U.S. investment banking firm Jefferies has raised $14.1 million in Ukrainian Doing Good Global Trading Day, which will be quickly distributed to 20 charitable organizations to provide humanitarian aid and support to Ukraine.

CEO Rich Handler and Jefferies President Brian Friedman praised those who donated in a letter.

"We all felt so helpless as we watched this tragedy unfold before our very eyes, and we are grateful for the opportunity to do our little bit to help families, children and communities in Ukraine," they said.

Jefferies customers contributed $12.4 million in net trading commissions, while Jefferies employees donated more than $0.7 million and the company contributed $1 million, the company said in a statement.

The firm said it will donate $1 million each to Americares, CARE, Médecins Sans Frontières, GlobalGiving, Global Empowerment Mission, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Medical Corps, UNICEF and World Central Kitchen.

In addition, $750,000 each will be sent to the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), the CURE and HOPE projects, and the Joint Ukrainian-American Relief Committee.

Jefferies will allocate another $300,000 each to Come Back Alive, Direct Relief, the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group, the Kyiv School of Economics, the Humanitarian Aid Fund at the National Bank, St. Andrew's Charitable Foundation and SOS Children's Villages.

According to the American media and Interfax-Ukraine interlocutors, a significant number of U.S. investment banking companies, after the start of the war against Ukraine by Russia, introduced the practice of collecting donations for Ukrainians, in which companies double the contributions made by their employees.