Who we are
We grew out of the 2014 volunteer initiative "SOS-Kramatorsk". Today the foundation runs humanitarian and social projects across Ukraine: from emergency aid to rebuilding schools.
Hands of Friends grew out of the volunteer initiative "SOS-Kramatorsk", born in 2014 when the war reached Donetsk oblast - local residents came together to help their own city and neighbouring communities. On 5 November 2015 the initiative became a separate registered legal entity. The partnership with UNICEF is a later, separate milestone: it began in 2016 and does not make the foundation an organization that existed in 2014. From the very start the foundation chose to work through institutions - communities, hospitals, schools; that remains its main model, while support for individual people is delivered within specific programmes. Operationally the foundation works from Kramatorsk - that is its working identity; its registered legal address is in the town of Bar, Vinnytsia oblast. The oblasts with documented projects, and the record behind each one, are on the "Where we work" map.
None of the reports tells the story behind the name "Hands of Friends" itself, so neither do we.
Exactly who is legally responsible for this site and for the projects on it. The data is quoted from the registration record, not paraphrased.
МБФ «Руки друзів»
RelationshipThe organization responsible for this site and for every project on it.
Content provenance: Source: public recordThe English legal name is ICF "Friends' Hands" (per the OCHA CBPF record); "Hands of Friends" is the display brand name, not the legal name.
OCHA CBPF, activity record 36997 (opens in a new tab)The registered legal address and the city the foundation works from every day are two different things, and neither stands in for the other.
Every entry carries a date, a source and a state of knowledge. Where there is no source we say so instead of filling the gap with an invented event.
2014
In April 2014, as the war in the east began, residents of Kramatorsk come together to help their own city and neighbouring communities. Per the foundation's report, the initiative helped more than 15,000 internally displaced people and organized more than 250 humanitarian deliveries. This is not a legal entity yet: the foundation is registered later.
Not publicly available - awaiting foundation material
Content provenance: Source: foundation material not supplied05.11.2015
On 5 November 2015 the initiative was registered as Благодійна організація «Міжнародний благодійний фонд «Руки друзів»».
State-registry data in the foundation reporting
Content provenance: Source: public recordsince 2016
The foundation's role in this cooperation is implementing partner. The role of "UNICEF" itself: donor. The amounts received from UNICEF are printed in the revenue tables of the foundation's 2022-2024 annual reports.
Annual report 2023, pp. 60–61 (PDF download)
Content provenance: Source: public record26.04.2017
The foundation receives non-profit status and expands its institutional programmes.
State-registry data in the foundation reporting
Content provenance: Source: public record2022
After the full-scale invasion began, the foundation and its partner NGO relocate from Kramatorsk to the town of Bar in Vinnytsia oblast and expand aid across the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad oblasts without leaving Donetsk oblast. The first direct agreements with Plan International, IOM, Choose Love and ACTED date from the same year.
Annual report 2024, p. 28 - "Our common history" (PDF download)
Content provenance: Source: the foundation's annual report2023
The foundation operates in eight oblasts of Ukraine and receives direct financing from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF/OCHA) for the first time - UAH 55,992,789.73. Revenues for the year reach UAH 141,465,267.19.
Annual report 2023, pp. 4-5 and 60 (PDF download)
Content provenance: Source: the foundation's annual report2025
Case management, social support and targeted aid for displaced people and people affected by shelling in Donetsk oblast.
The project record on this site
Project status: Done2023–2026
A three-year recovery project for educational facilities and collective shelters across four oblasts - together with Plan International Ukraine and funded by Germany (BMZ).
The project record on this site
Project status: Done2025–2026
Support for the most vulnerable people in frontline areas of Donetsk and Kharkiv regions during winter: solid fuel, heating utility payment support, winter non-food items and clothing. Implemented with NGO Enlightening Initiative with support from the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF/OCHA).
The project record on this site
Project status: Done2022-2025
The foundation's cumulative revenues across 2022-2025 reach UAH 328,438,481.99, of which UAH 299,128,990.12 went to programmes. The largest donor over that period is Plan International, funded by BMZ.
Annual report 2025, p. 54 - revenue structure (PDF download)
Content provenance: Source: the foundation's annual reportWho is responsible for what - and what is not confirmed yet.
Content provenance: Source: public recordPer the state registry, the head of the foundation is Stanislav Chernohor.
Content provenance: Source: the foundation's annual reportThe foundation publishes the composition of its governing bodies itself, in its annual report. We draw no reporting lines: signing authority has not been published, and an invented structure is worse than a missing one.
Joint annual report 2024, p. 55 - "Governing bodies" (PDF download)
The institutional governance block is on the "For institutional partners" pageThe foundation is led by its Management Board, whose composition is published in the annual report. Alongside it works a team of more than ten people in Kramatorsk and the regions where the foundation operates.
We didn't just implement projects - we created conditions in which human dignity, security and development remain possible even in times of war.
Image rights and the consents of the people shown - the team photograph and the rights to it. The material has not been provided yet.The photograph was carried over from the foundation’s previous site. Its author and rights are unconfirmed and there are no written consents from the people in it, so we do not offer it for reuse.
Executive Director, Chairman of the Board
Development Director, Board Member
Operations Director, Board Member
Program coordinator
Logistics, programs, communications
Some field staff are deliberately shown without individual photos - for safety reasons in front-line communities.
Aid flows through communities, hospitals, schools and organizations: faster and more transparent.
Open registry data, clear projects and accountability to donors and partners.
We help in a way that preserves the dignity of every person in hardship.
We strengthen local organizations and communities instead of replacing them.
Where donors, partners and their exact roles can be inspected.
Content provenance: Source: the foundation's annual reportThese are two separate legal entities, not one structure under two names. NGO "Foundation for Community Development" has its own EDRPOU 38042419, its own board and its own funding sources. What they share is leadership: Stanislav Chernohor, Liudmyla Snitsarenko, Eduard Malikov sit on both boards. For 2022, 2023 and 2024 the two published joint annual reports in which each entity's revenues and expenses appear in separate tables - which is why the figures on this site are the foundation's alone and exclude the partner NGO's.
Hands of Friends works in tandem with the partner NGO "Foundation for Community Development": the organizations share their team and logistics in Kramatorsk, and the head of the foundation chairs the boards of both. This makes aid delivery faster: in 2025, together with the German organizations WDA UA e.V and Ukraine-Haus Chemnitz e.V., we delivered winter clothing and bedding to 134 residents of Donetsk oblast.
There is deliberately no separate "Partners" page on this site: roles, periods and sources are collected in one institutional block so they never have to be maintained in two places.