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ЗМІN is a private Ukrainian foundation.
The main track of ЗМІN’s activity is resourceful and financial strengthening of institutions that in different ways act toward qualitative social change. We do this through formats familiar to the sector: provision of grants and scholarships, long-term reinforcement of initiatives, systemic institutional support, and co-creation of projects.
The framework by which we choose organizations for partnership: a stable team, systemic thinking, ability to work with complexity, openness to otherness, intellectual capacity and a demand for growth and development, the presence of effective innovative solutions in the portfolio, and the willingness to cooperate in parity.
By uniting already over one hundred actors from different fields and spheres in one ecosystem, and interacting with them in new models of relations, we see the power to make a stronger impact when it comes to long-term change.
With attention to the context of extremity and uncertainty, we maintain heightened sensitivity and attentiveness so that every resource invested in the actions and decisions of partner teams is responsible and effective.
More extensively you can read in the section About ЗМІN.
In 2025, we define the conceptual framework of ЗМІN through the metaphor of a dynamic rhizome, which aptly reflects our intention to build quality systems and connections.
A rhizome is a flexible, dynamic system where new ideas and solutions can emerge at different points and interact with one another, where strategies take root and grow. Anyone can become a key point of growth and change. The process of forming new approaches is continuous: it takes root where the soil is most favourable, bringing together the efforts of different ecosystems for recovery and development.
We have identified three strata through which we implement strategic activity and move toward our vision:
1. Partner Ecosystem of ЗМІN
A perspective on the work of ЗМІN through interaction with a network of partner organizations. The aim of this approach is to build strong connections and intersections, to form new models of relationships, and to foster shared growth, with ЗМІN acting as the architect of an open and integral system.
2. Project Vector
A separate track involves running support programs: investing in ideas, resource strengthening, structuring, managing project cycles, and accompaniment. This is our instrument for the responsible direction of resources, which we implement flexibly, adaptively, with a panoramic strategic outlook.
3. Work with Meanings
ЗМІN is also about shaping the glocal context, forming responses to uncertainty, working with complexity, and creating meanings. We think aloud, analyze, research, listen, reflect. This is our way of seeing larger systems. Through analytics, advocacy, needs assessment, and research tools, we strive to comprehend challenges and turn our decisions into substantive support for ourselves and our partners.
A program focused on supporting military and civilian initiatives that act on the frontier of security and defence: maintaining complex systems, shaping new norms of respect and empathy toward diverse experiences, and working within approaches of education, innovation, and technological solutions.
Collaboration over a long-term distance with organizations whose values we find consonant with our own. This is not about one-time financial support, but about a shared trajectory of growth, flexible response to challenges, and mutual trust and responsibility.
This program is about the first intersection and mutual consideration from both sides of whether the interaction has potential for more sustainable knotting and deeper engagement.
Ideas developed and implemented in co-creation and at intersections. There are no prewritten frames here, but there is readiness to search for forms, meanings, and comprehensive solutions.
In this program, we initiate and implement our own projects. These may be research, advocacy, communication campaigns, cultural interventions, or events. Here, ЗМІN acts in the role of subject of action, forming a space for difficult questions and the possibility of dialogue.
→ Cross-sectorality
Integration of different industries, fields, disciplines, topics, and tools to achieve sustainable change. Combining social, cultural, educational, economic, and technological approaches to create systemic solutions that account for the multidimensional needs of society. Prioritization of cross-sector projects that ensure synergy of actions and impact various aspects of social life.
→ Vulnerability
Activities aimed at engaging new vulnerable groups. Approaches that ensure giving voice, increasing agency visibility, and creating opportunities for these groups to independently influence social processes. Involving vulnerable groups as active participants rather than objects of support. Providing voice and agency, including them in societal decision-making.
→ Human-centricity
Creating environments where teams work as equals with their beneficiaries, treating them as partners in the change process. Approaches that avoid instrumentalising the target audience and instead focus on building trust, openness, and empathy. Understanding the unique needs and potential of each individual to develop collective solutions.
→ Expertise and Vision
Teams with deep expertise in their fields, capable of analysing global trends and adapting them to local realities. Initiatives based on clear planning, risk assessment, and scaling opportunities. Approaches that prioritise strategic development, sustainability, and flexibility in implementation to achieve long-term impact.
→ Contextuality
An approach that involves considering and adapting solutions to the cultural, social, political, and economic context of a specific place and time, including understanding local particularities, community needs, and external conditions. A key element is flexibility, which allows rapid response to changes and the invention of solutions to achieve relevance and sustainable impact.
For ЗМІN, partnership is first and foremost about mutual responsibility, equality, and trust. We don't see it as a transaction, but as a long-term relationship based on shared values, visions, and a willingness to cooperate and respond to complex challenges.
The ЗМІN Foundation does not operate according to the traditional “donor-recipient” model. We are still in the process of establishing our institutional role, declaring our values and approaches, and positioning ourselves within an ecosystem with a model of interaction different from the usual, where invested capital multiplies through resources, knowledge, synergy, and trust. We have set ourselves the challenge of creating new scenarios of rules and interaction policies, atypical for traditional donor relationships. We are flexible, adaptive, ready for close contact, discussions, justified changes in the process, and joint development if there is a need for it.
All partnerships are deliberate and not accidental. We carefully review teams, their values, activities, and strategies. Accordingly, we expect reciprocity. This is a complex, ongoing process that is hard to capture in a single document, but we believe that this approach can become a good practice for foundations with similar philosophies.
We use the terms “cooperation/collaboration/partnership” and embed in it the concept of mutual responsibility and equality. Relationships between the foundation and partners are, above all, not about money. We are a locally immersed donor and choose the position of long-term partnership. We see far more impact and meaning in this than in one-time financial interactions. We view partnership through the lens of relationships. Relationships are always hard work, but we are ready to nurture and work on them when we understand the significant results that such cooperation will bring.
Since 2021, the ЗМІN Foundation has been developing an ecosystem of partner organisations — one of the key values of our activities.
We create opportunities for organisations to intersect, complement each other, and strengthen their joint impact. We call this “tying knots”: introducing those who can act more powerfully together.
Such interactions are not accidental, but a conscious approach to building an environment in which partnership becomes the infrastructure for change.
We are convinced that strong ties between organisations will grow over time, forming the basis for subsidiarity, meaningful shifts in sectors, and long-term impact.
Organisations join the ecosystem when there is mutual interest, shared values, pace, and vision between us. This is not a process of selection or exclusion, but rather a discovery of points of connection that allow growth together.
We are united by similar approaches, a readiness to seek new solutions, think experimentally, and build cross-sector connections differently – boldly, openly, and with trust.
Sometimes these points emerge immediately; sometimes they require time and shared experience.
*We distinguish between the concepts of “Partnership” and “Ecosystem Partnership.”
Partnership implies interaction with ЗМІN in various forms and does not require being part of the ЗМІN Ecosystem.
The ЗМІN Ecosystem is a community where both sides maintain a conscious, mature position and openness to act at intersections, “tying nodes,” and this does not necessarily imply financial or legal interactions.
In our fourth year of operation, we slowed down the pace of supporting new partner organisations. To do this, we established clearer guidelines and narrower focus areas for organisations applying, concentrating on deepening existing relationships.
If ЗМІN’s approaches resonate with you, and you are ready for conversation and co-creation on an equal footing, we invite you to signal your interest by completing a concise [Registration Form].
We provide feedback within a month after receiving the application.
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