Devex Pro Insider: Gates at 25 — what does the future hold?

Last week marked the 100th day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second administration, and you’ve no doubt read many analyses trying to come to terms with what has been an extraordinary and tumultuous period. Well, we’ve got one too. In addition to taxing world trade, insulting everyone in Europe, and upending norms and traditions across the nation, the new Republican administration has found time to completely dismember U.S. foreign assistance. Last week, my colleague Elissa Miolene found out what this period has felt like for those on the front lines. Since then, Trump has formalized his position on aid with a new budget. The budget outlines just $9.6 billion in new international spending — an 83.7% cut when factoring in expected rescissions to previously approved funds. On Tuesday, I’ll be talking to Elissa and fellow reporter Adva Saldinger to try to pick out the key themes from our reporting over the last three months, and to look at what may happen next, including an analysis of what the proposed budget contains. There’s still time to sign up to join us and ask questions. Nor is that the only event we have coming up this week. On Wednesday, my colleague Raquel Alcega will be chatting with Jenna Schornack of Lever for Change about unlocking philanthropic funding. Elsewhere in today’s edition, we’re taking a look at the Gates Foundation on the eve of its 25th anniversary, and we’re trying to find out what has happened to the USAID memorial wall, which carries the names of development workers who died in the agency’s service. Bits and pieces Happy (ish) birthday. The Gates Foundation is 25 years old this week, which means … it’s a Taurus. According to the foundation’s horoscope in Elle magazine, it’s time for a healing reset, and I bet its leaders agree. On one level, its success has been incredible. The foundation is well on its way to giving out $9 billion a year, which, if it were a country, would make it among the 10 most generous national aid donors in the world. Its power and influence are growing as it gets larger, and national donors step back. It even announced last year that along with the European Union, it would co-host the latest replenishment round for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance — the first time anything like that has been done by a nonstate entity. But it’s also had to deal with the departure of its co-founder, Melinda French Gates, sparking a recent rebrand. And the political and PR environment is growing ever more hostile. Co-founder Bill Gates famously went to Mar-a-Lago in December to talk to now-President Donald Trump, but came away relatively empty handed. A fascinating New York Times profile last week highlighted how since then he’s been reaching out to anyone who’ll listen. There were even widespread rumors that the Trump administration planned to scrap tax benefits for foundations which spent money overseas, along with climate-focused entities. That information came down from multiple credible sources, and the sector was widely poised for the ax to fall, only for there to be nothing but silence, followed by a terse statement that there weren’t any plans of this sort. What the F? Development folk have had to choke down some unpleasant fare of late, after being fed a diet of bad news and starvation rations for 100 days. Now the U.S. State Department has offered up a new dish: Alphabet soup. The State Department now looks to be the key entity in U.S. foreign assistance funding, and there seems to be an ambition in the Trump administration to still deliver very significant amounts of foreign assistance each year. At least, that’s what Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he wants, and his star is rising. But the past week has been a steep learning curve for many in development, who may not have paid too much attention to the State Department before. It’s complicated by the fact that the department is in the middle of a complex reorganization, one conducted entirely in a code that insiders seem to have made up to confuse everyone else. Apparently, J has been axed. INL has been moved to T. And there are big changes at F. Fortunately, there are a number of good guides out there to help you work out what this might mean. Here’s one we found helpful. DOGE Dodge? Meanwhile, another entity that’s waiting on the will of Marco Rubio is the Millennium Challenge Corporation. The 20-year-old U.S. development agency, founded under former President George W. Bush, gives long-term grant funding to low- and middle-income countries that make progress on strong governance targets, but it recently became a target of the Department of Government Efficiency. Elon Musk’s team is currently roaming the U.S. government like something out of “Mad Max,” opportunistically looking for agencies to close. DOGE drove its War Rig into the agency last month, tried to shut everything down, and offered staff a resignation package. Initially, it looked as if MCC was about to “die historic” on the Fury Road, but now, the deadline to take resignation packages has been delayed, and there is some furious lobbying behind the scenes to turn the whole thing around. Adva tells me that the showdown may come at the next meeting of the board, chaired by Rubio, but it’s not yet clear when that will be. We’ll continue to watch this space with interest. Wonder wall. Among the indignities heaped on USAID in recent weeks, there’s one that’s relatively small, but which hurts: The treatment of its memorial wall, which contains the names of all of those who died in the agency’s service. The wall is a powerful symbol for many USAID people — earlier in the year we brought you news that one former agency staffer had literally tattooed it on his skin. For several weeks after USAID’s sudden closure, the wall sat in what had suddenly become another agency’s offices. The latest news is that the wall has been packed up and transported to the State Department, where hopefully it will be given the proper measure of respect. Do you have insights into any of this week’s bits and pieces? Let me know by replying to this email. Moving on Madhukar Pai has stepped down after four years as the inaugural editor-in-chief of PLOS Global Public Health, a journal focused on addressing health inequities. Dr. Ahmed Ogwell will join VillageReach, a health NGO for low-resource communities, as CEO. Most recently, Ogwell served as the vice president of global health strategy at the United Nations Foundation. Malaria No More has appointed Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer to its board of directors. The Africa Finance Corporation has announced Ireti Samuel-Ogbu as its new board chair. She succeeds Emeka Emuwa, who led the board of directors for 12 years. Did we miss one? Is there a change on the horizon? Let us know at devexpro@devex.com. Up next Milken it. The Milken Institute Global Conference takes place this week in Los Angeles. The think tank, which focuses on finding resources to tackle global problems, has a stellar lineup of speakers, including World Bank President Ajay Banga, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. And that’s only the Bs! Imagine how good the rest of the alphabet could be. Also among the speakers is our own President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar. Please reach out to our Chief of Staff Meg Richardson if you’d like to connect. May 4-7. Asian philanthropy. From tomorrow, my colleague Ayenat Mersie will be at the Philanthropy Asia Summit 2025 in Singapore, where global leaders will gather to explore solutions to pressing challenges in climate, education, and health. With a theme of “Priming Asia for Good,” the summit will feature speakers including Bill Gates, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Temasek Trust CEO Desmond Kuek. Feel free to drop Ayenat a line if you’ll be there. May 5-7. Global Fund. The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will meet this week in Geneva. Check out our recent reporting on upheaval in the Swiss city. May 7-9.