The Ukraine Crisis

Hello and welcome to the Philanthropy Impact Podcast where we discuss all things philanthropy And sustainability. Hi, and welcome to Philanthropy Impact's Walk in My Shoes series for members. The events unfolding in Ukraine are at the forefront of many people's minds right now with the UNHCR. Estimating that over one point five million have crossed into neighbouring countries in the space.

devastating blow to the efforts already in place to tackle the global displacement crisis that we are facing across the world. Philanthropy Impact exists to be a resource for those who want to tackle some of the world's pressing issues. So today we are hosting a special session to answer the question how can advisors support their clients and action support in response to the Ukraine

My name is Sophia Sahanig and I'm the Director of Membership and Development here at Philanthropy Impact and the person to talk to if you'd like to know more about our training and how to make the most of your membership with us, you can reach me in the chat or I'll share my email at the end if you're watching on YouTube.

As always, we will try to keep this session this discussion to strictly 30 minutes, although I have a feeling it will be hard. We do encourage you to use the chat to introduce yourselves and have your say and please pose questions to ask. Our chair for this discussion is Philanthropy Impacts Board Chair Rennie Hoare, who's partner and head of Philanthropy at Chaware Co. And joining Rennie, we welcome Envah Solomon, who's the CEO of the Refugee Council, and Eloisa Pizarro.

Sorry if I'm getting this wrong guys, from the donor advice fund Prospero World and Constantine C. Vokkin, who is also a trustee of Prospero World, and a very last-minute edition who was able to join us at just two hours' notice. uh Laura Kirksmith, who's the UK Executive Director of the IRC, who are also a member of the Disaster Emergency Committee. Thank you all so much for joining us today and I will now pass over to John. Amen, Renee.

Sorry, Renee. Sorry. It's the last two weeks have been John. Sorry, Renee. Yeah, well, I mean good to mix things up then. And thank thanks very much to what's an absolutely fantastic panel and helping people draw together information and be able to to move quickly is absolutely essential. Um

trying to get down down into the heart of things. Laura, I think if I could come to you first and just Firstly, to understand what it's like being part of the Disasters Emergency Committee, and then what you're seeing on the ground and the response so far would be massively helpful. Thanks very much and so the International Rescue Committee is one of 15 member agencies of the Disasters Emergency Committee and as you will have seen we launched an appeal last Thursday

The response has been absolutely incredible. We have um already, as you may have seen this morning, we've already hit um a hundred million in um donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Um so it has been fantastic, but of course the needs are vast and growing all the time. And I think we're set for a really long um and um ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud.

You don't need me to tell you how awful the situation is. We can all see it on our um on our TV screens. Um the IRC um has a presence in Poland already. We're just um expanding our presence uh inside Ukraine. We've seen one million people flee across that border into Poland already. The vast majority are women and children. Of course, husbands and brothers and men are having to stay inside Ukraine. They're being turned away out there.

um at the border. Their needs are incredibly great as they cross the border. The average wait time to get across that border is um uh is three days now um and there's very little emergency relief available as they're they're queuing to get across. So they'll have

a suit case at best, and sometimes nothing. The temperatures are freezing sub-zero at the moment, so they would have been waiting in the snow. So in terms of the needs and the response that the DEC members are prioritising Mae'r nifer ymwneud ymwneud yn ymwneudol yn ymwneudol yn ymwneudol, yn ymwneudol, yn ymwneudol, yn ymwneudol, yn ymwneudol.

But there's a lot more to it than that as well. So of course um providing items is one thing that we can do, sort of material goods, um, but actually providing emergency cash to families fleeing is really important as well. Um the shop

in Poland um and in other neighbouring countries are stocked with goods that they need still. It's just that they've fled without um ymwneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw'n cael ei wneud â nhw Mae'r pethau o'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau'r pethau.

So it's a m a multifaceted response, but really uh when when we're talking about crisis and emergency, that that's the the situation which is being seen on the ground at the moment. Um If I could come to you, please, and first just to understand how you've got into this role and a bit of your journey, and then also understanding how the Refugee Council operates and the part it can play.

