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The United States on Monday pledged an initial $2 billion in humanitarian aid to the United Nations in 2026, a drop from previous years, while warning UN agencies that they must “adapt, shrink, or die.”
The pledge was announced at the US mission in Geneva alongside UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher and marks a significant change in how Washington funds UN aid operations.
Under the new approach, the United States will no longer provide direct funding to individual UN agencies. Instead, all funding will be channelled through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Fletcher heads. OCHA launched a “Humanitarian Reset” earlier this year to improve efficiency and accountability.
The funds, welcomed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, will be distributed to 17 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, and Ukraine.
Part of the money will also go to the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, which provides rapid assistance during sudden or worsening crises.
“This is an initial anchor commitment,” said Jeremy Lewin, the US senior official for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom.
He added that “there are other countries that we will add, as we continue to get more funding into this mechanism.”
Yemen and Afghanistan were not included in the initial list. Lewin said this was to prevent aid from being diverted to “the Taliban and other US-designated foreign terrorist organisations”.
Gaza was also excluded, although Lewin said aid to the Palestinian territory could increase if US President Donald Trump’s truce plan with Israel moves forward.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the new model would force the UN to cut waste, reduce duplication and improve oversight, while encouraging other wealthy nations to share more of the burden.
“This new model will better share the burden of UN humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the UN to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability and oversight mechanisms,” Rubio said on X.
UN data shows the United States was still the world’s largest humanitarian donor in 2025, but its contributions fell to $2.7 billion, down from about $11 billion in 2023 and 2024 and more than $14 billion in 2022.
Other major donor countries have also reduced funding, placing significant strain on the global aid sector.
“ The agreement requires the UN to consolidate humanitarian functions to reduce bureaucratic overhead, unnecessary duplication, and ideological creep. Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die,” the US State Department said in a statement.
Fletcher described the US pledge as “extraordinary”, while Guterres said it would help save lives, adding that “every dollar counts and we are committed to making the most of this support to deliver real results for people in desperate need.”
Earlier this month, the UN launched its Global Humanitarian Appeal for 2026, seeking $23 billion to assist 87 million people. The appeal is far smaller than in previous years, though the UN says global needs remain high, with an estimated 240 million people in need of emergency aid worldwide.
In 2025, the UN raised only $12 billion of the more than $45 billion it sought, the lowest funding in ten years.
