Paper short abstract:

This paper provides empirical data to identify whether and how English and Welsh charities working on development issues overseas have experienced a retrenchment in government funding, and considers the theoretical implications of changes in income source distribution for these charities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper empirically tests whether and how English and Welsh international development charities have experienced a recent retrenchment in government funding, and considers the theoretical implications of any such changes.

It has been widely argued that acceptance of government funding can compromise international development charities’ autonomy, legitimacy, and representativeness. One solution proposed to such challenges is that these charities should diversify their funding - away from a reliance on government, towards philanthropic support. A retrenchment in government funding may be seen as an opportunity for these organisations to move beyond being considered ‘agents’ of government.

However, voluntary funding is itself also beset by concerns, not least ‘philanthropic particularism’ (Salamon, 1987), and the replacement of consistent public policy with stopgap charitable efforts.

This research draws on prior work that analysed the income distributions of 316 English and Welsh international development charities, and identified 32 such charities that were reliant on government funding in the pre-covid period (2015-2018), receiving a combined governmental income of £1.9 billion. The current paper explores changes in the income breakdowns of all 32 of these organisations, identifying whether and how the income distribution of these organisations changed in each year 2019 – 2022, and comparing this to topline figures available for the wider English and Welsh charity sector.

This case will allow us to identify, quantify and theoretically analyse any reduction in government aid spending through these INGOs, contributing to an enhanced understanding of the consequences of the UK government’s reduction in aid spending.