Aid is political. It’s time for philanthropy to take a stand

Humanitarian aid is not neutral. It never has been. From Palestine to Sudan to Haiti and across much of the world – especially in countries living with the legacy of colonisation – aid has been wielded as a tool of control, manipulation, and geopolitical dominance.

Since the 19th century, Haiti – the first Black republic to win independence – has been trapped in a cycle of debt and control. After liberation, France imposed an “independence debt”, and international powers, notably the United States, repeatedly intervened under the guise of stabilisation and humanitarianism. This ushered in more than a century of foreign-imposed conditional aid, enforced debt, and occupation.

Humanitarian aid has too often functioned as a foreign policy tool rather than a form of solidarity, reinforcing global power hierarchies. In crises shaped by colonial histories, aid frequently substitutes for justice and acts as a shield against accountability. Donor governments choose to position countries like Haiti as a mere recipient of aid. They fail to consider – despite the clear failure of today’s funding model – decolonising aid by centring the voices of civil society organisations, especially those led by women and young people.

Philanthropy stands at a critical inflection point. It can continue treating humanitarian aid as an isolated, apolitical issue – thereby reinforcing systemic inequalities and sidelining the voices of those most impacted. Or it can make a decisive shift toward systemic change and justice by supporting the true frontline responders: the communities themselves.

How frontline aid steps up: Haiti, Sudan, and Palestine

Even in the face of international policies and "aid" mechanisms that actively undermine the autonomy of communities in Haiti and elsewhere, it is local leadership – in moments of crisis and in long-term response – that stands at the forefront of the most effective and accountable humanitarian aid efforts. Grassroots activists and local communities respond through essential services, including food distribution, support for displaced communities, healthcare provision, efforts to combat gender-based violence, and promoting civic engagement.

When devastating earthquakes struck Haiti, these community networks swiftly mobilised to reach those most in need, demonstrating resilience and deep local knowledge often absent from international aid. Aid hasn’t solved Haiti’s problems, but maintained dependence. Real change comes from genuine local leadership, not by waiting for others to decide what’s needed.

In Sudan, as in Haiti, the current crisis is the result of decades of international interference, systemic racism, and extractive global agendas. A broad pattern of global neglect is clear. More than 25 million people in the country require urgent support, but less than 25% of the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan is funded, as of September. All the while, starvation is used as a weapon of war, leading to acute situations of famine in Kordofan and Darfur, where people are eating tree leaves and the remains of plants to survive.

There is no war in this world in which we are not implicated, especially if we live in the Global North – through our tax dollars, pension funds, or university and philanthropic endowments.

The crisis in Sudan reflects deeper systemic dynamics: global anti-Blackness, colonial hierarchies, and a persistent marginalisation of African crises in international response. Systems of dominance and oppression are created and enforced: There is no war in this world in which we are not implicated, especially if we live in the Global North – through our tax dollars, pension funds, or university and philanthropic endowments.

Amid this neglect, grassroots Sudanese organisations – especially women- and youth-led groups – continue to step up. One group runs more than 70 community kitchens, distributes aid, and documents human rights abuses. The collective of groups run hundreds of community kitchens serving millions of people – but receive a fraction of available humanitarian funding. This model of locally led response is doing much with very little – an example that should be seen as a challenge to the status quo of UN agencies and international NGOs dominating responses and decision-making.

In Palestine, humanitarian aid has been an imposed and weaponised mechanism since the Nakba of 1948. Aid has always been deeply political – from ration cards defining refugee status to the denial of food and medicine at checkpoints – systematically undermining Palestinian sovereignty, dignity, and survival. Today, the weaponisation of aid in Gaza has reached unprecedented brutality, as a genocide nears its second year. Starvation is deliberately used as a method of collective punishment; Palestinians continue to be killed or injured while seeking humanitarian assistance; and profiteering from Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide is carried out in plain sight.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars flow into entities claiming to provide “aid”, including spin-off organisations like the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which further entrenches complicity in this system of oppression. All of this unfolds as Israel’s genocidal campaign and ethnic cleansing accelerate into a new, more violent phase – revealing a calculated strategy of permanent displacement and demographic erasure.

