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Financial News
Mar 14, 2022
There are plenty of ways to give, but do your research and avoid scams.
As the war in Ukraine continues, you may want to give to charities or fundraisers that support humanitarian aid to that country. Since February, nearly five million refugees have fled the Russian invasion, which has so far resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, and tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure damage to Ukraine.
People across the globe are coming up with creative ways to donate to Ukraine. Airbnb users reportedly booked 61,000 stays with Ukrainian hosts on March 2 and 3 of this year alone. Various GoFundMe campaigns have raised $20 million in aid for Ukraine in the past few months. And more than $10 million in cryptocurrency donations reportedly has poured in for critical supplies including gas, food, and equipment.
The impulse to give during times of crisis is natural. And even during the best of times, Americans like to give, donating a record $471 billion to charity in 2020. In fact, sensible giving can be worked into your budget. And charitable donations may also be tax-deductible, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
But you want to give wisely. Some organizations have noted a rise in scams trying to take advantage of Ukraine donations, for example through fake charities and phishing, among others. Phishing is a way to extract personal information from people, typically by sending emails that appear to come from reputable sources, for fraudulent purposes.
Fraud is a big issue, with consumers losing nearly $6 billion to scams in 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a government agency for consumer protection.
Here are some ideas for giving wisely:
In the meantime, Charity Navigator has compiled a list of charities helping Ukraine during the crisis. The list includes International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and Unicef. You can find the full list here.
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