A charitable foundation
Get Involved With the Greek Chorus Foundation’s First Projects: Funding a Ukrainian Public Servant’s Graduate Education and Keeping Ukrainians Warm This Winter
Born of the #DogShirtTV audience, the Greek Chorus Foundation raises money for worthy projects decided on collectively by its community — beginning with the education of a young Ukrainian public servant and power for Ukrainian homes in winter.
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In Greek drama, the chorus does not fight the battles or make the decisions. It watches. It speaks. It stands alongside the people on whom the story turns — bearing witness, offering counsel, and lending its collective voice when a single voice is not enough.
On #DogShirtTV, the Greek Chorus is our highly-participatory audience, which helped raise $130,000 this past winter to buy batteries to heat Ukrainian homes amidst power outages, bitter cold, and missile attacks. We decided to institutionalize this civic energy, creating a foundation to raise money for worthy projects decided on collectively by the audience. The Greek Chorus’s 501(c)(3) application is pending.
Operation Taya
Taya is a young official at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. She has been accepted into a two-year joint Master of Arts in Transatlantic Affairs at the College of Europe and the Fletcher School, the cost of which is prohibitively expensive. We figure we can do something about that.
Taya joins #DogShirtTV to introduce herself to the Greek Chorus.
Taya writes:
During my lifetime, I never had the luxury of experiencing a stable, safe Ukraine. Instead, it was full of life-changing events: two revolutions, waves of economic and political instability, and now a war. These experiences taught me lessons no classroom ever could. I learned early that ignorance is not an option here; it is a privilege we simply cannot afford. And, perhaps most importantly, that impact requires more than good intentions: it requires knowing your own capabilities, finding others who share your purpose, and building something together.
These were not abstract lessons. They became the logic for every decision I made about my education and my career. From a young age, I understood that the value of my work would be measured by its social impact, by whether it moved something forward for the people around me.
My career has taken me through regional administration, the Parliament, the Ukrainian Red Cross, and now the Ministry of Defence. In each of these roles, one thing has remained constant: the extraordinary commitment of the people around me, colleagues determined to reform our institutions, deepen ties with our allies, and build a country worth the sacrifices being made for it.
But this experience has also taught me something less obvious. We are very good at articulating what Ukraine needs. We are far less practiced at understanding how our partners think: how their institutions weigh decisions, build consensus, and shape policy. As Ukraine's path toward the EU and NATO advances, I believe closing that gap will matter as much as any technical expertise we bring to the table. What is needed now are people fluent in both worlds, grounded in Ukraine's realities, yet equally capable of reading and navigating the logic of our international partners.
That realization is one of the main reasons I applied for Political and Governance Studies in the Master of Arts in Transatlantic Affairs programme. I don't simply want to gain another degree, I want to challenge the way I think, learn directly from people who shape transatlantic policy, and bring that perspective back to Ukraine. I believe that would allow me to contribute to my country on a much greater level than I can today.
Tuition costs €30,000 for each of the two years of the program, and we have committed a further €15,000 toward Taya’s living expenses for her first year — a commitment we made to the Belgian government in support of her student visa. We mean to cover it all. Tuition falls due in three installments across the academic year, €10,000 each, with €5,000 of stipend alongside. Want to help?
Operation Battery
Russia goes after Ukraine’s power grid in the winter, when losing electricity and heat costs the most. Apartment blocks in Kyiv go dark and cold for days at a stretch — no heat, no light, often no water.
A large portable battery doesn’t fix the problem. But it does buy a few hours at a time of heat and light, and a charged phone. In a Kyiv winter, that is frequently the difference between staying in your home and leaving it.
Last winter the #DogShirtTV audience bought them. More than 300 contributions came in, at a median gift of $75, and the money went into EcoFlow batteries at $1,500 to $2,500 apiece — carried by hand to families in the neighborhoods taking the worst of it, and to institutions serving them. Our director in Kyiv, the journalist Anastasiia Lapatina, selected the recipients and made sure the money was spent as intended. We also bought a battery for a classroom and a large generator for a women’s center.
None of it was tidy. One battery went up sixteen floors of a Soviet-era building in an elevator that locals warned us not to ride — we loaded it, sent it up empty, and waited on the ground floor until the neighbors called down that it had arrived. That building had been without power for two days.
Winter is coming back. So are we. This year, we’re starting early. We’re going to stock batteries, electric blankets, and other items that may prove necessary. And we’re going to buy in bulk.
Our goal is to put as many batteries and generators and as much other equipment in the hands of people who need help as humanly possible.
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