Beyond the Cuts: Securing Financial Resilience in the Global Aid Shift
The ground is shifting beneath the global development sector. For decades, the landscape was largely anchored by the Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitments of major donor countries. Today, that anchor is being weighed, and the ripple effects are touching every part of the ecosystem—from national governments in partner countries to local charities, international non-profits, and the consulting firms that support them.
The new reality is stark and driven by evidence: major donor nations are moving to significantly reduce their aid budgets. This is beyond a temporary reduction. It is a structural realignment.
The US’s decision to close down their foreign aid department created an enormous USD60 billion funding gap.
The UK is using aid to fund defence spending and announced to reduce ODA from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% in 2027.
Germany's draft budget shows ODA falling from 0.67% of GNI to around 0.57% in 2025 and further to 0.5% by 2029.
France is planning a massive €2.3 billion cut between 2024 and 2025 and has pushed its 0.7% GNI goal back five years to 2030.
Other donors such as Belgium and Sweden follow suit, with Belgium reducing its budget by 25% over five yearsand Sweden proposing a further reduction to SEK53 billion annually starting in 2026.
This collective contraction demands more than just belt-tightening. It requires a fundamental pivot in how development players—especially non-profits, charities, and consulting firms—source funding, demonstrate value, and secure their future.
The TRIPS Framework: Your Strategic Pivot
We believe that in times of financial disruption, adaptability is your greatest advantage. We recommend a strategic pivot built on the TRIPS framework to create lasting financial resilience.
T – Types: Diversify Your Investor Base
Relying solely on traditional bilateral and multilateral funders leaves you vulnerable. It's time to court a more diverse set of financial partners including but not limited to:
Private foundations which offer flexible, mission-aligned, innovative funding.
Corporate partners who are increasingly interested in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) mandates. They may seek supply chain resilience, social license or value-driven partnerships.
Impact investors require both financial viability and measurable social good, aligning perfectly with the core mission of many development initiatives.
R – Regions: Look Beyond Traditional Pockets
By broadening geographies of your funders and/or clients, you can enhance the financial resilience by avoiding concentrated risk.
Explore engaging emerging markets donors and stakeholders (e.g. BRICS, regional development finance institutions, rising philanthropic networks in the Global South) who have financial capability and might be interested in funding domestic or regional development.
Support domestic resource mobilisation efforts in partner countries, aligning your work with sustainable national priorities.
Actively diversify or expand your project/client regions, reducing dependence on crowded markets and build your track records early in new locations.
I – Income: Unlock New Revenue Streams
Have you thought about how your organisation can develop non-grant revenue engines that align with your mission? Imagine your organisation as a multifaceted enterprise, not just a recipient of grants.
Monetise intellectual property: Can your specialised research, data, or training materials be sold as a service?Don’t forget to adhere to ethical considerations like transparency, informed consent, privacy, and accountability, especially when dealing with personal data.
Fee-for-service models: Launch fee-for-service advisory lines, paid training and certification programs, subscription-based knowledge platforms, etc. Development consulting firms can expand their service offerings to private-sector entities requiring sustainability expertise.
Social enterprises: Can a component of your charity work be spun off into a self-sustaining business that generates mission-aligned revenue?
P – Pricing: Shift to Value and Results
In a constrained market, value-based and results-aligned pricing not only builds trust but also enhances your competitiveness.
Value-based pricing: Move beyond traditional time-and-materials models toward pricing that reflects the tangible value and outcomes you deliver. As technology—especially AI—accelerates delivery timelines, clients are less concerned with how long a task takes and more focused on the results achieved. By linking your fees to the strategic value or efficiency gains you create, you demonstrate credibility, fairness, and impact-driven professionalism.
Results-driven or outcome-based payments: For example, a portion of your revenue can be conditional on achieving pre-defined, measurable impact outcomes. Increasingly, donors and clients prefer milestone-based or performance-linked disbursements that ensure accountability while promoting innovation and shared ownership of results.
S – Synergy: Partnerships for Solutions
No single entity can solve today's complex challenges alone, particularly with reduced resources.
Build strategic alliances and partnerships with private sector, academic institutions or other non-profits to share risk, co-design solutions, scale delivery, and access complementary capabilities.
Broaden networks to gain access to new client types and geographic regions, try to pair your technical expertise with local delivery partners.
Form consortia among smaller consulting firms to pool their resources to win new tenders by agreeing on roles, IP, standardising partnership agreements, commercial terms in advance to lower bid costs and speed mobilisation.
In times of change, strategic adaptability is not just an option. It is an imperative. By applying the TRIPS framework, you can convert risk into strategy by diversifying funding sources, expanding markets, building recurring income, aligning pricing with impact, and mobilising partnerships.
