Church-Supported Nonprofit Loses — Then Regains — USAID Funding After Musk Reprieve
Last Wednesday, Mark Moore sent an urgent message to the factory that packages a life-saving peanut butter called MANA: “Stop putting USAID labels on the packages. We’ve lost our funding.”
Five days later, he texted the factory again: “Put the labels back on.”
Mana Nutrition, a ministry supported by Churches of Christ and used in global relief efforts, is among a host of nonprofits worldwide that receive grants from USAID, the United States Agency for International Development.
In late January, the Trump administration began cutting most of the agency’s staff and canceling its contracts under the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
That included USAID’s contract with Mana, which produces a high-calorie, vitamin-fortified peanut butter for children suffering from severe malnutrition. Since 2010, Mana has provided aid to 8 million children in 45 countries, according to the nonprofit’s website.
“It’s been a yo-yo week,” Moore, Mana’s chief executive officer, said during a Tuesday night phone call with The Christian Chronicle.
He and his co-worker, Jon McDowell, were returning to their homes in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Fitzgerald, Georgia, where Mana Nutrition’s plant stands across the street from a peanut farm. The nonprofit buys 1.3 million pounds of peanuts per month, McDowell said, and USAID contracts represent about 90% of its business.
Mana hasn’t received a payment from the agency since December, Moore said. When notified that their contract was terminated, the nonprofit had about 400,000 boxes of MANA (Mother-Administered Nutritive Aid) packets in its warehouse with labels that read, “USAID. From the American people.”
Although that contract is now restored, McDowell said, “the product is still in our warehouse.”
A child in Uganda tries a packet of MANA, Mother-Administered Nutritive Aid. (Photo provided by Mana Nutrition)
‘Termination for Convenience’
DOGE’s mission aligns with an executive order signed on Jan. 20, the first day of Donald Trump’s second term, titled “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.”
“The United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values,” the order reads. “They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”
Moore, a 1990 graduate of Harding University, spent 10 years on a mission team in Uganda. He is a co-founder of Kibo Group International, a faith-based organization that sponsors sustainable development projects in Africa. He spent time in Washington as a legislative fellow and Africa specialist before co-founding Mana with David Todd Harmon, an Abilene Christian University alum, and fellow Harding alums Bret Raymond and Brett Biggs. The nonprofit shares its name with the life-sustaining bread, often spelled “manna,” that God provided to the Israelites during the Exodus.
The peanut butter is a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, or RUTF, that doesn’t require refrigeration or hospitalization to treat severe malnourishment in children. In 2010, one box of MANA packets cost $57 to produce, Moore said. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $80. Through competitive bidding, the nonprofit now spends about $40 per box.
McDowell, a 2013 Harding graduate, had just begun working full time for Mana when the nonprofit received a Jan. 29 email from an address they didn’t recognize at USAID.
Stop production of MANA, the email read. They reached out to their USAID contacts, only to learn that most had been let go or put on furlough.
In early February, as Mana’s staff pondered what to do, Trump appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting director for USAID. Rubio said that the agency’s work with life-saving assistance programs would continue. Mana soon received a second email asking them to resume work.
Then came the Feb. 26 notice of “Termination for Convenience of the Government” (so named to distinguish it from contract termination due to fraud or criminal conduct). That’s when Moore told the factory to stop placing USAID labels on MANA packets.
In the spotlight
Mana’s plight quickly went viral, prompting CNN, The New Republic and other media outlets to give the nonprofit “our 15 minutes of fame,” Moore said.
The attention attracted supporters and naysayers alike.
“The outpouring of support by my friends here and elsewhere has been humbling and inspiring,” Moore said in a March 2 social media post.
Others posted messages that read, “Mana is getting rich off my tax dollars!” “Let other people feed themselves!” and “Mark is a crook!”
“As a devout Christian myself,” Moore wrote, “I must reluctantly note that many or even most of these come from my fellow Jesus people.”
Mana is owed nearly $20 million in reimbursements from the federal government — a number that has fueled some of the criticism, Moore acknowledged.
“I know big numbers like that sound impressive,” he said, “but there is no profit built into that. We take the money when we’re paid and recycle it back into making more RUTF for hungry kids.”
Of DOGE’s mission, Moore said, “I think we can all agree that reform and change and frugality are needed to get our spending in order. If the USA were a household that made $50,000 per year, we are spending $70,000! That’s gotta change. …
“Any wise household would put every expense under scrutiny. But they’d also realize in the midst of their freak-out that the $100 they gave to the church food pantry wasn’t the problem or the solution.”
Musk steps in
Mana’s story also drew attention from Musk himself.
A podcaster named Jon Favreau (no relation to the actor/director) posted a screenshot from CNN’s coverage of Mana to X, the social media platform owned by Musk. Favreau, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, later posted a link to a story from Macon, Ga., TV station WMAZ.
In response, Musk posted, “Dollar Store Jon Favreau is an imbecilic propagandist who lies to score cheap political points. That said, we will investigate whether this is real or not and fix it if it is.”
On March 3, Moore learned that Mana’s USAID contracts were reinstated.
The long work days are far from over, Moore said. Although Mana produces the nutritional packets, “we don’t captain the ships that deliver it. We’re not in the villages handing it out.” By government rules, only transportation companies that also have USAID contracts can get the product to the people who need it. Several international shippers have told Mana, “We don’t yet have an order to come and get it.”
In many ways, “it’s been a terrible week,” Moore said, but also a week of “thorns and roses.”
While he’s thankful that he and his coworkers can continue producing life-saving peanut butter, “the drama is still unfolding.”
This article was first published in The Christian Chronicle.
Erik Tryggestad is president and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. Contact erik@christianchronicle.org. Follow him on X @eriktryggestad.