Private Donors Gave More Than $125 Million to Back Aid Programs Cut by Trump

When the Trump administration froze foreign assistance overnight, urgent efforts began to determine how to continue critical aid programs that could be funded by private donors.

In September, Project Resource Optimization, as the effort came to be called, announced all of the programs had been funded, with more than $110 million mobilized in charitable grants. (Photo: Ron Przysucha, U.S. Department of State Flickr)

Many groups launched fundraisers in February and, over eight months, those emergency funds mobilized more than $125 million — a sum that, while far from enough, was more than the organizers had imagined possible, Thalia Beaty reported for the Associated Press (AP).

In those early days, even as needs piled up, wealthy donors and private foundations grappled with how to respond.

Of the thousands of programs the U.S. funded abroad, which ones could be saved and which would have the biggest impact if they continued?

“We were fortunate enough to be in connection with and communication with some very strategic donors who understood quickly that the right answer for them was actually an answer for the field,” said Sasha Gallant, who led a team at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that specialized in identifying programs that were both cost-effective and impactful.

Members of Gallant’s team — some of whom had been fired and others who worked outside business hours — pulled together a list that eventually included 80 programs they recommended to private donors.

In September, Project Resource Optimization, as the effort came to be called, announced all of the programs had been funded, with more than $110 million mobilized in charitable grants.

Other emergency funds raised at least an additional $15 million.

Those funds are the most visible that private donors mobilized in response to the unprecedented withdrawal of U.S. foreign aid. It’s possible private foundations and individual donors gave much more, but those gifts may not be reported for many months.