Nova Ukraine

Nova Ukraine is a US-based 501(c)(3) organization (nonprofit) dedicated to supporting Ukraine with humanitarian aid and strengthening civil society in Ukraine. Founded in 2014, the organization significantly expanded its operations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As of May 2024, Nova Ukraine has delivered over $103 million worth of aid to Ukraine, helping more than 7.4 million people.

The organization was founded in the aftermath of Euromaidan as an extension of the Maidan SF movement. The name - Nova Ukraine - translates as "New Ukraine". Registered in California as a 501(c)(3) organization, Nova Ukraine is focused on providing humanitarian aid, evacuation services, and supporting infrastructure on the ground. Nova Ukraine provides aid to vulnerable populations, including refugees, children, and wounded defenders (border guards, soldiers, national guardsmen, etc) undergoing medical treatment. Nova Ukraine delivers aid via partnerships with hospitals, local volunteer groups, state services and local authorities, Ukrainian manufacturing and distribution companies.

Organizational structure and purpose
Nova Ukraine's Board of directors is currently co-chaired by co-founders Ostap Korkuna and Nick Bilogorskiy. The organization operates through a large volunteer base that is culturally diverse and represents a variety of professional backgrounds. Official business is conducted primarily in English, but Ukrainian language is also used.

Charitable and philanthropic goals
Nova Ukraine works to improve lives of the Ukrainians in need through healthcare, education and other essential aid. The nonprofit assists Ukraine in recovering from economic and social upheavals, while nurturing the civil society. It also focuses on promoting and sharing Ukrainian culture in the U.S. Organization’s aid is directed towards vulnerable populations in Ukraine, including refugees and internally displaced persons, children, and families impacted by war.

Nova Ukraine views itself as "a hub for humanitarian and educational support, serving as a charitable version of venture capital" in the sense that it selects impactful and effective initiatives, then provides them with funding and assistance necessary for success. The selection process favors
 * initiatives that "foster resilience, hope, and self-sufficiency" for the people of Ukraine,
 * partnerships and projects that provide resources for "cultural growth and social mobility, as well as an environment to thrive in the future."
 * long-term objectives of "building a strong, flourishing nation with an empowered civil society."

Geographic structure
Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, in the heart of Silicon Valley, Nova Ukraine originally aimed to leverage the region's technical and financial acumen to support Ukraine. Its operations then expanded to nearby metropolitan areas and states, including Southern California, Washington state, Nevada and Utah. In February and March 2022, Nova Ukraine ramped up humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In that year, Nova Ukraine extended its operations to cover New York state, Washington DC as well as Europe. A subsidiary office was established in Kyiv, Ukraine with reporting teams and warehouses in several Ukrainian cities. During 2022, Nova Ukraine has provided the equivalent of $55.5 million in humanitarian aid, which included food, essential medical and other life-saving supplies as well as assistance to refugees in the US and Europe.

Team structure
Nova Ukraine volunteers are operating through structural teams, allowing volunteers to focus on the work they enjoy most, while also optimizing their help to Ukraine. Current team structure includes including finance, medical, logistics, ground ops, refugee support, education and culture, fundraising and grant-writing, donor ops, human resources, Web site, social media, marketing and advertisement, animal welfare, as well as special-projects teams. Individual teams are given budgets that they can allocate, while also being responsible for financial and media reports for individual projects.

Activities and accomplishments
Nova Ukraine organizes cultural events and street rallies in the San Francisco Bay Area, delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and works closely with other nonprofits and volunteers focused on helping Ukraine. In 2022, Nova Ukraine joined the American Coalition for Ukraine to participate in Ukraine advocacy initiatives.

2014
In 2014, Nova Ukraine collected and donated nearly $100,000 towards humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Since July 2014, Nova Ukraine supports Station Kharkiv, a volunteer initiative that provides aid to internally displaced people and hundreds of families from the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone.

In August 2014 Nova Ukraine co-organized the performance of the Ukrainian band Skryabin in San Francisco. The band donated part of the concert's revenue to charitable projects carried out by Nova Ukraine.

