❓WHAT HAPPENED: New analysis reveals significant cash injections to large U.S. aid charities despite a push to cut their funding early in the current Trump administration.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Chemonics, Global Solutions Ventures, FHI360, Jhpiego, and Dr. KJ Seung of the Health Security Policy Academy.
📍WHEN & WHERE: April 2026, United States.
💬KEY QUOTE: “They did the exact opposite of what they said they were going to do.” – Dr. KJ Seung
🎯IMPACT: The data contradicts DOGE’s initial claims of success in achieving its aims to defund large U.S.-based charities that funnel taxpayer dollars to foreign countries.
New analysis shows several U.S. aid non-government organizations (NGOs), once described as “beltway bandits” for raking in multi-million-dollar contracts, received massive cash injections despite a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) drive to cut their spending early in the current Trump administration. “They did the exact opposite of what they said they were going to do,” said Dr. KJ Seung, a physician and member of the Health Security Policy Academy, which conducted the study.
According to the research published by the Health Security Policy Academy—a think tank in Mass General Brigham’s Division of Global Health Equity—for-profit contractor and private international development firm Chemonics received a 16 percent increase in taxpayer funding in 2025, a $173 million jump compared to 2024. Similarly, Global Solutions Ventures, another for-profit organization that provides government staffing services, received an extra $82 million compared to last year, marking a 727 percent increase in federal funding.
In another case, FHI360, a global health and economic development non-profit based in North Carolina that operates in over 60 countries, received $444 million more in 2025 than in 2024, a 110 percent increase. Additionally, Jhpiego, an international health nonprofit affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, received an additional $194 million, marking a 133 percent increase.
The data contradicts DOGE’s initial claims of success in achieving its aims, laid out in January 2025, to defund large U.S.-based charities that funnel taxpayer dollars to foreign countries. DOGE has since been pronounced “dead” by the Trump administration, amid its failure to achieve significant spending reduction targets.
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