November marked the opening of Spotify – a Latvian made unique donation streaming platform. In an effort to support Ukraine, a group of similarly-minded people together with Ziedot.lv and Ukrainian embassy in Latvia have created a streaming service for small but regular donations in the form of monthly subscription to help supply Ukrainian troops with acutely needed resources and end the war started by Russia.
In the first two days of the platform coming online 1 405 subscribers have signed up and more than EUR 16 332 from 27 countries has been donated to the cause.
«We thought about ways to reinvigorate donations and came to this very simple idea. Nowadays many people have subscriptions to different streaming services to watch series and movies for the price of a couple of cups of coffee a month. So what it you could subscribe to our continent’s freedom and future, which is literally being decided right now, on the battlefield?» says the author of the idea Māris Upenieks.
«After several months of voluntary work, our team – digital agency Cube and other creative professionals – we have created Stopify. This service allows streaming small monthly donations to Ukrainian Armed Forces, helping them end this insane war,» he said.
The platform functions as a monthly subscription: the user picks one of three «subscription plans», which they can cancel at any moment. The donations are transferred to the project’s partner – Ziedot.lv. Then the money is used to procure necessary resources for troops. The Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia provides information about the most acute needs of the Ukrainian army.
Information about the use of donations will be published on Stopify social network accounts.
According to the organiser of the campaign, the service will remain active until Ukraine’s victory, when a peace treaty is signed on Ukraine’s conditions.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Latvia Olexandr Mischenko stresses: «We are happy to hear about any initiative and idea that shows to the Ukrainian people that we are not alone and that the international community is with us. Ukraine’s armed forces require different resources to continue battling the army of the terrorist country – from water purification tablets, food and clothes to night-vision goggles and drones. I am confident this platform will serve as effective and major support for Ukraininan troops, who, through their heroism and sacrifice, are bringing us closer to the day when peace, freedom and security reigns over the entire Ukrainian land.»
Ziedot.lv manager Rūta Dimanta comments: «Latvian society is very responsible and helpful – we can see this every day as people donate to all kinds of charities. Every cheer, every reminder and every new initiative are valuable and welcome – especially for important goals like the liberalisation of Ukraine. Monthly donation streaming will be a new experience and a great opportunity to do something truly good: many streaming portal users already have all necesssary skills, they only need the will!»
Stopify is available in English and Ukrainian language.
According to organisers, Latvia wants to inspire the international society to provide more support to Ukraine in its fight for freedom.
Donation streaming is available here: stopify.org.ua
The project’s author and creative director is Māris Upenieks, the developer is Cube agency, strategic partners – Ziedot.lv and Ukrainian embassy in Latvia.