The public organization "People.ua" was founded not so long ago — three months ago. My main job is working in local governments, and I already have a lot of experience in this field. Instead, working in the public sector is new to me, but it is in this that I see how I can initiate change in society and connect young people and diverse organizations.

Our organization was created on time. The fact is that since 2014, "People.ua" began to exist as a public initiative. It was an association of boys and girls who began to paint the city from the beginning of the war. I can't say that they were full-fledged murals, but they were wonderful images that created a more national-patriotic atmosphere in the city. Eventually, over time, the initiative came up with the name "People.ua". Then this initiative turned into a youth center, and this year we have already started our own public organization with the same name.

There are always enough challenges in the work of a philanthropist. For me, the biggest of them are the next three.

The first challenge is working with young people. Those who stood at the origins of "People.ua" are now volunteers of the youth center and organization. In addition, other city residents join the volunteering. In working with volunteers, it is important that the relationship is built on sincerity and on an equal footing. These are the things that are felt immediately and continue to form either a long-term relationship or not. I have seen this in my own experience. If you build sincere relations, then you will even be able to gather 10,000 volunteers from all over the Zaporizhia region for an environmental campaign. I am often asked, how did I do it? A volunteer does not have a leader — he has a friend, a partner and a person who is ready to come to your aid. I always say that I just started cleaning together with the volunteers, because that's how the principle of "equal to equal" is embodied. When you force and simply use a volunteer resource for your own purposes, nothing will happen. I really don't like those initiatives where young people are forced to participate. It will not be possible to bring up young people with an active life position in this way. It is important to support those who want to implement social projects, to join initiatives, because after that such young people become even more motivated and charge others with the same energy!

The second challenge is migration. I am hurt by the fact that every year so many young Ukrainians leave Ukraine, those who could develop their local communities here. It is good when it is internal migration, because it gives impetus to the launch of various initiatives throughout Ukraine, but when it is the outflow of young people to other countries - it is a bad sign for the state. That is why I see my vocation in making sure that young people continue to engage in civic activities that benefit society in Ukraine.

The third challenge is the formation of trust in society. This is especially true for the elderly. You need to be able to hear them. Their needs are completely different than most other people's. But middle-aged people need to be involved in the partnership, because they have experience and they can share it, and when young people join in, it turns out a very cool effect! Motivating yourself is also a challenge! Personally, I am motivated by people who create tasks for themselves and make every effort to complete them. If you want to be on a certain wave as a person and as an organization, then you need to be very socially oriented. You need to have modern knowledge, because the world is changing a lot - what was useful yesterday may not be needed today. Therefore, since the beginning of our organization, we are constantly looking for opportunities for development. So, recently we became participants of the mentoring project from CEDEM, took part in the project "ProCharity" from Klitschko Foundation.

These projects provide an opportunity to systematize their knowledge and open new ways to apply them. For example, on the ProCharity project, I knew about project management and fundraising, but the speakers managed to present it as if under a new "sauce", and at that moment I saw that my knowledge was a new opportunity to improve my organization, and already after the trainings I had some ideas of what and how to do. The most memorable exercise was with Lesya Ukrainka’s brand. I could never believe that such an ordinary example for everyone could be beaten like that. And what about charitable and public organizations, if each of them is unique in its own way?

Now we are open to absolutely any projects. These are projects of any direction, and all because our audience is young people, and today they are interested in everything. Therefore, our main vector of activity is aimed at the development of this segment of Ukrainian society.