In early September, the world traditionally marks the International Day of Charity. Today, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is the largest private charitable foundation in Ukraine. In the span of 15 years, five million Ukrainians survived thanks to Rinat Akhmetov. And this is a unique scale of one person help, which is of great value.
According to a study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Foundation’s activity is known to the vast majority of Ukrainians. Its experience of rescuing people amidst the armed conflict remains unprecedented in Ukraine. Such high results were achieved when Rinat Akhmetov decided to implement projects and programs at the national level. Their main goal is to create new social standards and a better future for society starting from today.
Thus, the Foundation helped the country cope with the tuberculosis epidemic. It launched a national campaign to combat cancer. When Ukraine faced the COVID-19 pandemic, Rinat Akhmetov was the first to come to aid. He allocated more than UAH 450 million for the fight against the coronavirus under the project Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine, which is part of the program Rinat Akhmetov – Saving Lives. This is the largest, systematic and large-scale private initiative aimed at helping public healthcare institutions in the fight against the new disease. In the shortest possible time, hub hospitals across the country received 207 lung ventilators, more than 300,000 rapid COVID-19 tests, more than 200,000 items of personal protective equipment and consumables, and 155 oxygen concentrators. In total, more than 500 healthcare facilities across the country received assistance from the Foundation. The scale of the assistance is unprecedented, and the project Fighting COVID-19 in Ukraine has improved the quality of healthcare services in the country. Part of this project was the educational series Digital Physical Education Lessons for Schoolchildren with the Participation of Sports Stars. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) recognized it with a prestigious international award – IPRA Golden World Awards – for creativity, quality of strategy and achieved results.
Another large-scale initiative was the project 200 Ambulances for Ukraine. Public healthcare facilities in all regions of the country received 200 ultra-modern ambulances, namely 114 resuscitation vehicles, 22 neonatal ambulances to save the lives of new-borns, and 64 unique medical off-roaders to run in the most remote countryside areas. The project has also improved the quality of emergency medical care for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.
A number of areas in the Foundation’s activity list are focused on helping children. Thanks to the program Rinat Akhmetov for Children. No to Orphanhood! almost 10,000 children from boarding schools found happiness in new families. It made the once taboo topic of orphanhood popular, and the Foundation became a leader in national child adoption.
The Foundation is the only one in Ukraine that provides systematic and large-scale help for children from Donbass to undergo psychological or physical rehabilitation. It also provides kids with high-sensitivity hearing aids (earphones) that help them develop on a par with their peers.
‘The main principle of the Foundation’s activity is the philosophy of its Founder: to help here and now, especially when it comes to saving human lives and health, and at the same time, to implement systemic changes. For that reason, in addition to helping five million people, the Foundation is also involved in helping at the level of social change and in creating new social standards. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is not only a leader of national charity, but also part of the global charitable community, and since 2015 we have been members of the EFC. This gives us the opportunity to bring the world’s best charity practices to Ukraine. At the same time, it gives us the full right to say that the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation operates in accordance with world’s best practices, as the best world foundations – by the same standards, with the same focus, and with the same efficiency. And thus, sets trends for other charitable organizations,’ said Natalya Yemchenko, a member of the Foundation’s Supervisory Board.