Another fundraiser held in September 2014 featured Ruslana, a Eurovision contest winner and Euromaidan revolution activist. The charity auction brought together over two hundred people, mostly Tech Gem 2014 conference attendees. The raised money was transferred to Ruslana's Ukrainian Sunrise Charitable Foundation for the needs of internally displaced people in Ukraine.

In February 2014 Okean Elzy gave their jubilee concert called "OE - 20 Years Together". Organized by the joint initiative of two California-based nonprofit organizations, Nova Ukraine and "Save Lives Together", Okean Elzy concert donated all the profits from the ticket sales to buy medications for hospitals and to equip ambulances operating in the area of the military conflict in Ukraine. The necessary medical equipment worth $23,000 was bought and directly distributed in the most needed regions of Ukraine.

2015
Nova Ukraine started the multi-year Heart2heart program (no relation to Heart to Heart International), where volunteers in the San Francisco Bay area collect donations from ordinary people (mostly used clothes and canned food), sort them and package for transportation to Ukraine by sea. In Ukraine, donations are delivered to local volunteers, who pass them to vulnerable populations: disadvantaged families, disabled people, children of fallen defenders, children in orphanages and hospitals, etc.

2018 and 2019
In 2018, the Heart2Heart program delivered 80,000 pounds of humanitarian aid (donations from ordinary people) in Ukraine, spending a total of $41.5K for the project on warehousing and transportation. In 2019, over 55,000 pounds of humanitarian aid was delivered to Ukraine, with a $54.5K spend. Each year, some 600 pounds of Christmas and New Year presents were delivered to children in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Odesa, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Volyn oblasts as well as parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts remaining under control of the Kyiv government.

2020
In 2020, Nova Ukraine, like other institutions around the world, focused its activities on countering the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, doctors were in urgent need of personal protective equipment such as medical masks, respirators, gloves and gowns to protect themselves from the disease, and Nova Ukraine organized a fundraiser and doubled the $6,000 raised to purchase them. In April, the amount of money raised reached $75,000, and the work did not stop there. As of May 2020, a total of 4255 FPP2 respirators were purchased together with Patients of Ukraine to distribute to 14 Ukrainian hospitals in 8 regions of Ukraine: Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava, Kyiv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, and Zakarpattia. 2,000 bio-costumes to protect doctors and nurses were purchased. In August of 2020, Nova Ukraine shifted focus on buying oxygen concentrators for frontline hospitals of Ukraine. Together with Patients of Ukraine they bought and distributed 17 oxygen concentrators to hospitals across Ukraine that needed them the most.

2022
In February 2022, Nova Ukraine started providing emergency aid to Ukrainians impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. During 2022, Nova Ukraine delivered over 1 million meals and 100,000 batches of supplies, recruited over 3,500 volunteers in Ukraine, and assisted over 1.25 million internally displaced persons and Ukrainian refugees worldwide.


 * In March 2022, Nova Ukraine teamed up with the Ukrainian Student Association at Stanford, the Ukrainian Association of Washington State, and the Ukrainian American Cultural Association of Oregon and Southwest Washington that collected and packaged $3.5M worth of medical supplies and equipment donated by local hospitals. The cargo included bandages, sterile surgery kits, needles and syringes, IV tubes and kits, pediatric medicines, medical equipment, syringes, life-saving first aid kits, etc. Nova Ukraine chartered an Airbus A330 plane from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, WA that delivered 32 tons of cargo to Lublin, Poland. The Ukrainian Honorary Consulate in Seattle, Gov. Jay Inslee’s office and the Port of Seattle also helped organize the effort. This cargo was then driven to Ukraine on trucks and handed off to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.


 * As of March 2022, 9,000 medical tourniquets were purchased, thanks to a partnership between Unite with Ukraine, the Ukrainian World Congress, the Lviv Volunteer Medical Battalion, and Nova Ukraine.


 * Nova Ukraine partnered with UNICEF USA for joint fundraising.


