The World Changes. Again.

Tobin Aldrich

10th March 2025

We are in the midst of dramatic and fast changing global events. Again.

Amongst a number of major convulsions that the new administration in the US has unleashed on us all in the last month, they have essentially trashed the whole global aid system. While no one has any idea of what the future will be, it seems unlikely that USAID in anything remotely resembling its previous incarnation is coming back. Lots of us might have had major issues with the way the US did international aid and development but suddenly stopping virtually all of it leaves a massive gap covering all kinds of programmes all over the world. The UK announcing its own massive aid cuts last week has just exacerbated the situation.

And non-profits are scrambling to respond and to develop strategies in response.  All of us involved in nonprofit consulting probably have in-boxes full of people looking for guidance and support.

Our wheelhouse is money and where to find it, so I’ll stick to that.  Our advice in this situation is basically the same as in any other of the crises we have been through (I remember something about a global pandemic?).  There are a few simple points to keep in mind:

Don’t hide away

What you cannot do is freeze and turn inwards. There’s lots of internal stuff you’ll need to do but it’s essential to communicate externally. Most of all with your supporters.

Focus on those who love you

Or your cause. You need to be talking to them honestly about the situation, what it means and what you can do. They will help if you let them but they won’t if you don’t. Don’t wait until you know everything, you are not going to. Speak to your supporters now.

Focus on what you can control.

There’s no point in bewailing the situation or hoping that someone will ride to your rescue. The first is a waste of energy and the second isn’t going to happen. So what are the levers you can pull, where can you reduce exposure and create breathing room?

Make the changes.

Let’s be honest, while the latest developments are shocking, they haven’t come out of nowhere. The world aid system has been in a slowly developing crisis for a long time. Aid and development models have been increasingly questioned and the role of the international NGO in particular ever more under scrutiny. We’ve all known change has been needed and this simply hasn’t happened fast enough. Our friend Keith Kibirango discusses what this means for the new world funding order in this great video here

This is true of funding too. Many INGOs have attempted to ride the two horses of public support and institutional money as the environment for both has changed fundamentally. Can organisations continue both to be essentially sub-contractors to government while mobilising individuals in donor countries? Arguably many are doing neither well.

Many of us have been arguing for a long time for a different approach to securing funding, much more integrated into organisational strategy, much more authentic to and co-created with supporters, that properly brings together all parts of the nonprofit around a shared narrative.

In the weeks to come there will be nonprofits desperately scrambling for different funding sources, looking for unicorns and asking people like us to find them.  But there are no tactical short cuts here.

The sooner we can have conversations about fundamental strategic changes and tackle the factors that have stopped this in the past, the more quickly we will move on to the new approaches that allow the sector to navigate these very uncertain times.

All that is certain in the future is change and we need to adapt to it now.

And of course, if you want to talk through options, you know where to find us.