Our Stopgap Mutual Aid Fund for Those Affected by Aid Cuts

The fields of international development, peacebuilding, humanitarian action, and climate change response are in crisis.

Essential programs providing food, healthcare, sanitation, and more have been halted without notice. In addition to the devastation for local communities around the world, thousands have lost their jobs. There are many more whose work has changed due to new funding requirements - and others who are reeling as they try to process the abrupt systemic transformation we are witnessing.

We need a stopgap.

As an immediate response, we are working to facilitate emotional processing, clarity, perspective, and alliances: https://www.ourstopgap.org

We are also working to provide mutual aid - an opportunity for people to contribute to and access funding as we navigate this transition in solidarity with all those being affected around the world. This fund will be used to support those whose livelihoods have been directly affected by recent policy decisions and budget cuts. It will be used for things like emergency rent coverage, food assistance, and urgent programming equipment needs. We will regularly share what the mutual aid fund has (anonymously) supported on the "Our Stopgap" website.

We have built this mutual aid fund based on successful models from similar social movements, and are dedicated to full transparency. A committee made up of independent and unaffected professionals has formed to oversee the disbursement of funds, and can be contacted via [email redacted].

Note: GoFundMe is a useful platform for getting the word out and facilitating donations from around the world at a low transaction cost. However, if you are able to donate a fairly large sum, and/or have easy access to online banking, we encourage you to get in touch to make your contribution. Our team is set up to receive donations in both the US and UK: Direct bank transfers (as well as 'Friends and Family' PayPal transactions) will reduce transaction costs even further.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and consider contributing to this mutual aid fund. If you are in need of support - whether financial, emotional, logistical, or information - please do not hesitate to browse the resources we have compiled on the initiative's website, and get in touch if there's anything else we can do. (We'd also love to hear from you with other ideas and resources!)

Thank you,

Annika, Becca, Peter, and the rest of the Stopgap team

https://www.ourstopgap.org