Ukrainian crisis: guide for charities

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in March 2022 sparked a humanitarian crisis that will likely last for years to come. Thousands of civilians have died and millions of people have been displaced across Europe and within Ukraine amid the bombardment of cities.

 

This crisis presents a raft of challenges for UK charities in how they support the Ukrainian people and around any relationships they may have with Russia, in terms of donors and beneficiaries. 

 

Cyber security fears have also been heightened with online threats increasingly being used in modern warfare and conflict. 

 

An increase in donations to support Ukrainian people also brings the threat of fraud with unscrupulous criminals looking to profit from the war.

 

Charities are also being increasingly called on to support the rising numbers of victims of human traffickers. In addition, animal charities are being asked to be on the guard, as they attempt to rescue pets from the ravaged region.

 

Here we round up the latest official and regulatory guidance that is available to help charities navigate their way through this humanitarian disaster to ensure they meet their regulatory and legal requirements.

 

 

Be careful of donations from Russia

 

The Charity Commission is already investigating charities that are not complying with latest regulations, especially around accepting funding from Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s regime and any links with Russian oligarchs, who are subject to financial sanctions.

 

According to the regulator’s guidance “all legal entities established under UK law, including charities, must comply with UK financial sanctions, wherever in the world their activities take place”.

 

At the end of March 2022, the regulator announced that it has opened a statutory inquiry into Jewish cultural charity Genesis Philanthropy Group as three of its trustees, Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and German Khan, have been named by the UK government as ‘designated persons’ and subject to sanctions. They have been removed as trustees and the charity’s bank account has been frozen.

 

Meanwhile, Downside Up, which supports people with Down Syndrome in Russia, became subject to a Charity Commission compliance case in March after it emerged that it has received funding from Putin’s Presidential Grants Fund. 

 

The charity has said it is “cooperating fully” with the regulators. “Downside Up is wholly apolitical. It is, like other charities with beneficiaries in Russia, wrestling urgently with what, if anything, it can do to continue to support those beneficiaries in the current situation," adds the charity in a statement. 

 

 

Supporting victims

 

The Charity Commission guidance also offers regulatory and legal advice on how charities can best support victims.

 

It urges charities to ensure that helping victims of war fits into their existing charitable objectives, which are set out in charities’ governing document. 

 

If these objectives “do not allow you to help, you may be able to amend your governing document to change them,” advises the Charity Commission. However, charities need to consider whether other charities may be better placed to help and any long-term impact on changing a charity’s objectives. 

 

The Charity Commission also reminds charities operating in war zones that they have a duty to protect and safeguard beneficiaries, volunteers, and staff. It has produced safeguarding guidance for trustees, as well as specific guidance on managing risks when working internationally. 

 

Meanwhile, advice has been offered to charities and other organisations looking to sponsor Ukrainians to be rehomed in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

 

Animal welfare charities have also been issued with guidance from the UK government’s Chief Vet Christine Middlemiss, to ensure any animals brought from Ukraine to be rehomed in the UK do not have rabies.

 

Her advice has been issued after border checks found a shipment of 19 animals in March had travelled to the UK on falsified rabies documentation.

 

 

Giving safely

 

The Charity Commission has linked up with the Fundraising Regulator to urge the public to ensure they give safely to support Ukrainian people and do not fall victim to fraud. The regulators also want to ensure people are donating to the best placed charities to support victims. 

 

The regulators are urging people to ensure they give only to registered charities, in particular aid charities involved in the Disasters Emergency Committee coalition, which is coordinating fundraising efforts and the distribution of support. 

 

“By giving to a registered, regulated charity, the public can have assurance that their funds will be accounted for in line with the charity law framework,”’ states their advice. “Established charities with experience of responding to disasters are usually best placed to reach victims on the ground.”

 

 

Be ‘cyber prepared and resilient’

 

Charity sector body NCVO is advising charities to be “cyber prepared and resilient” for potential cyber-attacks being launched on UK organisations by Russia. It warns that “part of modern warfare is cyber-attacks and our way of life, particularly how we run organisations, is vulnerable to malicious disruption”.

 

Advice the NCVO gives charities is to have updated disaster plans in place on how to respond in the event of “fire, terrorism, or IT failure”.

 

“This is about minimising disruption,” says NCVO’s guidance to charities. “Consider how you’d contact people if messaging and email providers stopped, if you couldn’t access your building, or if a critical number of staff and volunteers were unavailable.”