The Geneva Graduate Institute, with the generous support of the Republic and State of Geneva, announces the release of its latest report, Paying for Multilateralism Amid Global Shocks: Financing of International Organizations in Geneva, 2013-2023. This groundbreaking study, authored by Livio Silva-Muller, Remo Gassmann, and Guilherme de Franco and part of the Geneva Policy Outlook, charts the funding trends of 21 large international organizations in Geneva based on unique data on over 25,000 contributions from at least 1,000 different funders between 2013 and 2023. Specifically, the study describes how donors behave in the context of four exogenous shocks: the 2016 US elections, the 2016- 2020 Brexit process, the 2020 global pandemic, and the 2022 conflict in Ukraine. The report builds on a completely updated and revised dataset and is the second report in a series, contributing to a transparent analysis of the financing and a potential reform of multilateralism. A first study published in 2024 covered the period 2000-2020.
Amid rising fiscal uncertainty and a growing donor dependency, the financing of Geneva-based international organizations is in crisis. Global aid from the United States has fallen drastically while European governments continue to reduce development aid, bringing serious implications for the future of international cooperation. This downturn reflects deeper geopolitical shifts and structural challenges, serving as a stark reminder of the mounting strain on the multilateral system. This report offers a timely analysis of funding trends over the past decade. It shines a light on how International Geneva has weathered recent shocks – from pandemic-related surges to Brexit, the first Trump term, and the war in Ukraine – and what these shifts mean for the financing of Geneva-based international organisations.
Key findings:
- Overall funding trends: Annual contributions to Geneva-based international organizations remained stable from 2013 to 2019 ($15–17.9 billion), before rising to $21 billion in 2020 and falling to $18.7 billion in 2023. Public funding peaked at $18.7 billion in 2020 but declined to $15.9 billion by 2023, reflecting wider fiscal pressures. Private contributions rose steadily from $1.3 billion in 2013 to $2.3 billion in 2023, averaging 11% of total funding.
- Donor concentration: The top 15 funders provided over 86% of all contributions, mainly Western governments, the EU, the UN system, and the Gates Foundation. G7+EU countries alone accounted for over 90% of contributions, while the rest of the G20 and all other countries together contributed less than 10%. Geneva-based UN agencies received about 18–21% of the overall UN budget and employed a third of the UN staff. Health and humanitarian agencies attracted the majority of funding, receiving nearly 91% of contributions in 2021.
- Brexit and UK ODA reform: Following Brexit and the merger of DFID into the FCO, UK contributions declined by nearly $1 billion. Cuts were particularly severe for health and humanitarian agencies.
- US funding shifts: US contributions rose through 2016, dropped sharply in 2017 under the first Trump administration, then recovered in 2018–2020. Funding peaked again in 2022 before falling in 2023. The level of dependence of International Geneva on American donations averages at about 30%, but the level of dependence varies across institutions.
- COVID-19 pandemic: Contributions to health organizations surged by $2 billion in 2020. COVAX alone raised $12 billion, with the US as top donor. Emerging donors such as China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea featured prominently. The health sector’s share rose to 46% in 2020 but returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.
- Ukraine war: Russian and Ukrainian contributions dropped sharply after 2022. At the same time, contributions to humanitarian agencies jumped sharply. In 2023, while most sectors faced cuts of nearly 20%, humanitarian funding declined by only 4–5%, reflecting donor prioritization of crisis response.
Read the full report:
For media queries:
For more information or for media related queries, please contact: Prathit Singh, Project Coordinator, Geneva Policy Outlook, prathit.singh@graduateinstitute.ch
Public Launch Event:
Join us for the public launch event of the study on Wednesday, 21 May from 12:30 to 14:00.