Over the past year, the global funding ecosystem has entered a period of upheaval unlike anything seen in decades. The collapse of U.S. foreign assistance channels, rising geopolitical instability, and tightening risk tolerance across philanthropy have converged to reshape how money moves — and who has access to it.
For Shelly Helgeson, chief strategy officer of Connective Impact, the shift is not just structural — it is cultural. In a recent Devex Pro Funding Briefing, Helgeson described a system increasingly defined by closed doors, referral-only pipelines, and a growing gap between the rhetoric of “flexible capital” and the reality faced by organizations on the ground.
Founded in 2014, Connective Impact operates as a global membership network of more than 200 nonprofits and social enterprises working across low- and middle-income countries. Its members range from grassroots groups with two staff and sub-$250,000 budgets to large INGOs operating across continents.