The legend of St. George the Dragon Slayer is one of the most widely venerated throughout the Christian world and immortalized in its iconography. According to one version of that legend, St. George, a Roman soldier, rescued a princess from certain death by slaying a "dragon" that had been terrorizing a city and preventing its inhabitants from drawing water from a near-by lake.

Every nation and every generation has its St. Georges. That’s why our logo depicts a Ukrainian Cossack on horseback driving a spear through a more contemporary dragon. It is the Foundation’s goal to find  male and female St. Georges in Ukraine and enable them to confront and overcome some of the many dragons ravaging its rich and fertile lands, and which are causing its inhabitants to be (according to surveys) among the unhappiest in Europe. In pursuit of these goals we are committed to the preservation of Christian and Western values and traditions, including support for strong family and civic life, rule-of-law, and institutional transparency and accountability.

The Ikona Foundation was founded in November, 2009 as a nonprofit corporation of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Shortly thereafter it was recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a tax-exempt, Section 501(c)(3) private operating foundation. [Private operating foundations (unlike many other forms of charitable organizations) are obliged to involve themselves more directly in the implementation of charitable projects, ensuring tighter control, monitoring, and accounting for donated resources. In addition, they are subject to more stringent reporting, oversight, and accountability requirements by the IRS.]

All donations to the Ikona Foundation are fully tax-deductible. Because the Foundation's initial family endowment is fully adequate to cover ALL administrative costs for the foreseeable future, 100% of every dollar donated to the Foundation will be directly applied to the beneficiary organization in Ukraine. In accordance with its charter, donations are to be used  “to relieve and reduce human suffering, poverty, and distress among the poor, the disadvantaged, orphans, and financially distressed families; to promote development of an open, free, and just society; and to support Ukrainian democracy and independence.”