Yeah, th thanks. So I I took over as Chief Executive Refugee Council uh nearly eighteen months ago and and actually it's quite a personal journey for me. My my mother came to the UK in the sixties fleeing political persecution in apartheid. South Africa and my father's uh family were ju were Jewish refugees into the UK um many decades ago now. So for me as someone that has refugees

i in in my body, so to speak. Uh it's it's it's a very much a personal journey to be doing this role now. And at the Refugee Council we work With up to 15,000 people that come to the UK each year as refugees supporting them to integrate into the UK. to access all the things that they need to rebuild their lives. And for those that are going through the process of being allowed to stay in the UK, we help them on that journey.

uh meeting their needs. A a big demand is therapeutic help and support. And actually what we're doing at the moment is we're mobilising to be ready to support Ukrainians when they arrive in the UK. There's a bit of a political storm taking place as we speak about the government's uh pretty lame, uh mean spirited response to dates, unlike other EU countries. Um, but we know Ukrainians will be coming here.

how to get their kids into school. They'll have immediate needs about therapeutic support'cause they'll have gone through a great deal of trauma and they'll need general orientation and we uh mobilized to be able to work with the Ukrainians to provide that support for them because we s we know that first period of arrival and settling and then beginning to integrate is so critical.

I th I think that bit of of scaling up and making sure that you've got the institutional readiness to accept of what is a very predictable wave that that will be coming and and how do you help people on um that assimilation but also I think the huge Trauma that that needs to be cancelled is is a good thing.

Critical. I And I think that that bit of preparation, other tools that can be brought to bear. Con Constantin, I I know that um obviously so far we've talked about and the tools that can can be used. You've you have a slightly different angle of thinking about things from impact investment, ESG. Are there things that we can be be doing there and beginning to think about?

I um I became part of the truss uh board of trustees of Prospero World just very recently, just less than a month. And kind of my rationale behind this was to Um as our organization is moving more towards is G compliance and particularly focusing on the S part, which is social, um at the time when most companies are thinking are thinking about envi environmental and and governance. Um so I wanted to see how um how I could learn um about various tools about creation

tangible positive social impact and then implementing that knowledge into developing uh effective tools for for the ESG strategy. So this is about um finding out what really works. It's not about just a box ticking exercise or no And I I know that many organizations in in the UK have uh their own foundations and they're using um funding from um from those foundations to support humanitarian aid. This is how they're trying to

um I suppose to cover the kind of the S part, the the social, so being um supporting the communities. So that's really kind of one of one of the main angles.

Really helpful. And and Anaisa, if I I can come to you in terms of thinking about that use of different toolkits. There's a huge amount of possible options out there, due diligence, people absolutely wanting to help. It's been amazing the response, as as other panelists have said, and since the started, it's incredible. Everybody wants to help and everybody wants to do something. So what we've done, um, we've

And of course in a situation like this, it's incredibly fast paced, incredibly changing. There's infrastructural issues within Ukraine. It's yeah it's a highly complex um changing situation. So we we are focusing on looking at and um both outside Ukraine and we're working with some people on the borders of Poland, particularly with refugees arriving, but also within country We're looking at identifying specifically what

What is needed and what can be done with all the usual checks in place, but obviously it needs to be done urgently. So we've looked at about 30 organizations. We've had um large. problems trying to get hold of our own partners, the Klitschko Foundation are one of our um we've we have a fiscal sponsorship program, they're one of our partners. We haven't been able to contact them for eight days, which is a huge worry.

But there are a huge number of civil society groups who are working under the umbrella of established organizations. So we've been targeting those organizations, finding out what's going on where and what's needed. And we've been looking at groups in Europe, in the States, we spoke to people in Germany last week, the Netherlands, like all over the place. So we're trying to do um some due diligence and assess what's needed when so that we can help people to to really focus their giving.

And give it in a targeted way, both within Ukraine and outside. But it changes every day, every minute, as everybody is aware from hearing the news. And and those organisations that you're you're seeking to do things with, are they Reg registered charities, civil society organizations, so

n none of the above. What what what what type of form are you are you searching at? It's a c it's a combination of both. So um my background's in crisis response. I've worked in Zimbabwe, in Myanmar, in um Syria and various different places. And what um I've sort of found across the board, this is a very unique situation, but what I found across the board is that the role of civil society in the situation of panic and crisis.

is incredibly powerful. But obviously you have to work through, you know, regulator channels. You you have to ensure that a donor's funding is being used in the right way. So we're looking at um at local organisations and their international partners and seeing where we can add value. So one of the things that we do is, as I said, this fiscal sponsorship programme, which means that we can accept donations from UK taxpayers in a tax efficient way.

