Nova Ukraine
Nova Ukraine is a U.S.-based 501 nonprofit founded in March 2014 that delivers humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and services to communities in Ukraine. Its name translates as "New Ukraine". The organization was established by a coalition of Ukrainian-American volunteers in response to the annexation of Crimea and the broader instability following the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine and the Revolution of Dignity.
Nova Ukraine coordinates grassroots relief efforts, operates humanitarian initiatives, supports education, culture and civil society, and carries out advocacy campaigns supporting Ukraine and its diaspora. Among the Ukrainian diaspora in the U.S., it represents "a younger and more professionalized model of engagement". The organization operates across multiple program areas. Its medical aid division, known as the Heal initiative, has supported more than 600 medical institutions and delivered surgical instruments, diagnostic equipment, and rehabilitation technologies to hospitals in Ukraine since 2022. Through its people support programs, Nova Ukraine has assisted refugees, internally displaced persons, coordinated evacuations and established educational initiatives in collaboration with international partners including the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The organization's public infrastructure efforts have delivered generators, emergency equipment, and solar panels to critical facilities across Ukraine. As of August 2025, Nova Ukraine had delivered over 130 million dollars worth of aid to Ukraine.
Nova Ukraine is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and since 2022 has established volunteer chapters across eight U.S. states and the District of Columbia, along with operational offices in Ukraine. The organization's board is chaired by Nick Bilogorskiy, one of its co-founders alongside Ostap Korkuna. In August 2025, Erin McKee was appointed chief executive officer of Nova Ukraine. The organization is a founding member of the American Coalition for Ukraine.
Two co-founders were each awarded the Order of Merit 3rd class in 2022 and 2023 by President Volodymyr Zelensky in recognition of their leadership in humanitarian relief efforts. Nick Bilogorskiy was included in Ukrainska Pravdas annual ranking “UP 100: Power of Influence” as #2 in the Society category. The organization has received recognition from major charity evaluation platforms, including a four-star rating from Charity Navigator in 2024 and a Platinum Transparency Seal from GuideStar in 2025. In 2025, Focus magazine ranked Nova Ukraine among Ukraine's 'most impactful Ukrainians' as the #5 charity organization.
History and founding
In March 2014, in the aftermath of the Euromaidan movement, a coalition of Ukrainian-American volunteers established Nova Ukraine in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, aiming to coordinate grassroots relief efforts. The organization hosted cultural events and advocacy rallies in the San Francisco Bay Area, coordinated multimodal aid shipments to Ukraine, and partnered with relief organizations such as UNICEF and local volunteer networks.The founding years
In 2014, Nova Ukraine co-organized concerts in San Francisco that raised nearly $100,000 in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, supporting internally displaced persons and families from conflict zones. Ticket sales from a performance by Okean Elzy funded $23,000 worth of medical equipment for hospitals in Ukraine. A performance by Skryabin in San Francisco raised funds for Nova Ukraine's charitable projects, and a fundraiser with Eurovision winner Ruslana funded support for displaced people.The Heart2Heart program
Launched in 2015, Heart2Heart is a long-term initiative where volunteers in California collect and ship donations, such as clothing and food, to vulnerable populations in Ukraine, including disadvantaged families, orphans, and disabled individuals. Heart2Heart delivered 80,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to Ukraine in 2018 and 55,000 pounds in 2019. Each year, the organization delivered approximately 600 pounds of Christmas and New Year presents to children across Ukraine.COVID years
In 2020 and 2021, Nova Ukraine worked to counter the coronavirus pandemic by equipping Ukrainian doctors and nurses with personal protective equipment. It purchased over 4200 FFP2 respirators and 2,000 bio-safety suites then distributed them to 14 hospitals throughout Ukraine. For patients, it acquired and distributed 17 oxygen concentrators in 2020 and 46 additional concentrators in 2021. The Heart2Heart program continued supplying essential goods to children and adults with disabilities. Nova Ukraine also supported Ukrainian veterans and soldiers, contributed to the ENGin project for youth language skills and promoted Ukrainian cinema.Supporting Ukraine during full-scale invasion
Nova Ukraine started expanding its operations in the weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It organized street rallies in support of Ukrainein the San Francisco Bay Area, mobilized local diaspora, and provided commentary on developing events to local, national and international media. It launched emergency aid efforts and raised funds in partnership with UNICEF USA. Nova Ukraine used software tools to streamline its operations. To enhance aid delivery, the organization implemented a grants management platform on Salesforce.
