Philanthropy in an era of declining development aid

Philanthropy will never replace public aid, but it can be a power-house if we use it right. With global development funding under strain, European aid budgets being redirected towards defense and armaments, and the United States rethinking foreign assistance altogether, the aid community has been left scrambling.

- William Moore

The reasons so far have been of two kinds: calls for philanthropy to fill the gap, and moralising statements shaming governments for stepping back. Unfortunately, the first is unrealistic, and the second is ineffective. Private donors cannot solve systemic global challenges alone, and telling politicians that they are morally bankrupt generally does not bring them around to your side. Instead, we need to meet policymakers where they are, sharpen our arguments, and focus on what actually works.

The hard truth is that most government aid is not even designed for effectiveness because it prioritises processes over results. Nor has philanthropy been immune to this impulse. In our early years at the Eleanor Crook Foundation, we funded holistic, multisectoral programmes that tried to tackle all causes of malnutrition simultaneously. But the results were underwhelming. The approach looked good on paper but produced no measurable improvement in malnutrition.