“Children’s Hope”, the kindest subscription from Kyivstar

“Children’s Hope”, the kindest subscription from Kyivstar — a charity SMS subscription project aimed to provid children’s oncological and cardiological dispensaries with modern equipment, medical supplies, and tools. The initiative was made possible by combining Kyivstar telecommunications technologies and expertise dobro.ua in the field of systemic charity. 

In addition, according to the study, only 8 % of benefactors (or 4 % of the country’s population) transfer funds through foundations. Most benefactors do not trust charitable institutions, preferring to help ‘directions’ in need.

At the same time, it is noticeable that young people under 35 prefer online charity – as a modern, convenient, effective, and civilized model of charity. According to the Zagoriy Foundation study for 2020, the older the respondent, the more often he or she transfers charitable aid directly into the hands (68 % of respondents aged 60 and older versus 46 % of young people aged 18–29). 

And one of the motives for the development of charity, the respondents call the creation of new forms and formats of aid and the formation of a trend for charity, its popularisation in the media and social media.

SOLVING A PROBLEM SITUATION 

As early as 2018, Kyivstar together with the Ukrainian Philanthropic Marketplace International Charitable Foundation (now – dobro.ua) introduced a clear and simple aid tool – the charity SMS system which provides prepaid subscribers with the opportunity to transfer funds to charity quickly and conveniently – thanks to the message. 

In 2021, Kyivstar launched a large-scale information campaign to popularize the format of systemic charity through simple and regular transfers via SMS. Since the coronavirus pandemic has become another emotional impetus to join charity, the campaign task was to transform this impulse into systemic assistance thanks to the subscription format. Because stable transfers, even with small donations, form the basis of the activities of charitable foundations. 

‘The initiative “Children’s Hope” proves the theory of small good deeds every time: together thousands of small donations from our subscribers have already amounted to almost                     UAH 9 million, which managed to purchase vital equipment for hundreds of young patients. The average monthly subscriptions for the initiative are UAH 180–200 thousand, which can be supported by at least one children’s department.  We are grateful to each subscriber for their concern because only with joint efforts, we can change the world for the better’, –  says Hanna Zakharash, Director of Corporate Communications at Kyivstar.

Subscribers of the Kyivstar prepaid form of communication can make a regular payment in the amount of UAH 2, 5, 10, 15, or 20. You can do this on a special initiative page or by sending an SMS with the desired amount of a regular donation to the numbers: 450001 – to support children with cancer; 450006 – to help kids with heart diseases. Debiting to charity occurs every time a mobile account is topped up in the amount of UAH 40 or more.  The funds that subscribers donate via an SMS are not taxed, therefore, these amounts are fully transferred to charitable foundations for the project implementation. 

‘Thanks to the collaboration with Kyivstar, we have the opportunity to speak to a wide audience about the importance of regular and systematic charity. Most contributions are made by people once and emotionally, but our joint project “Children’s Hope” is about a regular subscription to good deeds. And its main feature is efficiency. Only a systematic approach and planning can qualitatively change the Ukrainian medical system. We thank Kyivstar subscribers for saving lives not only here and now, but also in the future’, – says Irina Gutsal, Director of the platform dobro.ua, ICF “Ukrainian Charity Exchange”.

In order to popularise regular charity among young people, a large-scale information campaign on the Internet was held by Kyivstar in September and October 2021. Specially for this, a series of short videos was created with an appeal to subscribe to the ‘Children’s Hope’. The term ‘subscription’ is well known and familiar to young people. They use this format for various digital services because it’s simple, clear, and fast. However, they did not have a subscription that would give hope for the recovery of hundreds of kids with cancer and cardio diseases. UAH 5, 10, or even 15 will not significantly change your life, but it can change the life of another little person.

Also, the information was actively held in the social media Kyivstar and dobro.ua. In addition, the kindest subscription was also supported by Ukrainian opinion leaders on their Instagram pages who told their subscribers in detail about that possibility.

RESULTS OF THE DECISION 

As of 23 November 2021, thanks to the initiative ‘Children’s Hope’, UAH 8,906,317 has already been collected, of which UAH 3,916,850 are funds collected thanks to regular transfers of our subscribers. This is 44 % of all donations. 

In general, over the three years of the project’s existence, 153 thousand Kyivstar subscribers joined the initiative, 484 thousand charitable SMSs were sent, and the average donation amount is only UAH 15. 18,394 subscribers have made a regular payment. Most often, people choose  UAH 10 for subscription. 

According to the latest data, UAH 180–200 thousand are collected regularly monthly thanks to subscriptions. This is more than half of the monthly fees which on average amount to UAH 350 thousand. 

Over a period of three years, medical equipment has been acquired for up to 39 departments in 15 hospitals in Ukraine. At the request of hospitals, sensors for ultrasound machines, thermostats in the laboratory, cholera, electrocardiographs, infusion pumps, patient monitors, observation beds and wheelchairs, laminar-airflow cabinets, freezers for storing blood and its components, microscopes in the laboratory, a surgery table, and more were purchased. 

According to the results of regular research of reputation tracking for the company, as of the 3rd quarter of 2021, the awareness of ‘Children’s hope‘ project is 13 % of Ukrainians surveyed from different regions of the country. A high level of awareness not only attracts new subscribers to join the initiative, but also increases the level of trust for company.

Thanks to a communication campaign, this autumn, Kyivstar and dobro.ua informed over 5 million Ukrainians about the culture of systemic charity. Mobile operator and charitable foundation plan to continue raising this issue and popularise systemic charity among Kyivstar subscribers. Regular aid is a simple format for providing help which saves subscribers time and provides them with an opportunity to save the lives of thousands of children with diseases via few clicks on smartphone.