“We have to do more with less” is one of the most-repeated mantras in the world of humanitarian aid.

Much like another phrase beloved by advocates of slashing budgets for social programs—”pull yourself up by your bootstraps”—it’s utterly nonsensical. 

But when nonsense is repeated often enough, even humanitarian aid organizations themselves can internalize the message. People start to think that an impossible-by-definition task is something they should be able to manage if they just work harder.

That’s why we think this is an important time for a sanity check: no, you can’t feed more kids with less food. No system can be infinitely optimized. Even the most efficient organization has baseline financial needs. However, the world’s biggest aid donors have cut their budgets by 33 percent in 2025—and future cuts are still being threatened.

So what is to be done?

The first step is forming an accurate mental picture of reality. With that in mind, here are some truths that aren’t often acknowledged in media coverage about aid cuts: 

Nobody can respond to emergencies without money

Shortly after Hurricane Helene hit the southeastern US last year, a donor in Utah gathered a shipment of in-kind supplies worth $100,000. We wanted to send this aid to our grassroots partners—but the transport fees would’ve cost them $5,000, and the timeframe was too tight to apply for free shipping through our freight forwarding network.

To avoid spoilage, the donors sent the shipment to United Way instead (since they could easily pay the upfront costs). Those supplies could have made a bigger impact if they’d gone to grassroots organizations. But since they didn’t have the money, they couldn’t help their people.

Governments have an indispensable role to play in aid work

We pay taxes in exchange for services. Disaster preparedness is one of them. This is a task that governments, with their capacity for long-term planning and large-scale resource mobilization, are uniquely equipped to provide. Everyone in society benefits from the efficiencies of scale that come with government involvement in preparing for (not just reacting to) natural or man-made disasters. 

But today, disaster relief has become politicized. Will your community receive aid after a hurricane or a chemical spill? It might depend on how you vote, or to which national party your local officials belong. If that sounds like a hostage situation to you… you’re correct. 

Frontline organizations don’t have fat to trim from their budgets 

Our grassroots partners are already operating on razor-thin margins. When they lose funding, that doesn’t mean cutting back on office snacks: it often means closing entirely. Many grassroots groups in Europe have already been forced to stop their work, while others have had to reduce their services, staff, or both.

This takes a toll on even the most dedicated humanitarian aid workers. Working longer hours to help fewer people is gut-wrenching and unsustainable. People can only do more labor for less money up to a point—eventually, we all burn out. 

So, again… what is to be done? 

There’s no 1-to-1 replacement for government funding. Our goal should be to fill some of the gaps left by its removal (and fight for political change to restore it, though that’s a topic for a different newsletter). 

Disaster preparedness is a good place to start. Now’s the time to make sure you have fresh batteries for your flashlights, and a supply of clean bottled water, and all the other items on the disaster prep checklist. Talk to your neighbors and make a plan for how you can respond as a collective.  

Also: pay attention to the alerts, and know the difference between them! A tornado “watch”? No need to panic, but check your supplies and let your family know where you are. A tornado “warning”? Time to start moving (fast).

Finally, while you’re almost certainly sick of being asked for donations, take a moment and think about the values that matter to you. Do they matter enough to warrant some amount of money? Can you afford to give it to organizations working to protect your fellow human beings in an increasingly chaotic world?

If the answer is yes, then please know your support is incredibly precious right now.

Quick hits

• Penguin poop probably isn’t on your mind much, if at all—but it’s proving surprisingly important in the fight against climate change.

• Despite annual health costs of over $1.5 trillion USD, less than 10 percent of plastic is recycled, according to a new reporting project from The Lancet.

• Speaking of plastic, the link between Barbie and petro-capitalism is… wait, what? The Material Girls podcast knows it sounds weird, but the backstory is fascinating.

• Shopping for clothes? Want to know if a brand is paying their workers a living wage? This website is a great resource! (Less great: 97.3 percent of surveyed brands are not.)