Aid Groups Seek New Partners as UN Sidelines Highlight Funding Gaps

Humanitarian organizations gathered on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York, searching for new sources of funding and partnerships to counter sharp declines in foreign aid that have hindered global efforts against disease, malnutrition and poverty.

Each September, nonprofits, foundations and corporations fill Manhattan ballrooms and closed-door meetings to draw attention and money to their causes. This year the push felt more urgent after some of the world's wealthiest countries reduced their aid budgets.

The week exposed a divide between large aid organizations with the resources and connections to withstand the retrenchment and smaller groups still working out their place in a shifting funding landscape.

Major pledges still came. The Gates Foundation highlighted a $1 billion commitment to artificial intelligence-powered tools for farmers, educators and health workers. At the Clinton Global Initiative, Bill Clinton urged attendees to "step into the void created by retreating governments."

Former USAID administrator Samantha Power described how her coalition to end childhood lead poisoning adapted after the Trump administration dismantled the agency she once led. "Philanthropies took risks. Governments took ownership. Multilateral institutions invested and the coalition kept moving," she said Wednesday at CGI.

Mid-sized actors described a mixed mood. John Hecklinger, co-CEO of the Global Fund for Children, said major foundations remain in "soul-searching mode," hesitant to maintain the previous status quo even as they recognize they cannot fill every gap. Ann Lee, co-founder and CEO of Community Organized Relief Effort, called the approach "disjointed" and "very, very sort of ad hoc."

New groups nonetheless arrived eager to make an impact. William Moore, CEO of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, spent the week building support for Operation End Starvation, a nonprofit launched this summer to eradicate child deaths from acute malnutrition. It began with a $100 million, two-year commitment from the U.S. State Department, but Moore expects to need 17 times that amount annually to buy enough therapeutic foods. On Wednesday, OES announced a $5 million grant from the Gates Foundation.

Moore's goal is for OES to become to malnutrition what Gavi is to immunizations or the Global Fund is to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Under his pitch, OES would cover overhead costs and match one-third of government money through philanthropy if countries pay for the foods and their delivery. He noted a scheduled lunch with Nigeria's health minister, part of a broader shift toward partnering with high-burden countries.

Moore's nonprofit is among a growing number turning to Arab Gulf nations. He said OES is holding productive talks with state donor entities and philanthropies tied to royal families. Hammam bin Nasser bin Juraied, executive director of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development, said regional leaders recognize the need "to fund and to bridge the gap" left by aid cuts.

Other groups are working more closely with local partners to cut overhead and increase impact. Education Cannot Wait Director Maysa Jalbout, whose nonprofit lost Trump administration funding, said the organization has committed to delivering at least half its funds through local organizations. She is trying to raise $600 million to educate 10 million crisis-affected children by 2030 and has continued to see support from Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. She said she spoke more than usual this week with philanthropies and the private sector about their "collective responsibility."

Some leaders noted a greater presence from family offices, the private advisers who manage wealthy families' fortunes. Agnes Dasewicz, chief investment and program officer at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, said she met many such advisers at a breakfast organized by an informal network of women in climate. She said these individuals want their wealth to have global influence without the publicity of a major foundation, and can act more flexibly, though they are harder to find.

Howard G. Buffett, eldest son of investor Warren Buffett, attended this year instead of staying at his family farm, motivated by what he sees as lagging support for Ukraine. At a forum hosted by Devex, he said Ukraine must be among the week's highest priorities. His foundation, which doubled spending after Russia's 2022 invasion, has given Ukraine $1.4 billion. The World Bank estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost nearly $588 billion over the next decade. Buffett pledged to finance the rebuilding of a Kharkiv publishing house destroyed by Russian missiles, calling an attack on a children's book maker a way to "destroy a society." He said he was surprised more U.S. foundations focused on democracy had not joined, and hinted his foundation would take more risks while seeking recipients able to absorb $500 million donations.