the traditional bank system.
• Personal security of journalists: Need for safety equipment and its distribution in Ukraine (PPE -helmets, bullet-proof vests-, PRESS signs, medical kits, solar batteries as well as training sessions and psychological support). Also, organisations working on the relocation of journalists (from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus)
• Relocation/Reestablishing Newsrooms: Many of these initiatives also focused on keeping media operational by creating workspaces or hubs in other Ukrainian cities or abroad (near the border, Poland, Germany, Hungary, etc.)
• Online security: GFMD’s community crowdsourced alist of Ukrainian and regional trusted and independent media. This has helped to launch Facebook’s News Tab in Ukraine, as well as speed up the verification process of many of these media on Twitter. Ads4news is also using this sheet to try and encourage advertisers to place their ads with media on the list. Other partners have also worked in unblocking Facebook/Instagram accounts that were banned by Russia.

Emergency/crisis funding 

More specifically, we have collated a list of emergency funding for organisations working in Ukraine and the wider region on the GFMD MediaDev Fundraising Guide: in English and in Ukrainian. In the first week over 24 emergency fundings were added to the list which is updated every day.

Check out Freedom House, which provides assistance to journalists and media staff as well as civil society organisations working on media/press freedom at risk. And the Defending Journalism (DJ) Safety Fund, which provides immediate support for journalists who are victimised as a direct result of their journalistic work.

Emergency/crisis resources

We are also collating a list of emergency/crisis resources: in English and in Ukrainian. Currently, there are more than 56 resources and articles collated but the list is updated regularly.

On this dedicated page, digital and logistical support opportunities are updated on a daily basis. For instance, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee is providing professional and free legal assistance, from counselling to representation, to Ukrainian refugees. As for digital support, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) can refer your organisation to Cloudflare if you are the victim of a DDOS attack. Cloudflare is an American web infrastructure and website security company that provides content delivery network and DDoS mitigation services. Cloudflare offers pro-bono protection against DDOS attacks for organisations referred by NED.

We are also constantly collecting resources and articles on fact-checking, reporting tips and tools, safety, and materials and gathering initiatives on monitoring human rights violations and crimes against journalists to support the work of journalists and journalism organisations.

Fundraising and Crowdfunding for Media and Journalists in Ukraine

On this page, GFMD has collated fundraising and crowdfunding initiatives as part of our information sharing effort to support media and journalists in Ukraine and the region: in English and in Ukrainian. We have put together 25 crowdfunding opportunities but all the latest opportunities are added daily.

Note: Please check any site that you choose to donate to for authenticity.

Here you can find out about such opportunities as the Ukraine Safety Fund created by the International Federation of Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists. As the conflict continues, journalists reporting on frontlines need first aid kits, flak jackets, helmets and medical supplies. All donations made to that fund will go directly to support in this emergency.

Resource centre “Ukraine coordination media support”

GFMD has created a dedicated resource centre in Ukrainian for Ukrainian journalists and Ukrainian media organisations, those who are in Ukraine and those who have been forced to leave the country. It contains:

• an extensive list of organisations providing emergency funding for Ukrainian journalists and media;
• a curated list of resources for journalists and media;
• a list of all of the fundraising campaigns and crowdfunding efforts to support Ukrainian media and journalists;
• contact information of media support organisations providing help.

All of this information and others that are being gathered are being fed into this ChatBot run by our colleagues at The Fix.

All the pages mentioned above will be updated on a regular basis. Please contact us at communications@gfmd.info if you think a specific resource is missing. We have the personnel capacity to translate information to Ukrainian, feel free to send it to us in English.