Yet, it is Palestinians themselves who are at the front line of response, leading accountable efforts that encompass emergency services, community connectivity, food delivery, documentation of war crimes, and more. Collective groups and grassroots groups don’t have the option of stopping or leaving – it’s their families and neighbours they are supporting. Here, ingenuity takes root: finding solutions with scarce resources, organising with care, and ensuring no one is left behind. Palestinian steadfastness is more than mere response; it is a profound act to do all that’s possible to show up for each other in accountability, solidarity, and a commitment to dignity and justice. 

What philanthropy must do

Today, community organisations are leading the work on the ground, yet receive less than 1% of direct funding.

While this imbalance persists, a small but growing number of funders are beginning to challenge this dynamic by backing a fundamental re-orientation of humanitarian aid: from centralised control to grassroots power. Emerging funding models now offer flexible, rapid-response grants within days, using practices that reflect the urgency, adaptability, and local knowledge of frontline organisers and responders operating in real time. 

Philanthropy can be an early adopter and catalyst by acting decisively and with urgency now.

1. Leverage philanthropy’s power. Unlike bilateral aid, philanthropy possesses greater autonomy. This independence grants philanthropy both the freedom and the responsibility to allocate resources swiftly, flexibly, and in direct alignment with the needs of communities leading crisis response and systemic change. Philanthropy can support grassroots movements and bold systemic change with a level of courage and adaptability that larger institutions often lack. While philanthropy cannot match the scale of government aid, it plays a vital catalytic role by backing essential, innovative models, unlocking additional funding, and demonstrating the power of trust-based, community-led solutions.
2. Fund community-led responses directly. When that’s not possible, fund through trusted intermediaries rooted in those communities. Grassroots organisations are not peripheral – they are the backbone of effective crisis response. These groups consistently demonstrate the ability to act swiftly, adapt creatively, and sustain support where international systems fall short. Humanitarian and philanthropic funding must reach them directly – with urgency, flexibility, and minimal bureaucracy. When direct funding isn’t feasible, resources must be channelled through trusted intermediaries that are led by, accountable to, and embedded within the communities they serve. These intermediaries are essential partners – not just conduits – and must be resourced accordingly.
3. Invest in community-led funding mechanisms and intermediaries as essential infrastructure. Community-led and -centred intermediaries, pooled funds, and funding mechanisms are vital infrastructure to channel resources directly to communities with the flexibility, speed, and agility that effective crisis response demands. Supporting them is a strategic investment in shifting power to those most impacted, dismantling traditional gatekeeping, and fostering truly inclusive, representative systems that enable effective and sustainable response efforts. Examples of proven and successful mechanisms that move critical crisis response funding include Rawa, Black Feminist Fund, Urgent Action Sister Funds, The Global Resilience Fund / Purposeful among others.
4. Invest beyond crisis response. Crises in places like Sudan, Palestine, and Haiti are not random. They are the result of long-standing structural violence, systemic neglect, and geopolitical exploitation. Philanthropy must reject the reactive, short-term model of aid that reinforces cycles of harm. Instead, it must commit to sustained investment in local infrastructure, uphold economic and food sovereignty, and empower communities to build justice, resilience, and self-determination over the long term.
5. Shift power to communities. Localisation is not just about redirecting money; it’s about transferring decision-making power. Communities must set their own priorities, manage their own resources, and lead the design of solutions rooted in their knowledge, experience, and realities. Philanthropy must follow their lead.
6. Advocate for systemic change. Philanthropy cannot remain on the sidelines of the systems it funds. It must confront the extractive, colonial foundations of the current humanitarian architecture – where power and resources remain concentrated in Global North institutions, while communities on the front lines are sidelined or treated as beneficiaries, not decision-makers. Advocating for systemic change means backing policies and practices that dismantle these hierarchies, shift power to local actors, and unlock more resources that go directly to the community doing the real work.

A critical systemic shift is not only necessary – it is already underway. The time to move with clear intention and purpose is here.

Funders4Palestine (F4P) has a global community in philanthropy that brings together hundreds of philanthropic professionals, individual donors, and funders to organize the sector towards deeper solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and a vision of collective liberation. This article includes the analysis of Majd Kayyal (Rawa, a Palestinian civil society organisation), Nathalie Eléonor Vilgrain (Marijàn, a Haitian feminist organisation), Laura Vergara (F4P), and anonymous Sudanese activists, alongside sector-specific research and insights from Dr. Nisrin Elamin (Sudan Solidarity Collective) and Isabelle Clérié (Haiti Impact Group).