The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) announced today that, due to the numerous generous contributions of individual donors, the lab will be able to continue its operations until at least October 1, 2025. HRL had previously announced in June that it would cease all operations on July 1 of this year because of the end of its federal funding.
Since the announcement was made that HRL was planning to close, more than two months of funding to continue HRL's work tracking children from Ukraine abducted by Russia has been raised. Last month, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appealed to the public on social media to support the lab, a move which helped spur online donations for HRL through the YSPH website. This additional funding will allow HRL to keep working until October.
An additional three months of funding for HRL's program monitoring threats to civilians in Sudan has been raised in the past month as well. A $500,000 dollar-for-dollar matching commitment for any future donations to the Sudan project has been made available to HRL. If HRL successfully completes this fundraising challenge, this matching commitment will sustain the lab's Sudan work through the first half of 2026.
Despite the outpouring of generosity primarily driven by dozens of small contributions from online donors, HRL is still actively seeking the full amount of funds it needs to sustain its work on Ukraine's missing children and the ongoing civil war in Sudan beyond October. You can find out more here about how to support HRL’s work: https://sph.yale.edu/give-hrl.
Contact: nathaniel.raymond@yale.edu