Title:“Something’s in the air at Georgetown”

Nonprofit leader in Ukraine reflects on Georgetown roots

As a government major at Georgetown, Ian Miller (C’09) developed the knowledge he now applies as the co-founder and director of fulfillment and fundraising for Zero Line, a nonprofit provider of front-line aid in Ukraine.

When Miller saw news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he left his job at MIT and flew to eastern Poland to help. He soon found volunteers interested in saving as many lives as possible and shortening the war in Ukraine. Those volunteers eventually became Zero Line’s American and Ukrainian co-founders. 

“During Zero Line’s first few weeks, dozens of donations came from my former Georgetown classmates,” he says. “They knew Ukraine’s defense had global implications and donated immediately to our front-line aid.” 

He attributes their response to the service-oriented, global education he and his fellow Hoyas received.

“I think something’s in the air at Georgetown, and that is service,” explains Miller. 

“In my Comparative Political Systems course, I learned about capacity-building in young democracies,” he says. “Nonprofit organizations can fill gaps in government services, and gradually contribute to—or become—part of governing institutions that are healthier, more effective, more transparent, and less corrupt.”

“I have participated in such work directly, supporting a Ukrainian civilian-led digital mapping program that gradually became an official and integral part of how Ukraine’s government shares front-line information,” he says.

Miller fulfills, procures, and ships everything to Ukrainian front lines, including vehicles, IT equipment, combat medical equipment, first aid kits, and other basic equipment. 

Zero Line supports Ukrainian programs that are saving lives directly, are teaching others to do so through better technology and communication, and are “scalable programs with multiplier effects,” says Miller. 

A key aid recipient of Zero Line builds front-line digital maps now used by tens of thousands of people to increase survival rate and operating effectiveness when evacuating wounded, moving supplies under fire, and avoiding Russian attacks.

By providing key equipment to Ukrainian front lines through Zero Line, he hopes not only to apply the knowledge he gained at Georgetown, but also to show volunteers the impact of their donations.

“We hope when volunteers see Ukraine’s defense firsthand and Zero Line’s operations firsthand, they will be inspired. We’ve seen it happen,” he says.

In convoy event cycles, Zero Line brings volunteers and donors to Ukraine to visit the Ukrainian programs the organization supports and drive guarded shipments of aid to back-line areas of Ukraine. Zero Line and their Ukrainian partners then take the aid to the front lines.

“When we give space so the volunteers and the Ukrainians can talk, beautiful things happen. I’ve watched it a hundred times,” Miller says.

After working with Zero Line convoys, volunteers have been inspired not only to make high-impact donations but also to create a documentary chronicling the bravery of Ukrainian teenagers who spied, shared information, and helped people escape occupied areas.

“Although over 90% of the potential donors that Zero Line talks to will never visit Ukraine, they are a pillar of how we save lives,” Miller says. “Nothing happens without their support, without their donations.”