Come Back Alive


Come Back Alive is a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that help Ukrainian soldiers in the war in Donbass on the basis of crowdfunding. It belongs to the biggest such organizations and specializes in technical support, especially in thermographic cameras and night vision devices. Besides that, it implements training, medical, psychological and other projects. It is co-organizer of Invictus Games in Ukraine since 2019.

History

The organization was founded in 2014 by Vitaliy Deynega, an IT specialist from Kyiv. Like some other volunteers against Russia, he started helping soldiers from buying bulletproof vests. He wrote on them an inscription, which became the name of his group in Facebook, and, subsequently, the name of his charitable foundation.
According to Deynega, the first batch of his help arrived to the battlefront 14 May 2014. Shortly after this he concluded that the need in thermographic cameras and night vision devices is stronger than in the vests, and since that time his organization provides primarily the night optics. Initially it concentrated efforts on 80th and 95th airmobile brigades, but later began to work also with many other units.
In the beginning, the group consisted of 3 members. Till October 2015 their number grew to 16, and till June 2016 ‒ to 45. They are not only from Kyiv, but also from Lviv, Dnipro and Vinnytsia. In the first 1.5 months the foundation collected almost 1.5 million hryvnias, in the half a year ‒ 12.6 million, in the first year ‒ 50 million, in 1.5 years ‒ 70 million. 06 May 2020 the organization reported about 164.21 million hryvnias. This amount is accumulated from donations, mean size of which is 500-700 hryvnias.
In 2018 the Foundation has added media, veteran organization and a think tank to the list of its activities. Its analytical reports are officially ordered by the Ministry of Defence and its associates. The Fund has become a co-organizer of Invictus Games in Ukraine since 2019.
Since May, 2020 the foundation has been headed by Oksana Koliada, former Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs.

Activities

The organization declares principles of political indifference, open reporting about incomes and expenses, and priority of optimal distribution of the supply. It helps primarily those military units which are engaged in the most intensive warfare. According to the group's report from October 2015, it had helped to 66 units. The equipment becomes property of the unit, and military officials provide the organization with corresponding documents. Costly equipment is marked with inscriptions "Come Back Alive" and "Not for sale" in Ukrainian and English. Since November 2014 the group marks every device also with ordinal number ‒ for more effective prevention of stealing and bigger transparency of the work. In 2015-2016, the organization checked presence of supplied goods in the military units.
Activities of the foundation include:
The foundation collects donations through various systems of non-cash payments and organizes additional fundraising events:
The organization receives donations not only from Ukraine, but also from other countries. In particular, several thermal imaging devices were bought with the help of Ukrainian diaspora in San Francisco. The list of donations and purchases is published in Internet. Maintenance of the organization itself is financed not from the main fund of donations, but from a targeted sponsor help.

Assessments