Um and we've been looking at at how to channel that funding. um having maximized it by accepting it here, being able to claim the gift aid, do all the checks and balances, and then go through vetted organizations who are working with civil society within Ukraine and on the borders. caring for the needs of refugees who you know need as as Um as Laura said, quite basic but also quite complex things that need to be done sort of now.

So we're trying to activate the sort of civil society groups that we have, but under the umbrella of registered charities, whether they're American 501c3s or whether they're European entities. within Ukraine itself, um registered charities, including our partners who haven't been able to contact, but we'll continue to attempt to contact them.

And that trade off between speed and safety is a really difficult one as there's an emerging crisis. And uh look. Laura, I when when talking about the the developments on on the ground, um I think that it sounds like a partnership approach, people who are who are specialised and and doing their specific roles.

C can you explain a little bit more about how how certainly even the 15 organizations which you're you're the tapestry with, how that works in practice and how how do you make that as strong a body as possible? Yn yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw.

responders, there are some fantastic NGOs um already operational in uh inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. Um local government is also really important for us as a partner. Of course they're the first one to provide um services both inside Ukraine and uh and neighbouring countries. So we've been going through um similar uh you know processes to what Ala Louise was describing in terms of um firming up agreements with um with local partners.

Rydyn ni'n gwybod, ond ofyn nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod, ond maen nhw'n gwybod. um in terms of growing needs. So um Rydyn ni'n ymwneud â'r ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â'r Ymwneud â

overwhelming those local partners with 15 approaches at one time. You know, we will we will do the coordination um bit first between us. Um But I think it's also just very you know beyond partners um what the DEC enables us to do is to um coordinate both our assessment of the needs um but then also the um the response to those needs in terms yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n yw'n

gyda'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r llawer o'r leads on cash distribution and ensure that it's as um effective a response as it can be in a very, very challenging and fluid situation. Ru I mean fascinating to hear how it all all fits together. Constantine, there's a question that's come up in the chat. I'd I don't know whether as trustee and sort of custodian of of things you'd feel comfortable answering it. It's it's saying what

What are the challenges in terms of accepting donations from Russian donors and uh are there things that that need to be considered there? If if that isn't one you're comfortable with, we can we can definitely pass pass over. So probably Ana Luisa would be better placed um answering this question. Sure. So we have quite strict um checks that we have to do about source of funds and who we're receiving funds from. And

that t you know, it takes a variety of different ways, but we do have to check where it's coming from. And that's something that our bank requires, something that our constitution requires. So it is something that we would look at. But of of course we wouldn't reject funding from a Russian

who wanted to do good. Um we'd obviously need to check anybody whether they were Russian or non-Russian to see what their source of funds were and if there was any kind of conflict we would send that back and there have been cases in the past where we've sent things back, not in this scenario. But um but yeah in our historically we we send we descent fund back and don't receive them if we think there's anything that rings alarm bells.

I was I would just give a personal example. I have some Russian friends that that donated and they all wanted to do this anonymously because they're saying there is a law that if you support the the enemy, this is treason. Uh and that's why, you know, they're hiding the names, they're giving money but they don't want anybody to know.

And and through that then is that a benefit of a donor advice fund, giving one one layer of of sort of opacity and allowing people to help without feeling as as though the the government can then step in. Exactly.

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can do things that they might feel endangered of. And as Constantine said, we've received so many anonymous donations. Um it's yeah, it's something that we're very mindful of. Yeah. Yeah, that makes makes a lot of sense. So Ember in in this we've been talking about due diligence and partners

It feels you're you're in scale mode, but are are you looking at people who are operating um in Poland on the on the border and and beginning to look at those those bridges of how people can get inside your stable of expertise and assistance.

