ENGin's Finances: The Full Picture

Let's Talk About Money!

Hi! I'm Katerina, ENGin's founder and CEO. I've created this page to help you understand why and how we raise money in our community and beyond. Finances and fundraising are complex topics, but I've done my best to be totally transparent with you. I highly value your trust and understanding, and I want you to feel100% comfortable supporting ENGin.

If there is anything else you'd like to know after reading this page, please email me directly at katerina@enginprogram.org.

Why does ENGin need money? How much does it cost to run the program?

If you're an ENGin participant, you've experienced the joy, support, and learning opportunities that our volunteer-student connections bring. But you may not realize how much hard work goes into making those connections! A dedicated team of staff members is responsible for tasks such as:

- Spreading the word about the program in Ukraine

- Recruiting a volunteer for every student

- Interviewing, training, and matching new students and volunteers

- Answering participant questions (40,000+ emails/year!)

- Preparing resources for students and volunteers (including curriculum, how-to videos events, etc.)

- Certifying volunteer hours for thousands of volunteers

- Communicating important information and new opportunities

- Building the online platform and database that the program is run on

- Administering special subprograms such as ENGin for Educators, ENGin for Defenders, ENGin clubs, and the Ambassador program.

- Addressing every complaint, problem and controversy and providing extra support where needed :)

ENGin serves over 30,000 participants on a $750,000 program budget. We are incredibly cost-efficient -- other nonprofits working at this scale have multimillion dollar budgets.

Approximately $640,000 of our budget goes to approximately 30 hardworking team members, the vast majority of whom are Ukrainian. Another $50,000 is technology costs for our platform. The rest are expenses such as volunteer recruitment advertisements on the VolunteerMatch website, professional Zoom accounts for trainings, and other essential non-staff costs).

How do you determine appropriate salaries for employees?

We base salaries on market conditions - i.e. how much we need to pay to attract qualified candidates for any given position. From an ethical perspective, we also want to make sure we are not exploiting our hardworking team.

Most team members' salaries are at the low end of market ranges and we currently don't offer benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. In both the US and Ukraine, attracting and retaining qualified people remains a challenge for us as we compete with larger nonprofits and companies paying higher salaries.

Here are our pay ranges for staff members:

US Staff

Tier 1 $50/hour

Tier 2 $25-35/hour

Ukrainian Staff

Tier 1 $13-16/hour

Tier 2 $6-9/hour

Tier 3 $4.50/hour

Why do you need paid staff? Why not volunteers?

By definition, volunteers can only contribute a few hours each week. Volunteer teams may be feasible for small programs supporting a few dozen or a few hundred individuals, as well as projects that focus on collecting aid (where the team is not running a program at all). Even in these cases, organizations or projects often shut down when volunteer leaders become overwhelmed or move on. The vast majority of nonprofits running programs actually rely on paid employees, with volunteers playing a supporting role.

We've always relied on our amazing volunteers for tasks that can be divided into smaller, flexible pieces among many people, each working a few hours/week. But unfortunately, most ENGin tasks require a much bigger time commitment (30+ hours/week) and/or specialized skills. And, even for projects where volunteers can help, we need staff who will find them, train them, oversee and support their work, and replace them when they move on.

Where do you get funding for the program?

The program is primarily funded by our wonderful volunteers. This includes direct donations as well as introducing us to employers and foundations for giving opportunities, running fundraisers, etc.

Have you tried applying for grants from foundations, or running Facebook ads, or reaching out to the Ukrainian diaspora, or talking to the US or Ukrainian governments, or talking to companies in Ukraine/the US, or asking a celebrity to be your ambassador, or...?

Yes, we have tried all these things and many more! I've made an immense effort to explore and pursue every possible funding option, with support and advice from dozens of fundraising professionals. Given the type of work we do, where we can get funding is volunteer donations as well as program services revenue (i.e. fees from students).

Are ENGin students a source of funding for you?

We do have a one-time fee of 1200 UAH (~$29) for all students; those who cannot afford to pay the fee may apply for a scholarship. The program is free for all current and former members of the Ukrainian military. Students may also purchase certificates of program participation. In order to ensure the program remains affordable and widely accessible, we keep these fees low, and they make up a small percentage of our budget.

Ok, that was a lot. So, what do you want from me?

We think that ENGin deserves to exist and hope you do too! Together, we can keep our program going. If you believe in our mission, here's how you can help:

Make a tax-deductible donation here if you are able
Host an online or in-person fundraiser for ENGin (if you're on Facebook, you can create an online fundraiser here)
Share ENGin with any organizations where you have contacts - companies, clubs, foundations, faith-based organizations, etc. Ask them about possibilities for grants or donations.

Thank you for supporting ENGin!