 * Nova Ukraine quickly put together a refugee-support team that developed comprehensive resources for Ukrainian refugees and helped many refugee families in the US, Mexico and Europe. In the Spring of 2022, before Ukrainian refugees were allowed to fly to the US, a number of families flew to Mexico. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees entered the US before April 25 through a dedicated border crossing at San Ysidro, after having stayed in "The Hub" --- a makeshift shelter in Tijuana located in a school gym and staffed by volunteers. Other refugees had to apply for humanitarian parole in Mexico City and remain there while their applications were processed. Nova Ukraine volunteers helped in several ways: by supplying refugee camps in Tijuana and Mexico City, by meeting refugees on the San Diego side of the San Ysidro border crossing and providing them with clothing and temporary accommodations, by helping refugees apply for humanitarian parole, by sponsoring webinars with legal advice, and even by paying for tickets to the United States in exceptional cases.
 * Nova Ukraine and the Canadian non-profit Firefighter Aid Ukraine (FAU) collected from fire stations across Canada over 108 pallets and two shipping containers of donated rescue equipment, protective clothing, and medical supplies. Over $3M worth of these donations were delivered to delivered to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (DSNS).
 * Nova Ukraine leveraged data and CRM capabilities to scale the efficiency of aid delivery. They deployed a grants management platform on Salesforce for Nonprofits with the help of Noltic, an Ukraine-based Salesforce implementation partner.

2023
Nova Ukraine published impact reports describing its activities and accomplishments. Key projects included the following.


 * Nova Ukraine upgraded over 50 Ukrainian hospitals and clinics providing neonatal care that were relying on outdated Soviet-era equipment. Working with partners, such as Zdorovi, Nova Ukraine procured, purchased and delivered modern equipment such as portable incubators for newborns and electric generators. Among hospitals not far from the frontlines, the Pavlohrad hospital received new baby cots, gynecological chairs, and other essential items. This project was funded by a donation from Pioneer Natural Resources.


 * After the Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Southern Ukraine on June 6 2023, Nova Ukraine teams and partners reached the disaster area within 24 hours. Nova Ukraine collected $50,000 in donations on the first day and $126,000 in one month through a Facebook fundraiser. Significant support was also provided from institutional partners such as Global Giving. Nova Ukraine delivered over 35 tons of food and drinking water as part of humanitarian aid to over 12,000 people impacted by flooding. Other aid included evacuations for over 3700 people and animals, as well as equipment for first responders.


 * In June 2023, Nova Ukraine helped organize a performance by Jamala --- a Ukrainian Eurovision winner --- in San Francisco, CA, part of her "Like a Bird" tour.


 * In response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing fighting in Ukraine, Nova Ukraine collaborated with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to establish 30 after-school learning centers across Ukraine under the "Zmistovno" brand. These centers provide Ukrainian children with essential educational resources, peer socialization opportunities, and support, while addressing the difficulties posed by remote learning and other socio-economic hardships.


 * Nova Ukraine, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has provided the Ohmatdyt Pediatric Clinic in Kyiv with the Hand Pediatric Mobility Rehabilitation System ARIA for physical rehabilitation of children with physical challenges.


 * The Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association (CFEBA) has awarded to Nova Ukraine a $50,000 Cornerstone Grant toward purchase and delivery of electric generators to hospitals and warming hubs throughout Ukraine.


 * Nova Ukraine is leveraging solar energy for educational institutions in Chernihiv that suffered during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Partnering with Nevados, an Oakland, CA-based solar equipment supplier, Nova Ukraine installs solar panels in schools, allowing them to operate during power outages.


 * The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine teamed up with Nova Ukraine to enhance digital education for Ukrainian children by providing digital devices and initiating STEM programs.
 * Nova Ukraine, in cooperation with Razom, Houston for Ukraine and MedGlobal, hosted a delegation of religious leaders from the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) for advocacy programming in Washington, D.C. and Houston, Texas. The delegation of Ukrainian clergy — Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim — came to Washington to impress upon policymakers the threat that Russia’s invasion of their country poses for religious freedom in a nation where pluralism has thrived, following the UNESCO and Institute for Religious Freedom reports about the damaged religious sites and threats to religious leaders.

Leadership and organizational transparency
As part of Charity Navigator's review of Nova Ukraine, Co-chairman of the Board Ostap Korkuna answered a variety of questions about the operation and accomplishments of Nova Ukraine in two recorded interviews in 2022 and 2023. As a result, Charity Navigator scored Nova Ukraine's leadership and flexibility at 100%. In 2024, Charity Navigator ranked Nova Ukraine with three stars, highlighting their acountability and financial metrics.

