Towards a Culture of Giving, One Step at a Time

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There was a time when large charitable foundations had a monopoly on addressing issues the state lacked the means to resolve. However, when the ability to raise significant amounts of money is sometimes only a post away,  the culture of helping in Armenia is evolving. Society is becoming more proactive. 

In 2010, Armen (Armos) Martirosyan ventured into uncharted territory for Armenia. He joined a charity campaign by posting on Facebook asking for help to save the life of a child. Although this was not new to most of the world, it was a first for Armenia. The funds raised allowed the child to receive treatment in Russia and then in Israel. “Unfortunately, we could not save the child’s life, but this experience resonated and had a significant impact,” Martirosyan recalls. “There had not been a drive of this magnitude in the Armenian Facebook community until then; it was unprecedented.” 

In the decade that followed, relying on small individual donations, Armen raised funds for the treatment of hundreds of children. In 2021, he institutionalized what had been a personal initiative by establishing the Health Fund for Children of Armenia.  

“Now that there is the Foundation with a more professional approach to funding treatments, it is possible for me to work toward early diagnostic and preventative healthcare for children,” says Martirosyan. The Foundation also aims to make much of the needed treatment available in Armenia. “Previously we would have to send most of the children in need of a bone marrow transplant abroad. Now, with the modest contribution from our Foundation, the treatment is provided locally.” 

Martirosyan explains that small donations from many people can have a significant impact addressing issues. “Our Foundation, which is one of the largest in regards to its supporter base, has received more than 45,000 donations and raised tens of millions [drams] in a couple of days,” he says. “The majority of the funds was aggregated through small individual donations.” Martirosyan points out that this not only helps diversify sources and establish institutional basis, but also represents a cultural shift. 

One More Step Forward 

From health treatment to tuition fees, providing prosthetics and rehabilitation to war veterans, renovating homes for families in need, to covering veterinary and shelter costs for stray animals, to supporting independent media outlets, the list of issues addressed through small donations is long. However, the 2020 Artsakh War and the needs identified afterward brought a change in Armenia’s cultural approach to giving. Recognizing the importance of collective effort, the reArmenia platform was created in 2021. It is Armenia’s equivalent of platforms like Indiegogo and GoFundMe, offering a more centralized and systemized approach to crowdfunding than a social media plea. 

Gevorg Poghosyan from reArmenia says the post war realities showed that Armenia urgently needs to unify its existing resources, rather than primarily focusing on increasing economic impetus and improving the business environment, contrary to what he previously believed as a member of the business community for 25 years. “The platform has existed for two and a half years now and has raised more than three million dollars to help more than 100 projects come to life. It has created a community of 15,000 strong,” says Poghosyan. And it is not just about fundraising; the platform’s Expert Community tool has also been successful, creating a space for professionals from different countries to offer advice and mentorship to people in Armenia. Poghosyan shares how a young boy from a village in Artsakh connected with an Armenian working at Google, who spent several hours every week sharing professional knowhow with the boy. 

According to Poghosyan, having a direct role in bringing solutions to collective issues strengthens one’s sense of ownership and consequently shifts one’s relationship with the collective, eventually leading to the betterment of society as a whole.  

“reArmenia is the place where your 1000 drams add up with the 1000 drams of all the others who want to solve the same issue. They become millions and bring real solutions to the problems. One person’s small investment can become a big opportunity for another, be it in the form of donating money or time, like an hour a week,” says Poghosyan. 

And then there is the ripple effect, the giving that keeps on giving, like the Moonq Technoschool. In 2021, the youth from the village of Haghort in the Martuni region of Artsakh, a village of 215 residents, decided to pursue education by bringing it closer to home. In two months, through reArmenia, they raised 70 million drams (180 thousand dollars), and in January of 2022, the newly renovated and fully equipped technical school opened its doors at the Haghort municipality building. It offered 11 different specializations, from programming to robotics to design. The school stayed open throughout the blockade and, only months after the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, restarted operations in the Lori and Syunik regions of Armenia, offering free education to around 400 students. 

“It is hard to express our gratitude to the donors for the opportunity they have granted, especially to those students who would otherwise not afford a deeply specialized education,” says the executive director of the school, Sasun Davidyan. He explains that the initiative chooses to work in communities far from regional centers and includes students who, for various reasons, would not be able to move elsewhere to receive an education. 

Even though many crowdfunding platforms are widely used, the decision to opt for crowdfunding is psychologically challenging. On one side is your goal, on the other, societal judgment and cultural nuances. “Isn’t it degrading to ask for money from others?”, “With everything going in the country, you are fundraising for yourself?” are some of the sentiments voiced or silently thought. 

