ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵ

Paige Alexander is chief executive officer of The ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵ.

We’ve all seen the headlines: U.S. Slashes Foreign Aid Funding.

The nonprofit world is experiencing a major financial earthquake right now. Many of our fellow nongovernmental organizations have taken a heavy blow from drastic cuts in U.S. government funding for humanitarian assistance. Some have gone bankrupt and shut down entirely, leaving voids that will be impossible to fill. People have lost their jobs, and those who were benefitting from aid are of course dramatically affected.

Despite this difficult reality, I want to assure you that The ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵ remains a strong, resilient, fiscally sound institution. We continue to wage peace, fight disease, and build hope around the world.

Our late, beloved founders, President and Mrs. Carter, had the wisdom and foresight to build an endowment that helps to insulate us against economic shocks, and, fortunately, our family of donors is diverse, divided among individuals, foundations, corporations, and U.S. and foreign governments.

That said, nearly 10% of our funding suddenly evaporated when the U.S. government cuts came. Seven programs were affected, including conflict resolution work in Sudan and women’s empowerment efforts in Bangladesh. We are actively seeking new sources of funding to keep those projects operating, but that’s not easy.

Your steadfast support is more important now than it has ever been, and we continue to be grateful for our loyal group of supporters.

Seeing our strength, other worthy organizations that have been devastated by the cuts are coming to us, asking us to continue the work they can no longer do, and we are weighing if and where we might be able to step in to help. The world’s most vulnerable people need us more than ever, and we are determined to remain a force for good in this world.

I hope you are, too.