By the end of 2024, Nova Ukraine distributed more than $110 million in aid and services in Ukraine during the full-scale invasion, reaching 8 million people. To manage the scale of its operations, the organization established teams specializing in medical aid, public infrastructure in Ukraine, people support and advocacy, each with heavy reliance on unpaid volunteer work.
Programs and initiatives
Nova Ukraine structures its activities around four core pillars, which collectively guide its humanitarian aid, reconstruction, community support, and policy engagement efforts:- Heal focuses on delivering medical supplies and strengthening healthcare services,
- Build encompasses infrastructure and resilience projects,
- Empower supports educational, cultural, rehabilitation, and social programs for vulnerable populations, as well as civil society,
- Advocate raises awareness of issues affecting Ukraine and Ukrainian communities, and encourages public engagement on humanitarian and policy matters.
Medical work (Heal)
Since February 2022, Nova Ukraine has coordinated with national government, regional authorities, and local hospitals to address shortages of medications, diagnostics, and power-independent devices, while also establishing pain treatment and rehabilitation initiatives for war-injured civilians and veterans.In 2022, the organization implemented a reactive model to meet critical needs for medications and consumables, filtering multidimensional requests from hospitals into prioritized packages within budget constraints. It sourced equipment from Ukraine and through international procurement.
In March 2022, Nova Ukraine partnered with several Ukrainian organizations, including the , to deliver $3.5 million worth of medical supplies, such as bandages, surgery kits, and pediatric medicines, to Ukraine. The supplies were flown from Seattle to Poland and then transported to Ukraine for distribution by the Ministry of Health.
The organization also worked with Unite with Ukraine and the Ukrainian World Congress to purchase 9,000 medical tourniquets.
In 2023, Nova Ukraine responded to emergencies in Ukraine and modernized healthcare facilities in the region. With support from partners like Zdorovi and funding from Pioneer Natural Resources, Nova Ukraine provided modern equipment such as portable incubators and electric generators to 50 neonatal hospitals and clinics, purchased six ambulances and had them delivered through Enkidu.
By 2023, when Russian attacks systematically damaged medical infrastructure and caused frequent power outages, Nova Ukraine provided generators, autonomous lighting systems, and mobile diagnostic devices such as portable ultrasound and X-ray units for frontline and field use. In total, Nova Ukraine’s Heal initiative supported over 600 medical institutions, distributed a million dollars worth of medical packs, delivered more than 2,000 hospital beds and surgical tables, and provided over 47,000 surgical instruments and 37 prostheses for complex amputation patients. One year after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, San Francisco Chronicle reported that Nova Ukraine had distributed $55 million in humanitarian aid, more than half of which went to emergency first aid, hospital medicine, supplies, and medical equipment.”
Nova Ukraine signed a two-year Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to provide medical equipment, prosthetics, medications, and rehabilitation programs. Delivered equipment included ventilators, X-ray devices, ultrasound systems, and chemotherapy medicine, in response to numerous hospital requests. Nova Ukraine launched the “Ukraine Without Pain” partnership with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, aiming to establish a nationwide network of pain treatment centres, train specialists in modern pain medicine protocols, and equip facilities with rehabilitation technologies for chronic pain and post-traumatic recovery. Throughout 2024, the initiative distributed medical equipment and supplies valued at $6 million to over 120 specialized hospitals in collaboration with Medical Bridges and MedGlobal. The organization’s first-aid support in 2024 included the distribution of 7,541 individual first aid kits, 199 pieces of mobile equipment, 63 generators, 22 operating tables, 155 tactical medicine backpacks for paramedics and combat medics, 43,645 tourniquets, and 65 training mannequins across 10+ training centres. Through Project MedHub, Nova Ukraine assisted more than 13,000 wounded defenders and delivered aid worth $150,000, supporting military medics and medical evacuation units.
In 2025, Nova Ukraine's contributions have been recognized nationally: it received the first place in the “Charity in Healthcare” category at Charitable Ukraine 2024.