Thalia Beaty, Author at The Rapid City Post

Sasha Gallant, a former employee of the U.S. Agency for International Development and current co-founder of the Project Resource Optimization Initiative, poses for a portrait, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Cockeysville, Md. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Private donors gave more than $125M to keep foreign aid programs going after US cuts

October 27, 2025

Efforts to back fill some of the cuts to U.S. foreign aid by the Trump administration raised over $125 million in eight months. The sum is more than the organizers of the emergency funds had imagined possible, while still falling far short of the tens of billions cut or frozen with the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. A team of former USAID employees launched an effort they called Project Resource Optimization to recommended 80 specific programs for private donors to fund. In September, donors had given more than $110 million in charitable grants. Other emergency funds raised an additional $15 million.

FILE - George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, attends the Joseph A. Schumpeter award ceremony in Vienna, Austria, June 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak, File)

Progressive nonprofits condemn Trump’s targeting of George Soros and his foundations

September 29, 2025

Dozens of progressive nonprofits condemned President Donald Trump’s general attacks on his political opponents and a specific report of a potential investigation into billionaire George Soros’ philanthropy. The statement follows a New York Times report that the U.S. Department of Justice directed prosecutors to consider possible charges against Open Society Foundations. The foundations have rejected Trump’s accusations that they fund violent protest. Interfaith Alliance was one of the nonprofits that signed onto the statement. Its president and CEO, Paul Brandeis Raushenbush said nonprofits, and especially religious groups, need to stand up for the people and groups that the administration targets.

FILE - The symbol of the United Nations is displayed on the main gate outside UN headquarters, Feb. 24, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, file)

Big foundations and nonprofits still flood to the sidelines of a diminished United Nations

September 20, 2025

The United Nations will draw foundations and nonprofits to New York for a packed schedule of events on the sidelines of its General Assembly next week. But uncertainty over its future and foreign aid commitments have already had an impact. The Gates Foundation has delayed an annual report about progress toward global development goals. The Clinton Global Initiative is changing its format to focus on new programs. Despite these challenges, Kevin Sheekey, a senior adviser to billionaire Mike Bloomberg., says the U.N. General Assembly is still the only place that the whole world gets together and that is valuable.

FILE - Alex Soros, left, on behalf of his father George Soros, in the East Room of the White House, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

George Soros’ philanthropy reaches for new ideas as it grapples with the limits of its power

September 18, 2025

The family philanthropy of hedge fund billionaire George Soros has consistently been one of the largest funders of human rights organizations around the world. But what that means has changed in recent years, with a new focus on addressing inequality. Leonard Benardo is senior vice president at Open Society Foundations. He said the new emphasis comes from a recognition that inequality erodes democracy. He said the foundations continue to also support key parts of the human rights ecosystem. But that the rise of authoritarianism has forced them to grapple with the limits of what they foundations can achieve.

Points of Light president and CEO Jennifer Sirangelo and Neil Bush, chair, speak at the 2025 Points of Light Conference in New Orleans, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Points of Light, founded by former President Bush, aims to double American volunteerism by 2035

June 6, 2025

Points of Light, the nonprofit founded by former President George H.W. Bush, will lead an effort to double the number of people who volunteer with U.S. charitable organizations from 75 million annually to 150 million in 10 years. CEO Jennifer Sirangelo announced the campaign in New Orleans at the foundation’s annual conference, which concludes Friday. The ambitious goal would represent a major change in the way Americans spend their time and interact with nonprofits. It also coincides with deep federal funding cuts to grant programs and with an effort to gut AmeriCorps programs, which sent 200,000 volunteers all over the country.

Lambda Legal, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ rights, exceeded fundraising goal by $105M

June 5, 2025

The legal aid group Lambda Legal has raised $285 million at a time when attacks on the rights of gay, intersex and transgender people have again intensified. The nonprofit, which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, said Thursday that they exceeded their original fundraising goal by $105 million. CEO Kevin Jennings said the group launched the campaign quietly in 2022 in response to a wave of bills in state legislatures that targeted gay, trans and intersex communities. They plan to spend $80 million in the next five years, in part to hire more attorneys.

Thalia Beaty.