Global philanthropy’s response to aid cuts has failed to act as swiftly to the array of international aid cuts this year as did to the Covid pandemic, according to a new report by Bridgespan, a philanthropy consultancy, and the Gates Foundation.

Funders have been left in a state of inertia following a stormy 2025 since global philanthropy responded to COVID-19 more rapidly than aid cuts. This year saw the effective dismantling of USAID by US President Donald Trump, as well as foreign aid cuts from some of the world’s wealthiest nations, including the UK, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria.  

While the COVID pandemic was a ‘finite’ crisis, the report said funders have been unable to take advantage of what the report says is a time for structural change.  

‘There is a lot of talk about the urgency and responsibility funders have, but are funders ready to do more than respond to emergency needs?’ Megan Hastings, head of partnerships at Adeso, an African social enterprise working to shift power and resources to local leaders in Africa and globally, asks in the report on how global philanthropy responded more quickly to COVID than aid cuts.

‘This moment is a unique opportunity to embrace risk and make space for radical transformation in funding practices.’ 

‘Philanthropy is waiting for the other shoe to drop,’ says Solomon Zewdu, CEO of The END Fund, a collaborative fund dedicated to ending six neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), adding that funders remain ‘guarded’. 

The chilling effects of global authoritarianism, weakening civil society, and the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion in the US have also left some funders more hesitant for fear of becoming a target or opening themselves up to political risk.

Alliance magazine also found similar findings in a 2025 reader survey conducted with the Doc Society, which found growing populism was shifting philanthropy from progress to holding the line as global philanthropy responded more quickly to COVID than aid cuts. A political clampdown on diversity, equity and inclusion commitments influenced funders.

Global Philanthropy’s Response to Aid Cuts: Collaboratives ‘In the Middle’ of the Storm

Bridgespan explored the growing role of donor collaboratives in 2025, described as having a ‘middle ground’ position of pooled resources not directly reliant on foreign aid but also dependent on ‘increasingly constrained philanthropic funding to carry out their work’.  

Almost 75 per cent of collaboratives receive less than 10 per cent of their funding from international aid budgets, demonstrating the impact of global philanthropy’s response, or lack thereof, to aid cuts. 

Read the full article about global philanthropy’s response to aid cuts by Shafi Musaddique at Alliance Magazine.