When the Trump administration halted USAID funding on Jan. 24, it seemed like no one in the sector was left unscathed. Programming across more than 10,000 organizations in over 120 countries ceased overnight, and the fallout wreaked havoc on operations everywhere from Brazil to Burkina Faso.
The vast reach of USAID — and the widespread despair its sudden cessation has caused — creates the impression that all organizations rely to some extent on government funding in order to function. That’s not actually true — in fact, some of the most prominent organizations in the space don’t touch a dime of aid from USAID and other bilateral donors.
For Oxfam America, the decision to forego government funding was made decades ago in order to ensure its freedom to advocate as it sees fit, Daryl Grisgraber, the organization’s humanitarian policy lead, told Devex. “If we’re taking U.S. government money, we might not feel as free to criticize the U.S. government as much as we do,” she explained.