The Trump administration’s relentless assault on USAID, its attempted freeze of federal funding to U.S. nonprofits, and its stated intentions of hobbling the work of vital nonprofits around the world are only the most recent examples — albeit completely avoidable and terribly cruel — of our increasingly fragile global system.
The consequences have been immediate, devastating, and far-reaching, with nonprofits on the frontlines reporting unparalleled challenges. For those of us in philanthropy, the pressing question has become: “what now?” What steps do we take as $40 billion in USAID funding disappears from the aid ecosystem? How do we respond as children go hungry, life-saving services are halted, and aid mechanisms are dismantled? And in what ways can we make a real difference?
Five years ago, in an eerily similar situation, the team at the Roddenberry Foundation asked ourselves the same questions as the full scope of the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastation became clear. Our response was to launch the +1 Global Fund to try mitigate the effects of the pandemic in vulnerable and last mile communities in the Global South. Today, as we consider our response to the current crisis, our perspective has evolved. We now recognize the interconnected and systemic nature of global challenges, understanding that they are not isolated events but part of a larger, complex web of issues.
Acknowledging this reality comes with the realization that we — foundations, intermediaries, and wealthy donors — face a stark choice: We can either view what’s happening as a singular “shock” to the system — a temporary disruption that will fade with time or a change in administration — or we can recognize it as one piece of a broader, cascading set of crises that are rippling through our interconnected local and global systems.
Put another way: we can either continue with “business as usual,” focusing on our current grantmaking practices and perhaps increasing the size or frequency of our grants or we can admit that the scale and speed with which societal challenges are unfolding and interacting is unprecedented, and rise to this moment by reimagining our role in an era where the global order has shifted.
The New Imperative
Let’s be clear — we are in uncharted territory. There is no realistic way to replace the vast void left by USAID’s funding cuts, or other federal cuts to funding the essential services that nonprofits provide. We cannot just “fill the gap,” nor can we merely revisit lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. And one thing we’ve learned over the past five years is that interconnected crises will persist, exerting unpredictable and alarming pressures on our global systems. In other words, we can’t divorce Trump’s funding freezes from other emergent, interrelated, and unpredictable challenges. It is one piece of a complex web of overlapping systemic threats — including societal polarization, rising authoritarianism, misinformation, biodiversity loss, chronic pollution, and climate change — that amplify and exacerbate each other.
In this context, the issues we face today demand more than incremental changes in funding approaches or strategies. What is needed now is a fundamental shift in how we think about philanthropy.
Based on the ‘birds-eye’ view we’ve been afforded by the +1 Global Fund, we see three strategies that philanthropy can assume in order to “meet the moment.” Importantly, none of these strategies are new; in fact, many philanthropists are currently experimenting with these approaches and experiencing success in their application. However, if we want to drive transformational change, we need a critical mass of foundations and individual philanthropists to assume these strategies.
1. Fund Collaboratively
We must begin to collaborate with each other in more meaningful ways. For too long, funders have often chosen to go it alone, rarely communicating with let alone working alongside each other. Our inability or lack of interest in collaborating has translated into a fractured ecosystem in which redundancy and duplication are rife. Piecemeal and siloed interventions persist, and too many impactful organizations are overlooked and underfunded as a result.
By truly coordinating our efforts and shifting focus from individual agendas to a shared set of goals — co-created with the communities we serve — we can achieve far greater impact than we do today. Through our work with +1, we’ve seen the power of convening and supporting a community of funders to learn, collaborate, and collectively support initiatives that have the potential to enable enduring change. By coming together, we can amplify our impact, reduce inefficiencies, align our resources, and leverage individual and collective strengths towards positive change.
Collaboration is not just a strategy — it’s a necessity. It requires a shift in mindset that prioritizes collective goals and recognizes the power of intentional and committed coordination.
2. Fund Resilience-Strengthening
By shifting our focus toward strengthening communities’ resilience — a strategy that is essential for navigating today’s complex challenges—we can better prepare for and overcome future shocks. In simple terms, resilience is the ability to anticipate, respond to, and recover from various stresses over time. This approach can be applied across diverse contexts, with the understanding that, at some point, threats — whether anticipated or unforeseen — will disrupt systems. As funders, our goal should be to help communities strengthen their capacity to adapt and thrive, no matter what challenges arise, even if they are unprecedented or unpredictable.
Some key tenants of ‘resilience funding’ include:
- Providing flexible funding that adapts to evolving priorities and emergent needs
- Investing in organizational development and capacity building
- Shifting power to those closest to the problems and best positioned to lead change
- Integrating a greater number of individuals and organizations into the change process
3. Fund Changemaker Ecosystems
Given the complexity of today’s global challenges, we must move beyond the outdated one-organization-one-solution model and embrace a more collaborative, ‘ecosystem approach’ to philanthropy. Expecting a single organization to tackle deeply interconnected issues is a holdover from philanthropic practices that no longer fit the scale and complexity of current problems. Instead, funders need to step back and adopt a more supportive role, empowering multiple, like-minded organizations with the freedom and capacity they need to lead and accelerate change.
Rather than setting top-down agendas, our focus should be on building the infrastructure that fosters connections and collaboration across a broad range of stakeholders and initiatives. This approach breaks down silos, encouraging cross-disciplinary efforts over narrow, single-issue responses. By investing in changemaker ‘ecosystems,’ funders can help amplify innovative strategies, mobilize resources, and create spaces for learning and collaboration.
And importantly, in a strong ecosystem, organizations can form synergistic relationships, exchange knowledge, and work together in ways that drive collective impact. By designing support strategies that encourage collaboration — such as grants that strengthen partnerships, convenings that align efforts, and communities of practice that bridge sectors and regions — funders can help build a resilient ‘civic fabric’ capable of transforming systems.
21st Century Philanthropy
Accepting that we are living in a moment defined by overlapping and self-reinforcing social, political, economic, technological, and environmental challenges has significant implications.
First, it means that modern crises will continue to arise from unexpected sources, in unpredictable ways, and will have far-reaching consequences. Second, it underscores that such multidimensional challenges demand philanthropic responses that are equally multifaceted. This in turn means that the philanthropic community must abandon its donor-led, top-down approach for one that is fit-for-purpose in the 21st century — prioritizing more flexibility, resilience, coordination, and collaboration. The time to act is now.
Lior Ipp is CEO of The Roddenberry Foundation and the co-founder of the +1 Global Fund. Find him on LinkedIn.
