Patreon, the founder of a website that allows people to donate money to individuals and groups, said on Thursday he had launched a fundraising campaign for a nonprofit organization to raise donations to distribute weapons, medical supplies, and helmets to Ukrainian troops.
Come Back Alive is a charitable foundation founded in 2014 and based in Kyiv. The organization last received funding from its Patreon page in August, its director, Taras Chmut, told CNBC in an interview.
Chmut said he had been earning less money for a few months. Russia then invaded Ukraine late Wednesday, and entered more than $ 300,000, including many donations of less than $ 1,000.
But on Thursday people who tried to visit this page suddenly saw the message “This page has been deleted.”
Chmut said that’s what he saw when he tried to access account details and saw through withdrawing money to pay for equipment. He said the group had sent Patreon an email and said the company was considering the case.
But Patreon told CNBC that using the site to support the purchase of military equipment was prohibited.
“Patreon does not approve of any campaigns involving violence or the purchase of military equipment, regardless of the cause,” a company spokesman told CNBC via email. “We are investigating for submissions on their donation page. We have suspended the campaign in question. When the page is finally removed our policy is to send the creator the remaining funds or return all the promises. ”
Ukraine on Thursday announced a concerted effort to increase the number of troops in the country.
But people who join may not be well protected from injury.
“We have people dying because they have no weapons,” said Chmut, who has served in the country’s military. The country is not rich, and the nonprofit organization is helping the military to get what it needs, he said.
Come Back Alive also provides cell phone monitoring programs, televisions and other gadgets, according to its latest annual report.
The team has other ways to collect donations – the wallet bitcoin code is written on its website, and bitcoin donations have been pouring in – but the Patreon page is a much easier way for outsiders to donate, and more people are already using it, Chmut said.
“We have so much money here that we can lose it,” he said.