The recent freezing of U.S. foreign aid and the dismantling of USAID represents the latest and most dramatic wave in a global trend of reduced government assistance. This shift is significant, but it also follows a thread of previous actions to reduce international development funding, which includes substantial cuts by other major contributors to foreign assistance, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands.
With USAID, the largest bilateral provider of development and humanitarian assistance, now shut down, the sector is entering a potential funding crisis. Social enterprises and NGOs may no longer be able to rely on traditional funding streams and are facing the reality of a world where 40% of international development spending may not be restored.
This crisis also creates an opportunity: To rethink the approach to financial sustainability, strategic value, and funding structures while other funding sources envision a more efficient and effective world in which the U.S. plays a lesser role.
About the author
Celeste Brubaker. Courtney Roberts. Roger Sandberg. Greg Spencer
Celeste Brubaker, chief of impact and innovative financing at Village Enterprise, leads social outcomes contracting initiatives and excellence in impact measurement programming. Courtney Roberts is CEO of Moonshot Global Consulting, an impact evaluation firm. Roger Sandberg is a seasoned humanitarian who supports outcome-based funding, or OBF, through marketplaces in development funding. Greg Spencer is the CEO of Common Good Marketplace, an innovative, revolutionary digital impact marketplace that delivers Verified Impact Assets, or VIA™, between high-impact organizations and impact funders.
