USAID Cut Their Funding, So These Faith Groups Got Creative
MUKONO, Uganda — The African country’s churches and affiliated NGOs are being forced to adapt after the withdrawal of long-standing funding from the United States Agency for International Development.
For many years, Uganda’s churches and affiliated NGOs depended heavily on international financing from the U.S., U.K. and European Union to run feeding programs, support clergy families and build schools and hospitals. Until last year, USAID was a major conduit for American support.
This changed when U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration ended USAID’s operations in Uganda. These cuts arrived just as churches in Uganda and affiliated NGOs were still struggling to recover from the financial strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although initially many Ugandans dismissed the news of the termination of USAID as routine politics, the consequences have since become increasingly evident.
The reduction in U.S. and E.U. support has stalled countless projects run by churches and affiliated NGOs, forcing them to innovate or risk collapse. Fortunately, the creativity that they developed during the pandemic has not faded.
During COVID-19, clergy in Uganda embraced tools such as online preaching, digital tithing, and farming to survive. Now, once again, churches and NGOs are adjusting their approaches and turning to local fundraising to sustain programs that assist vulnerable children, women and refugees.
Across much of the country, they are now organizing charity runs, Thanksgiving events, harvest celebrations, fundraising dinners and land development campaigns. The Mukono Diocese in Central recently organized a charity run to fundraise for the construction of a bigger church building to hold its increasing number of congregants. While these efforts raise far less than foreign grants once did, they demonstrate a growing sense of local responsibility.
Caritas Uganda, the Catholic Church’s development arm, is one of those organizations that have resorted to local fundraising methods in response to the declining international aid. The organization recently launched a fundraising campaign for UGX 600 million (about $171,396) to support 300 vulnerable children through its pastoral and social programs.
Bishop Serverus Jjumba of Masaka Diocese, who heads Caritas Uganda, launched last year’s fundraising campaign in October and appealed to Christians to donate generously. The drive concluded with a charity dinner on Nov. 28 in Kampala under the theme “Charity is the Heart of Faith.”
For decades, Caritas and its 19 diocesan branches operated on robust foreign grants, rarely needing large-scale public fundraising. Bishop Jjumba acknowledged that while raising 600 million shillings from 10,000 Christians, each contributing UGX 60,000 ($17.14), was a worthy goal, it pales in comparison to what the organization previously received from foreign donors.
The Anglican Church of Uganda is also facing similar challenges. Rev. Dr. Richard Mulindwa, the Church Relations Manager at Uganda Christian University (UCU), told Religion Unplugged that the withdrawal of foreign aid from the U.S. has pushed them to overhaul their financial strategies.
“We now depend heavily on local fundraising,” he said. “We have no alternative. The cushion we once had from international partners is gone. Self-reliance is essential.”
Churches in Uganda are currently investing in infrastructure, farming and financial services to bridge the financial gaps. Nearly every church runs a savings and credit cooperative (similar to a local credit union), all aimed at sustaining ministry.
Sanyu Babies’ Home on Namirembe Hill in Kampala, under the Anglican Church of Uganda, has also resorted to local solutions to address the financial challenges caused by the decline in foreign funding.
Although Sanyu did not receive direct funding from USAID, many of its regular donors worked for organizations that did. After funding cuts led to job losses, some of these donors stopped contributing, affecting Sanyu’s annual budget.
Sanyu said it cares for roughly 50 abandoned infants each year, providing food, early childhood education and eventual reintegration or adoption. Fortunately, lessons learned during the pandemic prompted Sanyu’s management to diversify its income sources. In 2024, the home invested in solar power and agricultural projects to reduce expenses.
Director Barbara Nankya Mutagubya told Religion Unplugged that solar energy has significantly lowered electricity costs at the facility, while home-grown food has cut daily spending, which has helped to bridge the funding gap caused by the termination of USAID.
“We used to rely on firewood for cooking, but now solar energy is much cheaper,” Mutagubya said. “Powering lights and medical equipment is also cheaper and more stable. In the past, blackouts endangered babies’ lives. And relying on solar instead of firewood has protected hundreds of trees.”
In western Uganda, Middle Cross Primary School, a Christian NGO educating vulnerable children, has also moved toward local fundraising and resource mobilization.
Director Denis Ndyabawe said that although a few U.S. donors still support the NGO, many former sponsors now prefer to focus on Americans facing financial hardship. Ndyabawe is now hanging on hope from heaven to run the NGO.
He told Religion Unplugged that “In God’s kingdom, there is no such thing as lacking money because aid has been cut. If God intends something, the money will come. When Jesus commands, nothing else matters.”
Meanwhile, in eastern Uganda’s Soroti Diocese, parishioners at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Olupe have turned to brick-making to rebuild their church, which was destroyed by strong winds in 2022.
Instead of waiting for donor support, the congregation also held a major fundraising event last April. Area catechist Joseph Ejiet explained that overseas Catholic charities that once reliably supported rural parishes in Uganda have shifted their priorities.
“Many organisations are now directing funds to global crises, conflicts, hunger, refugee emergencies or have adopted funding systems too bureaucratic for small parishes,” he said.
Additional reporting by Yasiri J. Kasango
John Semakula, an award-winning journalist and alumnus of the Poynter Institute, is based in Mukono, Uganda.