Built from experience with the distance between emergency and recovery
Ucentria Foundation strengthens organizations supporting recovery from war and trauma in Ukraine. We are based in the United States, where a great deal of relevant expertise sits, and we exist to connect that expertise, and the resources around it, to the organizations doing the work.
Our mission
Strengthen the organizations leading recovery.
Ucentria strengthens organizations helping people in Ukraine recover from war and trauma, connecting them with expertise, knowledge, learning, partnerships and targeted support they cannot readily access.
Our vision
Recovery capacity that endures.
Ukrainian organizations holding the knowledge, relationships, resources and institutional strength to sustain recovery long after emergency attention has moved elsewhere.
Why Ucentria exists
The full-scale invasion created immediate needs, and our early work responded with supplies, medical goods and support for civilian institutions. That experience revealed a longer problem: emergency assistance addresses what is urgent, but recovery continues for years after the urgency passes.
Organizations in Ukraine already hold local knowledge, community trust and responsibility for the work. What they may not have is access to senior international expertise, adapted educational material, technology, evaluation support, flexible funding, or the relationships needed to reach those things.
Ucentria was created to bridge that gap, and to take responsibility for making the connection work rather than simply introducing two parties and stepping back.
How the model works
Organizations receive. Ukrainian nonprofits, institutions and community organizations get knowledge, learning, expertise, technology and targeted funding.
Experts contribute. Specialists and institutions worldwide provide advice, teaching, review and consulting through our network.
Ucentria connects. We scope the need, make the match, handle due diligence, and stay responsible for follow-through.
The challenge we address
Recovery outlasts attention
Funding and public interest follow emergencies. The psychological, social and family consequences of war continue long after both have moved elsewhere.
Expertise is unevenly distributed
Decades of research and practice on trauma and recovery exist, largely in languages and institutions Ukrainian organizations cannot easily access.
Capacity is the hidden constraint
Organizations are funded for programs, rarely for the systems, staff development and infrastructure that let programs continue.
Our theory of change
If organizations closest to affected people have sound knowledge, experienced advisors, structured learning, appropriate technology and funding for the work that sustains them, they will deliver better support to more people, for longer, than any external organization could deliver directly. Strengthening those organizations produces more recovery than replacing them.
Principles that guide the work
Local leadership
We begin with the priorities and context of participating organizations, and stay out of decisions that belong to them.
Useful expertise
We focus on knowledge and relationships that can be applied, not prestige for its own sake.
Connected solutions
We coordinate people, knowledge, technology, funding and logistics when a problem needs more than one intervention.
Honest communication
We distinguish what is operating, what is being built, and what requires additional evidence or resources.
Dignity in how we speak
No spectacle, no distressing imagery, no using people's worst experiences to raise money.
Responsible boundaries
We define what Ucentria can contribute and refer people to qualified providers for direct or clinical care.
What we do not do
Being clear about limits is part of being trustworthy.
- We are not a clinical provider. No therapy, diagnosis, crisis intervention or treatment, under any framing.
- We do not take individual clients or provide direct services to individuals.
- We do not operate programs inside Ukraine in place of local organizations.
- We do not run continuous humanitarian logistics operations.
- We do not engage in political campaigning or partisan activity.
People seeking care can find qualified providers and crisis services on our support resources page.
Board of Directors
Governance and leadership
Ucentria is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors responsible for fiduciary oversight and organizational direction. Directors serve without compensation for board service.
Oleksiy Kuryliak
President and Director
Marta Sarvas
Secretary and Director
Andrii Bikir
Treasurer and Director
For board responsibilities, oversight practice and governance policies, see Governance and transparency.
Legal status
Ucentria Foundation, Inc.
A nonprofit nonstock corporation incorporated in the State of Delaware and recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
- Legal name
- Ucentria Foundation, Inc.
- Incorporation
- Delaware nonprofit nonstock corporation, 2025
- Federal tax status
- IRS-recognized 501(c)(3)
- EIN
- 39-4425461
- Service boundary
- Organizational, educational and referral-based.