What do the Mormons, Coca-Cola, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund have in common? Each entity — along with thousands of other donors — has provided billions of dollars in private funding in response to the war in Ukraine. But as is so often the case with wartime funding, those billions aren’t nearly enough to address the need created by this bloody and costly conflict.
On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the cycle of giving to Ukraine reflects the typical boom-and-bust pattern of disaster philanthropy. Donations rapidly poured in during the first two months of the war but have dramatically declined since then. On the Center for Disaster Philanthropy website, the Ukraine humanitarian crisis is far down on the list of active disasters, as other horrific crises, such as the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, demand immediate attention.
Sustaining donor interest in supporting peace in Ukraine and around the globe is a constant challenge. The 2022 Global Peace Index, which does not even include the war in Ukraine, showed global peace decreasing for the 11th straight year with a simultaneous negative impact on the world’s economy. Yet peace funding remains less than 1 percent of all private philanthropic giving, according to the latest data.
Part of the problem is uncertainty among donors about how to have an impact. Ten years ago, the Peace and Security Funders Group, which I lead, set out to address this challenge. We began a process to help grant makers better understand how they can most effectively invest their dollars in the creation of a peaceful and equitable world, and make sense of the seemingly complex peace-building field. We identified three critical and interconnected areas where donor investments could make a real difference: prevention and mitigation of conflict; conflict resolution; and support for stable, resilient societies.
Grant makers who care about reducing global conflict can have a lasting impact if they use this framework to inform ongoing support for Ukraine and other nations seeking to build peace.
Conflict prevention and mitigation. As the U.N. Development Programme demonstrates in a helpful graphic, conflict prevention is 10 percent of the cost of recovery. This is evident from our everyday lives. For example, as much as we dread going to the dentist, preventing a cavity is much less painful and cheaper than getting a root canal.
A similar principle holds true for conflict. Many have written about whether a Russian invasion of Ukraine was preventable. But the focus for philanthropy should now be on helping with de-escalation of the conflict, and mitigating some of its most dire and overlooked consequences. This includes, for example, supporting efforts to prevent gender-based violence and human trafficking among displaced Ukrainians, especially women, girls, those with disabilities, and unaccompanied and separated children who are all at especially high risk.
Conflict resolution. An important part of resolving conflict and building peace involves supporting the process by which a country makes amends for past abuses and atrocities committed by a government. These judicial and nonjudicial processes are a critical component of peace-building work and a place where philanthropy can play an important role by, for instance, hosting gatherings for civil-society organizations.
That is the approach taken by the Bergof Foundation, which recently hosted an international symposium with the Reckoning Project to exchange best practices on collecting testimony about war crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians. The goal is to reduce duplication of efforts among experts engaged in this work and to begin analyzing results.
Supporting stable, resilient societies. Just days after Russia’s invasion, Open Society Foundations announced the launch of the Ukraine Democracy Fund, now operating with a budget of more than $40 million and involving other large donors such as the Ford Foundation. The Ukraine Democracy Fund rightfully garnered the most media attention given Open Society Foundations’ initial commitment of $25 million and its ability to act quickly. But many other donors are making deep and creative investments to help Ukraine develop the infrastructure needed to weather the post-conflict era when it eventually arrives.
For example, Ford has drawn connections between its International Cooperation and Governance program and the war in Ukraine. “We see our work related to Ukraine as part of this effort to more effectively build systems that allow countries to participate in international cooperation in a way that is sustainable and effective,” senior program officer Salih Booker told Philanthropy News Digest. He noted that “we cannot solve violent conflict without a greater global governance and international cooperation effort.”
Other grant makers have sought to help rebuild a strong and peaceful Ukraine through issue specific grants. This includes the Simons Foundation’s support for Ukrainian scientists and Howard Buffett’s efforts to help farmers and rebuild infrastructure. Other investments, such as the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation’s grant to the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, focus on increasing access to justice by documenting and seeking redress from war crimes committed by Russian soldiers. Philanthropy can also invest in systems of accountability and transparency, democracy building, including free and fair elections, and the rule of law — all critical components of stable and resilient societies.
For some newcomers to the peace and security field, it might be helpful to think of the three areas outlined above as a continuum. For example, in building resilient, democratic societies will help prevent conflict, while the processes involved in conflict resolution help warring factions feel they have a stake in a society they helped build.
In other words, grant makers interested in supporting peace work in Ukraine and elsewhere have myriad options for strategic investments along the conflict continuum. Even better news: a dedicated, passionate community of donors is ready to jointly fund, collaborate, and welcome them into this critical work.
