As Needs Keep Mounting, How Philanthropists Can Prioritize Support to Global Civil Society

The rapid dismantling of U.S. foreign assistance has thrown the social and civic sectors into upheaval worldwide. Media reports understandably focus on the human costs of shuttering global health programs, humanitarian assistance, and other lifesaving aid, where the immediate impact on lives and well-being is most visible. Beyond these headlines, however, another crisis looms.

Without warning, the aid stoppage cut funding to thousands of civil society organizations that collectively form much of the social and civic backbone of their societies. As it stands, the U.S. government has terminated nearly all civil society-focused projects and initiatives funded under the U.S. Agency for International Development and, longer term, appears poised to dramatically reduce democracy promotion and human rights programming. With civil society facing rising threats from state and non-state actors, these policy shifts risk accelerating long-term trends of civic repression around the world.

Even as the U.S. government deprioritizes civil society programming, the civic sector remains indispensable to the missions of private philanthropists. Civil society organizations and diverse civic institutions deliver social services, promote public accountability, protect fundamental rights, and press for social reform. Through increased and more targeted giving, private philanthropy has a unique opportunity to shore up at-risk, high-impact civic institutions, while driving overdue reforms that set the stage for the next generation of civil society support.

The Impact of Declining U.S. Government Support for Global Civil Society

Trends related to civic freedom have long been headed in the wrong direction. Indices such as the “Freedom in the World” survey show nearly two decades of declines in democratic rights and, across regions, governments use legal and extralegal means to undermine the integrity of civil society and strip away associational rights. Countries like Belarus, Cambodia, and Russia have stamped out much or all their independent civil society and, in other countries, civic actors practice self-censorship and are subject to coordinated smear campaigns for taking controversial positions on social and political issues.

Diminished U.S. funding for civil society will amplify these trends. Near term, the stoppage has induced financial distress on already vulnerable civil society organizations. Many local organizations funded under U.S. aid programs have been unable to receive payment even for work completed before the freeze went into effect.

A Global Aid Tracker survey from March found that nearly 40 percent of nonprofit respondents affected by aid cuts had less than three months of remaining funds (note these numbers are updated every few months). In the same period, UN Women found that 47 percent of surveyed women-led organizations expected to close within 6 months if funding levels persist. Civil society organizations working on sensitive political topics in restrictive civic environments already face scrutiny from state regulators; with the aid freeze, their difficulty complying with local labor laws, satisfy landlords, and meet other financial commitments invites further state crackdowns.

Longer term, the divestment of U.S. government support for civil society will constrict the funding landscape for civic institutions. This policy threatens all types of civil society, including those delivering health, humanitarian, and social support services. Given cuts to U.S. democracy and human rights assistance, however, the shifts are especially dire for those engaged in policy advocacy, human rights, and political and social reform, institutions that face heightened threat from their own governments. In aggregate, diminished support for reform-oriented organizations will restrict the civic space and initiatives that are key to the systemic change sought by private philanthropy.

No sector is left untouched by eroding U.S. support for the civic infrastructure that drives collective action, accountability, and reform. Declining U.S. financing for civil society reduces assistance for grassroots humanitarian responses for communities living in war zones. It cuts funding for human rights documentation in conflict-affected and repressive contexts and defunds organizations combatting human trafficking. It cancels support to local conservation organizations and removes funding for anti-corruption campaigners working in authoritarian countries and fledgling democracies.

These and other issue areas remain strategic priorities for many philanthropic organizations, which, until now, have benefited from the harmonized investments of the U.S. government in the civic sector.

Meanwhile, other government donors offer no rescue. The United Kingdom intends to slash spending on international development from 0.5 to 0.3 percent of GDP by 2027 to cover a ballooning security budget. The Dutch government has made even more drastic aid cuts, and other European governments face difficult fiscal choices as they prioritize military spending.

Opportunities for Private Philanthropy

It is within this context that many look to private philanthropy. Although international giving by American philanthropies rivals spending on U.S. overseas development assistance, philanthropists provide no silver bullet solutions to the crisis facing global civil society. Private philanthropy arrives to this crisis with existing commitments to honor, even as drastic cuts to U.S. foreign and domestic programs alike create needs that outpace the material capabilities of the sector.

Still, individual foundations are making important commitments to increase their giving. In doing so, augmented support for civil society should be near the top of their growing list of priorities. Not only do philanthropists depend on civic institutions to move their agendas, but the systemic change sought by nearly every philanthropic organization presupposes a healthy civil society able to foster collective action, press for reforms, and hold power to account.

Private philanthropy cannot make up for declining U.S. government support for civil society writ large. But it can direct increased resources to especially vulnerable institutions to ensure their survival and continued impact.

In expanding its support to local civic groups, private philanthropy also has the chance to disrupt and reform old models for financing civil society. While prioritizing the highest need cases, for example, philanthropies can expand eligibility for assistance to support the most dynamic civic actors, reorient local civil society organizations’ accountability toward their constituencies rather than burdensome donor compliance, and align grantmaking with the timescales of long-term social change processes. Immediate recommendations for high impact giving include:

• Provide urgent support to civic institutions in financial distress. Funders should prioritize support to civil society organizations immediately threatened with insolvency by the aid freeze through expanded grantmaking to their own grantees, support to basket fund initiatives like the NEAR’s “Change Fund,” and temporary engagement of international nongovernmental organizations as intermediaries to affected organizations.
• Prioritize most-vulnerable civic institutions. Funders should prioritize assistance to organizations serving and representing marginalized communities, which face heightened threats of repression and will remain disfavored under emerging U.S. government funding policies.
• Think and fund beyond the project cycle. Funders should expand their use of general operating support grants and similar flexible funding instruments that enable long-term planning and organizational stability at a time of increased uncertainty, while decreasing administrative burdens on funders and grant recipients alike.
• Expand who’s eligible for material and non-material support. Funders should build models for delivering financial and non-financial assistance to informal civic structures and individual activists who are often effective change agents, especially in repressive contexts.

For multiple generations, philanthropists have benefited from the investments of the largest funder of civil society worldwide – the U.S. government. As its support to civic institutions is set to eclipse that of the U.S. government, private philanthropy has the chance, through greater, smarter, and more targeted funding, to protect the most vulnerable civil society organizations and shape the future direction of civil society financing.

Mason Ingram is vice president of governance at Pact. Find him on LinkedIn.