On January 20, 2025 an executive order was issued by the US government to pause funding on any new obligations and disbursements with a 90-day review of all US foreign assistance. Four days later a stop work order was issued on all existing foreign assistance awards. These decisions rapidly cascaded into a loss of billions in foreign aid, millions of impacted lives, and thousands of lost jobs destabilizing the global health and humanitarian aid sector. Some commentators and global health organizations speculate that even if the US government thaws these freezes that funding will not return to former levels. In response to this, the world of private philanthropy has been called upon to respond during this time of profound need.
As soon as we at the Rauch Family Foundation were made aware of this decision, we began to connect with our partners, assessing immediate impacts and needs, collecting as much information as we could in an effort to establish an understanding of the breadth and depth of the situation and where we might be able to best provide support. It became clear very quickly that funding for Ministries of Health in emerging nations was frozen, and with it much of the community support ecosystem and implementation infrastructure that is needed for the delivery of global health programs. The United Nations, a significant recipient of USAID funding, has implemented austerity measures in order to maintain work and many large disaster relief and health NGOs have had to halt work completely, effectively ceasing life-saving activities in disease response and nutrition programming, and reducing efforts in disaster relief.
A number of emergency response funds have been established in an effort to maintain a continuum of programming while organizations take stock of the true impact these funding reductions will have on some of the world's most vulnerable populations. Mulit-tiered strategies are being developed incorporating emergency, short, medium, and long term interventions, prioritizing life-saving programs while attempting to continue high-impact, evidence-based initiatives.
At the Rauch Family Foundation, our first response has been to increase our annual distribution to existing partners to bolster emergency response efforts. We have allocated $250,000 to GlobalGiving’s Community Aid Fund to support small, grassroots efforts to continue health programming. We provided Doctors Without Borders with an additional $1 million in service of the lifesaving work they continue to do, especially in areas of armed conflict. We also awarded GiveWell, a longstanding partner of the foundation, with an additional $5 million to address urgent gaps in high-impact program areas as part of their near-term response strategy.
In view of the prevailing uncertainty, the Foundation will continue to monitor the global humanitarian landscape in close collaboration with current and prospective partners. An internal framework for further strategic response is under development and is anticipated to be finalized by May 2025. This framework will inform our next cycle of awards in global health and disaster relief and preparedness. An update will be provided at the conclusion of the second quarter of 2025.
We want our partners to know that we stand with them, and we will continue to do so, as we collectively respond to this period of significant global challenge.
The Rauch Family Foundation