Jason Lewin, in his article Philanthropy didn’t understand what it was trying to fix, said. “I have a hunch. With political instability, economic anxiety, and confidence wearing thin, another wave of philanthropic reform is just around the corner. Much of what we promised would work will prove ill-suited for the road ahead. New frameworks will be unveiled. New champions will be picked. Buzzwords—equity, accountability, transformation - will return with new urgency. There will be panels, initiatives, and manifestos, all insisting that this time, the changes will stick.” Lewin was quite prophetic as a call for Humanitarian Reset, in the wake of funding cuts and freezing, came around the same time from Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Mr Fletcher, while underlining that the humanitarian community faces a profound crisis of legitimacy, morale, and funding, makes a call to fight back, not for systems or institutions, but for the people we serve. He suggested doing this by building fresh arguments and allies, locally and globally and by finding new sources of funding.

The termination of the USAID funding was not an isolated event. On 25 February 2025, the UK Prime Minister announced that the government would “fully fund our increased investment in defence” by reducing aid spending from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3% in 2027.3 Dutch development aid will decline from 0.62% of its GNI to 0.44%. The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development announced a funding cut of € 2.4 billion from 2027 to give precedence to Dutch interests, i.e., promoting trade, enhancing security and reducing migration. Likewise, the governments of Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium have also announced aid cuts for 2025.