Estonians' donations to Ukraine have dried up in recent years
Donations to Ukraine have decreased. For example, the nonprofit Mondo received three times less in the first half of this year than in the whole of last year. The Estonian Red Cross has also seen a drop in donations in recent months.
Since the start of the full-scale war, humanitarian aid organizations have been collecting donations for Ukraine. In the past six months, Mondo has received a total of €67,000, most of which was donated specifically to support Ukraine. This money has helped Ukrainians get through the winter, become more self-reliant and support Ukrainian children's mental health.
However, Mondo's head of communications, Kelli Eek, acknowledged that donations to the organization have been declining.
"In the first year of the full-scale war, Mondo received €2.4 million, most of it for Ukraine. The amount has dropped significantly each year. In 2023, it was nearly half a million and last year it was €180,000," Eek said.
On Tuesday, after a two-year investigation, the Prosecutor's Office charged Johanna-Maria Lehtme, the former head of NGO Slava Ukraini, with abuse of trust and embezzlement of donated funds. According to prosecutors, the total damage caused by Lehtme amounts to nearly €450,000.
"Support for Ukraine has fallen over the years, but at Mondo we wouldn't say that's directly caused by or related to the Slava Ukraini case," Eek added.
From January through the end of July this year, €128,000 was donated to the Estonian Red Cross to aid Ukraine, most of which goes directly to the Ukrainian Red Cross. Kirill Badikin, the Estonian Red Cross's crisis manager and board member, links the decline in donations to several factors.
"In recent months, we have indeed noticed a drop in donations for supporting both Ukraine and Ukrainians staying in Estonia. There could be several reasons. We believe it's due to general donor fatigue, of course economic difficulties and certainly the public attention given to cases like Slava Ukraini," Badikin said.
Badikin noted that alleged cases of misuse of donations have seriously affected public perceptions of humanitarian aid organizations.
"Of course, the Slava Ukraini case — and unfortunately it's not the only one — has played a role. We've also heard of various other organizations that have, in one way or another, become involved in incidents that have attracted public attention," the Red Cross crisis manager and board member added.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Johanna Alvin
