Abstract
- This study explores the institutional capacity of nonprofit organizations to adapt following an unexpected cancellation of critical funding. In 2025, the Trump administration abruptly ended the operations and funding mechanisms for USAID, which delivered over $21 billion in crucial aid to humanitarian projects and efforts carried out globally by nonprofit and nongovernmental organizational partners. Such immediate financial predicaments pose unparalleled opportunities to learn about nonprofits’ vulnerability and resiliency. This research study explores organizational adaptations following the sudden negative shock of the dissolution of USAID through a mixed-methods research design by investigating USAID financial grants and appropriations from 2016 to 2024. Initial findings indicate four emerging trends: an overall concern for the state of international development, lack of transparency and information asymmetry, a similarity in the resiliency strategies employed by the organizations, and shifting dynamics and relationships with other funding partners such as foundations.