How it works

A donation’s journey: from you to the report

1. 1

   You choose a campaign

   A moderator checked every campaign before it went live: the goal, the amount and the documents. The page shows the charity, the ledger, updates and reports.

2. 2

   You pay

   By card, Apple Pay or Google Pay on the bank’s page, or by bank transfer with a D… code. Your card details never reach us.

3. 3

   The money reaches the donations account

   The donation goes into the Operator’s separate donations account. You get a PDF receipt by email.

4. 4

   An entry in the ledger

   The donation, the bank fee and every payout to the charity appear in the campaign’s ledger — open to everyone.

5. 5

   Payout to the charity

   Once 100% has been raised — to the charity’s account named in the agreement; for an ongoing campaign — on the charity’s request with documents, approved by a moderator.

6. 6

   Report

   Within 30 days of the payout, the charity reports with receipts, handover certificates and photos. A moderator checks the report and publishes it on the campaign page, and you get an email.

The donations account and the open ledger

All donations go into the separate donations account of the platform’s Operator — the charitable organisation “Charitable Foundation ‘Mriiu Zhyty’” (EDRPOU code 39333086) — at JSC Universal Bank. The Operator does not spend a single hryvnia from this account on its own work: there is a separate operating account for that.

Every campaign has an open ledger: payments in, bank fees on separate lines and payouts to the charity. The campaign balance is calculated from these entries, not from a figure someone could overwrite. The totals for the whole platform are on the “Transparency” page.

Who can fundraise and how we check

Only organisations connected under an agreement can fundraise: charitable foundations and organisations, non-profit NGOs, municipal and state institutions (hospitals, schools, shelters), homeowners’ associations (OSBB) and religious organisations — for their charitable programmes. There are no personal card-based fundraisers: a volunteer runs a campaign only on behalf of a charity and under its responsibility.

• Automatically: status in the Unified State Register, name and head; the sanctions lists of Ukraine, the EU, the US and the UN for the charity, its managers, founders and beneficial owners — and daily after that.
• Refusal: an organisation in liquidation, a sanctions match, or founders or beneficial owners with Russian or Belarusian citizenship or residence.
• A moderator: the Register of Non-profit Institutions and Organisations, court decisions, politically exposed persons, the statute and other documents, bank statements for the last three months and a video call with the head.
• The cooperation agreement is on paper: the head of the charity signs two copies by hand and sends them by Nova Poshta, and the charity is connected once the Operator has received and signed the originals.
• Every campaign is reviewed by a moderator before it goes live — within 2 working days — together with documents for its cause. The public sees a “documents verified” label and a “Documents” tab with de-identified copies of the documents approved by the moderator; only the moderator and the charity team see the originals.
• With the charity’s consent, AI helps the moderator analyse public mentions of the charity and its bank statements. A person always makes the decision.

How the charity receives the money

A campaign with a target. Once 100% has been raised, the Operator transfers the amount raised within 5 working days to the charity’s account named in the agreement, less any bank fees donors didn’t cover. The payment reference gives the number and date of the supplementary agreement: every published campaign is a supplementary agreement to the cooperation agreement.

A charity’s ongoing campaign (no target). The charity submits a payout request: an amount within what is available, what exactly it is for and documents — a supplier’s invoice, an estimate and so on. A moderator approves the request or rejects it with a reason; an approved request is paid within 5 working days.

A campaign with an end date. If it has not reached 100% by that date, it is automatically extended once by 30 days and the charity gets an email. After the extended date the campaign ends (the page shows “The campaign period has ended”), and the amount raised, less bank fees, is passed to the charity within 5 working days; the charity reports as usual. The charity can close such a campaign earlier with the “Close campaign” button.

A payout can be put on hold while the charity’s new bank details are being checked, if a report is overdue, if there is a sanctions match or suspected misuse of funds, or if the law requires it. In that case, or if the bank causes a delay, the transfer may take longer.

Reports

• A report is due within 30 days of each payout: what was done, expense lines with a document for each, photos or video of the result, handover certificates and delivery notes. Once the report is accepted, the charity sends the Operator a paper copy signed by its head, by Nova Poshta.
• The site automatically compares the expenses with the payout and looks for lines without a document, receipts and files reused from other reports, dates before the campaign began or “from the future”, and signs of photo editing.
• A moderator reviews the report within 5 working days and accepts it or sends it back for corrections; the charity corrects a returned report within 5 working days.
• If less was spent, the balance is shown in the report. The charity uses it only for the same purpose of the campaign, and for anything else only with the Operator’s written consent.
• An accepted report goes on the campaign page: figures, photos, expenses by category and line. The campaign’s donors get a “The charity has reported” email. Scans of receipts are seen only by the moderator and the charity’s team.
• Long campaigns also need an interim report every 90 days.
• If a report is overdue, the campaign page shows an “overdue report” label, the charity’s new campaigns are blocked and its trust rating drops. The first proven case of misuse means the charity is removed permanently, this is announced publicly and the charity must return the misused money within 5 banking days.

If a campaign is closed early

Only the charity can close a campaign early, and it must give a reason. From that moment the campaign stops accepting donations. A moderator decides: the money goes to the same project (the campaign is marked “Closed early”, the money is passed to the charity within 5 working days and it reports as usual), to another open campaign of the same charity (the page shows “Cancelled — funds redirected to …” with a link), or the campaign is not closed — with the reason explained.

Donors are emailed when money is redirected to another campaign. Monthly donations to a closed campaign stop. The charity reports on anything already paid out whatever the decision. The Operator does not cancel campaigns itself, but it can suspend a campaign or remove a charity for a breach of the rules.

Security

• Card details are entered only on the bank’s page — the Operator never sees or stores them. Attempt limits and an invisible check protect against bots and stolen cards.
• Donors sign in with a code sent to their email, with no password. Platform and charity teams also need a code from an app on their phone.
• Every decision by the team is recorded in a log that cannot be changed after the fact; the log is kept for 5 years.
• The originals of beneficiaries’ documents are stored encrypted, only the moderator and the charity team see them, and every view is logged; donors see only de-identified copies approved by the moderator. All files are scanned for viruses, and geotags and other metadata are removed from photos.
• Servers are in Germany and encrypted backups in Finland; the site is protected against DDoS attacks.

The platform’s money

0% from campaigns. Dolonia takes no percentage from donations to campaigns. Only the bank fee is deducted, and only if the donor didn’t tick “Cover the bank fee”.

The platform is funded by donors’ voluntary contributions (5%, 10% or your own amount in the donation form; nothing by default), grants and partnerships with companies. The law allows the Operator to spend no more than 20% of its annual income on administrative costs (Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On Charitable Activity and Charitable Organisations”); what is actually spent is on the “Transparency” page. Support the platform’s work.