Funding for humanitarian relief and development activities comes from various sources. Although historically donor governments provided the vast majority of aid to developing countries, that trend has begun to change. Private aid actors, such as foundations, corporations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), now provide significant amounts of aid themselves, with their contributions beginning to rival that of official donors.

InterAction focuses its research on funding for humanitarian and development assistance in the United States. We track the U.S. government’s investment in poverty-focused assistance across various appropriations accounts, and advocate increasing the amount of funding available for this purpose. InterAction also does research on trends in funding for its members, looking at the extent to which our members rely on private sources of funding (such as individuals) rather than government funds for their international work. This research informs our efforts both to strengthen NGOs’ relationship with the U.S. government and to promote NGO participation in international fora related to aid and development effectiveness.