Yeah, no, uh absolutely. I mean what what we're starting to look at is is look at the network of of Ukrainian and Eastern European community organisations a across the UK actually, who are going to be so pivotal and so important in welcoming Ukrainians and providing

that's um that support around them when they start coming to the UK, which is already happening in in other parts of of of Europe. I mean obviously in Poland where there's a large Ukrainian community already, you know, that's underway. But

There there is a significant Ukrainian community here in the in the UK and you know we we we're looking to build networks with those organizations, many of them will be quite fragile, quite small, they won't have much capacity or capability, and we want to be able to Develop a program where we can quickly ensure that they build up their capacity and capability. We've done something very similar in the UK with Afghan organizations.

uh to enable them to support the wave of Afghans that have come to the UK. in recent months and we want to do the same with the Ukrainian community organisations here as well. Cause'cause they're gonna be, as I say, you know, play a really important role. Cause when Ukrainians arrive, they will plug into their Community networks that people will tell them about, and that's the best route to get support to them.

Yeah, so I I I think understanding where people might land and then and then trying to build out from those safe and trusted networks where probably not much feels that's safe and trusted is going to be vital.

And Laura, um one one of the things that certainly is is fascinating is big charities it feels have the resources to be able to take money in and scale up very, very quickly. And That that I think is a huge appeal for right now. Do you do you feel that then there will be a point where there are more targeted smaller partners that do very specific things that you'll have you'll have to bring in or what what does what does the next wave of of activity look like?

Yeah, I think that's right. We can scale up quickly, but as as we've touched on, we can't do that without the local um partners. So we're sort of um

uh you know, we're trying to get the programs off the ground at the same time as we're writing the strategy for um what those programs will look like um ultimately. So you sort of find the areas where you know you can make a big um difference quickly. Um mewn gwirionedd ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud ymwneud hynny. yn ymwneud â'r newyddion i'r newyddion i'r newyddion i'r newyddion i'r newyddion i'r newyddion i'r newyddion.

Rwy'n credu bod yn gweithio gyda'r llwydwyr sy'n gweithio, mae'r llwydwyr sy'n gweithio, mae'r llwydwyr sy'n gweithio, mae'r llwydwyr sy'n gweithio, mae'r llwydwyr sy'n gweithio stuff um but information on how they can you know where they can get a train to wherever they want to get to or who they if you know if they need legal aid who they can speak to or yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r yw'r

uh about how they can can meet their own needs. Um yeah.

Ver very useful. And I'm thinking of then the assistance that people can can play Obviously a lot of the the Philanthropy Impact members are advisors to high net worth individuals, ultra high net worth individuals. What play what role can these advisors

play in being able to get funds in the right place, assist assist their um their clients through it. Constantine, I s I see you no if I could come to you first. I this is It feels that there's a timely aspect of it and and how people can really assess Yeah. Well the the advisor's role is ultimately to make the donors and investors' lives easier. That's how I look at it. And professional advisors need to provide solutions to donors and

investors that they um don't have time or resources to to develop themselves. This is not something they can find online. Um so to give you an example using using Ukraine. Um uh um i if a donor wants to make a donation um towards the humanitarian aid in Ukraine, he or she can easily find an organization and make a donation and feel good about it.

Um however this donor might not know that now many charities are struggling to deliver humanitarian aid because of all sorts of logistical problems and Ana Luisa was mentioning earlier. infrastructure issues and bottlenecks and and so on. Um so therefore um knowledgeable um and creative advisor uh who would be able to do the research on the ground and as as Laura mentioned earlier, um having contacts there on the ground.

understanding what the real issues are is is very important. So at Prospero we mobilise our um network on the ground. Um I sp I personally speak with uh people in the Ukrainian government who are coordinating uh humanitarian aid. daily now, including weekends, they haven't slept for 11 days since the war started. And I'm also in contact, for example, with the coordination center at the Embassy of Ukraine in Kiev.

call my personal contacts in Ukraine, different cities to really understand what the issues what the current issues are. um and and what the situation is because the situation changes dramatically um ev every day and the priorities change as well. So it's very important to understand what the issues are the problems are, bottleneck. want to be able to have a targeted response that really makes a difference.

