$110 Million in Private Funding Supports 80 Former USAID Projects in 2025

# Project Resource Optimization Matches $110 Million to Defunded USAID Projects in 2025 Project Resource Optimization transferred $110 million it matched to projects last year. The initiative matches defunded USAID projects with new donors. By August 2025, it had connected $50 million in donor money to projects on its list, about half of what was required.

Several large and unexpected donations came through in August and September 2025. In roughly 60 days in August and September 2025, Project Resource Optimization mobilized another $60 million.

The $60 million mobilized was enough to fund the rest of the programs on its list. Small family foundations in the United States with no prior experience in international development provided funding to defunded USAID projects. The money PRO has marshaled averages out to about $1.4 million for each of its 80 projects.

$1.4 million per project is enough to keep the projects operational for a year in most cases. A private donor pledged $128,000 to a Mercy Corps project providing clean water to communities in northeastern Nigeria.

The Christian Science Monitor visited the Mercy Corps project in northeastern Nigeria last July.

An infrastructure adviser for the Mercy Corps project said 'It brought back hope' during an interview in July. Mercy Corps also received another $1.8 million to complete another clean water project in Nigeria’s southeast. The funding supports clean water access in affected regions.

for Malnutrition Efforts Helen Keller International Nigeria received a grant via Project Resource Optimization to screen and treat children for malnutrition and to train health workers and caregivers in Nigeria.

The $1.5 million received was a fraction of the $7 million annually that USAID provided for the first phase of its childhood malnutrition project. Helen Keller International Nigeria is working with state governments in Nigeria to get malnutrition services directly into their budgets.