National Philanthropic Trust, one of the largest grant-making organizations in the US, profiled Nova Ukraine in March 2022.

Fiscal transparency
Nova Ukraine regularly posts its financial and impact reports online, where it discloses its budget by category and key statistics. In particular, its expense ratio (also known as overhead) has consistently been in low single percent, which is lower than for most US nonprofits.

Activities, partnerships and milestones
Nova Ukraine publishes an email newsletter and posts related content on its Web site. Important milestones are additionally highlighted by press releases. Ongoing activities, partnerships and recent accomplishments are covered on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads and YouTube (see External Links below).

Media transparency
Nova Ukraine has garnered significant media coverage for its diverse range of activities and initiatives aimed at supporting Ukraine. This coverage helped raise awareness of the humanitarian challenges in Ukraine and inspired others to help.

West-coast media
In the San Francisco Bay Area, The Forum with Alexis Madrigal on NPR/KQED invited Nova Ukraine several times for a live discussion. ABC7 News covered Nova Ukraine's support for US-bound refugees and for evacuation efforts in Ukraine. NBC Bay Area covered Nova Ukraine's humanitarian relief in the aftermath of Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.

In San Diego, The San Diego Union Tribune and Del Mar Times covered Nova Ukraine's support for refugees crossing in from Mexico.

In Seattle, Seattle Times and NBC Right Now covered the Airbus A330 that Nova Ukraine chartered from the Seattle Tacoma Airport to Lublin, Poland in March 2022 to deliver 32 tons of medical supplies to Ukraine.

US national media
Live interviews with Fox News and Bloomberg TV at the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian media
Forbes Ukraine included Nova Ukraine in the list of top nonprofits providing aid to Ukraine. In 2022, Voice of America Ukrainian produced and aired a TV program that covered the history of Nova Ukraine and interviewed Nova Ukraine directors.

Global media coverage
Central News Agency (Taiwan) covered street rallies organized by Nova Ukraine in February 2022 and interviewed Nova Ukraine director Ostap Korkuna.

CNN International aired two live interviews with Nova Ukraine director Igor Markov in May 2022 covering evacuations from besieged Mariupol and overall operations in Ukraine, as well as reaching the $30M fundraising milestone.

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat outlined how Nova Ukraine used technology to scale operations and fundraising, and published profiles of Nova Ukraine directors with photographs.

Recognition and awards

 * In 2014, Nova Ukraine was ranked the second most popular Ukrainian nonprofit organization in the U.S. by Ukrainian Chicago magazine.
 * In 2020, Nick Bilogorskiy ranked #31 on the Forbes UA list of "40 Global Ukrainians".
 * In 2022, Nick Bilogorskiy was honored by President Volodymyr Zelensky with Order of Merit (Ukraine) 3rd degree as the cofounder and cochair of Nova Ukraine.
 * In 2022, Forbes Ukraine ranked Nova Ukraine as #5 on its list of fundraising leaders in efforts to support Ukrainians.
 * On August 24, 2022 --- the Independence Day of Ukraine --- Nova Ukraine directors participated in flag-raising ceremonies at the San Francisco City Hall and San Jose City Hall.
 * In January 2023, the US nonprofits Nova Ukraine and Razom were jointly awarded the world record for the largest number of assembled electricity generators (1263) in the shortest time (30 days).
 * On February 24, 2023 --- the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine --- Nova Ukraine participated in the flag raising ceremony at the San Jose City Hall with Mayor Matt Mahan.
 * On August 24, 2023 --- the Independence Day of Ukraine --- Nova Ukraine directors participated in a flag-raising ceremony at the San Francisco City Hall with Mayor London Breed and a celebratory ceremony at the San Jose City Hall with Mayor Matt Mahan. Both mayors presented proclamations on the occasion of Ukraine’s Independence Day
 * On August 29, 2023 Nova Ukraine directors attended a Santa Clara City Council meeting, where Mayor Lisa Gillmor presented a proclamation on the occasion of Ukraine’s Independence Day.
 * In 2023, Ostap Korkuna was honored by President Volodymyr Zelensky with Order of Merit (Ukraine) 3rd degree as the cofounder and cochair of Nova Ukraine.