New humanitarian players hit UN sidelines in search of galvanizing force to counter aid cuts

NEW YORK (AP) — New players hit the United Nations General Assembly sidelines this week as humanitarian groups searched for a counterweight to foreign aid cuts that have hampered global fights against disease, malnutrition and poverty. Nonprofits, foundations and corporations pack Manhattan ballrooms and closed-door meetings each September to direct some sliver of the world’s attention — and funding — to their missions. General Assembly’s high-level meetings, the scramble is even more urgent after recent sharp declines in funding sent by some of the richest countries to poorer ones.

Across the many conferences, forums and roundtables, the week exposed the gulf between the biggest aid organizations, who have the money and connections to weather this period of public aid retrenchment, and others grappling with their role in the changing landscape for humanitarian funding. The Gates Foundation touted its $1 billion commitment to AI-powered tools for farmers, educators and health workers. Bill Clinton called on Clinton Global Initiative attendees to “step into the void created by retreating governments.” There, former USAID administrator Samantha Power highlighted the ways her coalition to end childhood lead poisoning adapted when U.S.

President Donald Trump’s administration dismantled her former agency, USAID. Multilateral institutions invested and the coalition kept moving,” Power, a Harvard professor, said Wednesday at CGI. “That is the story of optimism I want to leave you with today.” Other mid-sized actors described a mixed mood.

Major foundations are still in “soul-searching mode,” according to Global Fund for Children co-CEO John Hecklinger. His fund serves as an intermediary between well-endowed foundations and more grassroots nonprofits. Funders, he finds, understandably can’t fill every gap but are also hesitant to maintain the previous status quo.

“There’s not this forced, strategic approach. The vision is disjointed,” said Ann Lee, the co-founder and CEO of Community Organized Relief Effort. “It’s very, very sort of ad hoc.” Nonprofits turn to new donor countries Still, the U.N.

sidelines brought out new nonprofits and funders eager for impact. Eleanor Crook Foundation CEO William Moore spent the week garnering support for his fledg…