And and with that, then you see some amazing efforts that have happened in terms of people collecting. rugs and medical supplies and they're they're getting convoys of vans out there. Uh it when weighing up such a dynamic situation. Is money always the best thing to give, or how how do you play the provision of of things that are very tangible into being an assistance? Or does that maybe block

other much more structured agencies from from doing things. So it um it it just seems that sometimes being well intentioned, it might be going into the wrong place. I think Rainy you're you're absolutely right, but um my view on this is it's a combination of a big structured approach, but it takes time, right? You need different committees to look at it and agree, it takes time.

But people need help now. Um and therefore in my view there's got to be both structural, big approach, bigger issues, bigger help from larger organizations, and at the same time, smaller targeted a um um that that targets kind of specific needs on the ground that can be delivered very quickly, you know, as you Rayney said, uh using vans and lorries that that are going now.

Yeah, I've had someone from my street go and load a whole load of stuff out. It's a I mean truly amazing to see what people are doing. Um John, I I see you're you're come sweeping on for us to still down our best ideas, so I will I will hand over to you.

Okay, thank you. Um that's absolutely fabulous. I think we can go for another hour or two, but Sophia said it's 30 minutes. So we have to do as we're told. Probably the first time I'm doing what I'm told. Anyway, the role of philanthropists is really key and also professional advisors as Constantine has mentioned. This is really essential. Uh thank you, Enver, Constantine, Anna, and Laura for for speaking and making this really interesting but enlightening.

but also for what your organizations are doing to help in a really difficult situation. And so thank you. So I'm going to ask each one of you 30 seconds, final words of wisdom that everyone can take away. Uh it's so interesting that not one person has left uh that joined us. So that's really quite unusual and fabulous. So um let's start with Laura.

Felly, mae'n mynd i mewn gwirionedd yn ymwneud â llawer o Gymru, ond rwy'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'n mynd i'

Ukraine produces a lot of wheat. Places like Yemen and Afghanistan that are already in crisis are reliant on Ukraine for exports. So this isn't happening in isolation. There's a lot of need in the world and we can't let Yemenis and Afghans be the victims of this um crisis in uh in Ukraine too. Great, thank you very much, Andrew.

Yeah, I I'd absolutely endorse that point that that Laura makes. I think I think it's really important. Um the the other thing I I would say, and it's really just uh validating what someone's puts in in the chat that it's important to have faith in organisations who who have a track record.

and experience in this space. You know, we've been operating for 70 years. We supported Vietnamese boat people when they came decades ago, people fleeing the horrendous war in the former Yugoslavia in the Balkans. uh and and and have trust uh in organizations that that have the internal expertise, capability, and capacity to respond. Thank you. Anna.

Um Laura said what I was going to say actually, we were talking to somebody this morning in Kenya who is actually talking exactly about the grain situation and we have partners in eastern Yemen and Afghanistan and it's something we've been talking about as whilst of course we're prioritizing this at the moment. It's a stamina game as well. So um we hope very much that people will continue to support the efforts that are being done in Ukraine as well and alongside um the other

the other situation which are, you know, really in need of support also. And this is not uh going away overnight, this is a long game. So stamina, I think, is the key. Thank you. Constantine. Um as a Ukrainian, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who has organized this event and to everybody who is supporting Ukraine now during these difficult times. And all the help and support has been incredible.

big thank you. Uh this is personal to you as well, isn't it? Because that's where you're from. My my my family is there. Yeah. So well our hearts go out to you. Or any the last word. I th I think with this the sharing of information and finding those those trusted partners, as as Ember said is is critical. I know Philanthropy Impact have have published a list that people can can use. Just it's a as people see high quality ways of getting involved, um, please share them.

There's no use in bottling them up. I think as philanthropists, if we can act in a coordinated way and we can really make sure that best practices shared as far and wide as possible, we'll be doing what needs to be done. Great, thank you very much, Sophia. Hi. No, that was great. Thank you, everybody. We've had great attendance and we've had someone listening on their dog walk, apparently, as well, so thank you very much.

ymwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud â'iwneud. We are about to do our first face-to-face event, so I do need to just mention that right now, although to me it feels slightly wrong right now, but we are. So we're back together, we're going to be doing something at Seahor Co.

On the 15th of March in the evening after work. It's going to be a networking event where we're going to be exploring technology and its impact on professional advisors and their clients. So I hope to see you there. It's open to our whole audience. Thank you all and have a lovely week. Bye-bye. Thank you.