Three days after the war in Ukraine began, a tech initiative born out of the New York tech community launched - The $1K Project for Ukraine - to help families impacted by the war.

1K raised over $11.5 MILLION helping over 11,000 families and 40,000 children. 1K was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies and early support came from actor Edward Norton and prominent tech figures such as Fred Wilson, Ron Conway, Stewart Butterfield and Jen Rubio. 

1K’s model is simple: use the power of tech to directly give $1,000 each to families impacted by the war. 

Families were thoroughly vetted and the focus was to help single mothers and families with 3+ children.

While 1K helped over 11,000 families and 40,000 children, over 600,000 families apply. Built for speed & scale, it took about 5 days to distribute $1 million.

The system was build to show impact - the pictures and stories of the Ukrainian families and children funded were shared with their donors - here’s an example. 

Axios, Fast Company and CNN are just a few of the outlets that have covered 1K.

1K was founded by Alex Iskold, an entrepreneur & VC based in NY and originally from Ukraine, and Chrysi was 1K’s Co-founder.