Tatev Khachatryan has a scholarship covering 40% of her tuition to study in Germany. Her applications for additional funding have all been rejected. “Starting a fundraising campaign was my last resort, I had to overcome myself and ask the public for help,” says Tatev.  She set up a campaign on reArmenia, a site where she had previously donated to others. “You often think that your input is too small, but for students like myself, those small donations turn into a rounded sum and a solution to a big problem,” Tatev says.    

From Mistrust to Trust 

Lurking not far behind the positivity of helping collectively are questions like “Where is the government in all this?” and “Why isn’t the state taking care of it?” even though the culture and nature of giving in any society is not directly linked to how developed the country is or is not or its style of governance.  

The British Charities Aid Foundation has been publishing the annual World Giving Index since 2010. This index provides a unique insight into how people engage in social activities for the benefit of their communities. It looks into three aspects of giving behavior and asks: Have you helped a stranger or someone you didn’t know who needed help? Have you donated money to a charity? Have you volunteered your time to an organization?

Armenia, a country that has often faced crises and received both financial and volunteer assistance, ranks among the lowest in the giving index. It ranked 122 out of 142 countries in the 2023 index, with 59% of its population helping strangers but only 17% donating to charitable foundations and a mere 10% volunteering their time. 

A cursory analysis of these numbers indicate that Armenians are more inclined to trust and donate to strangers than to foundations, even though foundations are obliged to offer more transparency and accountability. 

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was created in 1992 as an initiative to establish a pan-Armenian fundraising network to benefit Armenia and Armenians, ensuring the proportional and sustainable development of Armenia, Artsakh and Armenian communities worldwide. Despite having completed more than 1,500 major projects in infrastructure, healthcare, social welfare and the arts, public trust in the state-affiliated Hayastan Fund has not always been unequivocal. 

During the 2020 Artsakh War, donations to Armenia, especially to the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, poured in from across the world but it was not always possible to track their impact or demand transparency. 

At the time, Hayk Hayrepetyan from Russia donated to several fundraisers but, like many others, he had no sight of the trajectory of his donations. Soon after, he decided to create an app, IMAST (translates to “meaning” in Armenian) that identifies and verifies trustworthy nonprofits and provides impact reports. 

Ani Avoyan, the community manager at IMAST, says the app aims to reverse the mistrust towards charitable foundations in Armenia by offering transparency. “Before the foundations are able to register on the app, they are meticulously screened. Before we partner up, we look at the organization’s legal status as well as their finances. This is how we try to turn the mistrust into trust,” says Avoyan. 

Avoyan explains that besides offering a platform to these foundations, the organization also provides advice on fundraising, assistance with designing their campaigns. Most importantly, the aim is to create a community and culture of giving. “IMAST was created to not only facilitate giving in crisis situations but to also integrate them  into everyday life,” says Avoyan. 

In 2024, another initiative, the Fundraiser’s Club set out to revamp the fundraising ecosystem, improve its effectiveness, and help people working in the field upgrade their professional knowledge and expand their networks. The Club’s co-founder and CEO Sharmagh Sakunts says the platform is for anyone working in fundraising who wishes to learn from others, both local and international professionals, share their own experiences, and seek support and counsel. This, according to Sakunts, will help improve the proficiency and impact of the projects implemented. “All of us are beneficiaries of the charitable projects that are being fundraised for; the fewer problems there are in Armenia, the fewer problems we all have,” says Sakunts. 

Sakunts points out that during and after the 2020 Artsakh War, the field was active but also disordered. New foundations and platforms were being created, and many individuals were fundraising for various issues. “More than ever before, in the post war period, an institution to guide the newly founded organizations was needed. The situation was chaotic. At first, the focus was on addressing war-related issues. Organizations doing important work but whose beneficiaries were not directly affected by the war faced considerable difficulties, no one was interested in supporting them,” says Sakunts.

Armen Martirosyan, of Health Fund for Children of Armenia, says they are petitioning the state to grant tax deductions and other privileges to individuals and organizations. This would provide additional incentives for people to donate and ensure fundraising doesn’t only rely on people’s conscience and sense of charity. Martirosyan also believes that NGOs should operate more like businesses, with strategies, paid staff, insurance, growth opportunities and flexible management. 

Even though the culture of striving for significant impact through small donations is relatively new to Armenia and still has many obstacles to overcome, it has become vibrant, especially in recent years. Fundraising has become more systematic, professional, and targeted. Its platforms are more diversified and user-friendly. This burgeoning culture has the potential to become more popular and gain the trust of a wider public.

Raw & Unfiltered