Impact and Resilience Initiatives (IRI) is a mission-driven organization established to support the people of Myanmar in the face of one of the most severe humanitarian crises of our time. We are a team that brings together expertise in financial governance, organizational development, information technology, and the creative arts, unified by a shared belief in the dignity, agency, and resilience of the Myanmar people. We work at the intersection of accountability and empowerment helping the organizations and communities on the ground not only to survive, but to grow, prove their credibility, and earn the institutional trust that enables lasting, independent action.
We believe that lasting change is built not only on aid, but on empowered, accountable, and self-reliant organizations that can stand before the world and say: we are ready, we are credible, and we are committed to our people. Impact and Resilience Initiatives is here to help them get there. We walk this road together with the people of Myanmar until the day when strength, freedom, and dignity are no longer things to be fought for, but things that simply are.
IRI works at the intersection of accountability and empowerment. We step in where project-tied funding cannot reach building the organizational infrastructure that makes sustainable impact possible. We do this through five core pillars:
We build the financial systems that earn donor trust.
We train organizations to stand on their own and secure funding.
We make smarter use of limited budgets through secure technology.
We help organizations prove they are credible and responsible.
We protect Myanmar’s identity, culture, and spirit.
Our work reaches the following communities and organizations:
Oxfam GB gets back on track. Plus, a scoop on new funding for tropical forests. A storied INGO tries to turn the page on a series of scandals.
Also in today’s edition: Who’s helping Nepal in the wake of deadly flash flooding, and East Africa braces for its own possible coming deluge.+ As aid budgets shrink, impact investing offers a way to direct private capital toward social and environmental challenges. Join us tomorrow, Sept. 2, for a Devex Pro Briefing that explores the fundamentals of impact investing, including the key players, emerging trends, and where impact capital fits. This briefing provides a practical guide on when and how NGOs and social enterprises can access this capital and become investment-ready.
Oxfam GB’s leadership clash that started last year got downright nasty. Former CEO Halima Begum accused the charity of “brutally” dismissing and stigmatizing her and the former board chair of making her feel “humiliatingly infantilized.” The charity hit back, saying an independent review found “substantive and very serious concerns” about Begum’s conduct, decision-making, and leadership style.
Over the years, the foundation has increasingly relied on one major donor, the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. But the funder tells Devex its support runs through 2026.The WHO Foundation, which was created to raise additional funding for the World Health Organization, could be at risk of running out of money itself.The foundation has ramped up its fundraising over the past two years and is expected to transfer over $100 million to the U.N. agency from 2026-2030 with over $42 million slated for 2026. But donor funding for its own operations, has not seen similar growth.The WHO Foundation is not funded by WHO, and instead fundraises for its own operations. It also collects a percentage of the grants it receives for programs.
The search for new money is reshaping impact investingWith governments pulling back from development finance, impact investors are eyeing new markets and models — but the capital gap remains far beyond what private money can cover.When aid plummeted last year, the development landscape started looking everywhere for funds: Europe, Asia, the Gulf, philanthropies, and impact investing. But no individual donor or industry looked able to fill the gap left by the drastic cuts.“When USAID was disintegrated there was a lot of conversation among impact investors and particularly foundations, those that work in development finance,” Fran Seegull, president of U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, told Devex. “The sheer magnitude of the withdrawal, there would be no way, unless they were highly coordinated vehicles at scale, to really plug the gap.”That’s still the case. As of the end of 2024, a Global Impact Investing Network survey of 368 investors showed that $448.2 billion out of a total of $13.1 trillion across all investment strategies was allocated to impact investing — just 3%.
Problem Statements and IRI’s Responses
NGOs and CSOs are community-rooted and irreplaceable, but chronically under-resourced in organizational capacity. Weak financial systems, limited governance frameworks, and poor operational structures prevent them from growing and scaling impact.
Build organizational strength from within through financial governance frameworks, SOPs, manuals, and operational systems — tailored to each organization’s context and stage of development.
01
Shifts in international funding sent devastating ripple effects across the humanitarian ecosystem in 2025. Organizations built on single-donor dependency collapsed overnight — not because their work lost value, but because their financial foundation was too narrow to absorb the shock.
Strengthen organizations to diversify funding sources, reduce single-donor dependency, and withstand funding shocks — making sustainability structural, not circumstantial.
02
Without robust financial due diligence, SOPs, and compliance systems, NGOs and CSOs cannot demonstrate accountability to donors — limiting their ability to attract and retain funding independently.
Develop accountability and compliance frameworks that meet international standards — enabling organizations to demonstrate credibility to local and global funders with confidence.
03
Organizations lack trained staff and internal knowledge in financial management, project management, and grant management — creating dependency on external support rather than cultivating self-reliance.
Deliver hands-on training, capacity-building workshops, and knowledge transfer so that organizations own and sustain their systems independently — and grow stronger with each cycle.
04
Rigid, project-tied, short-cycle funding prevents organizations from investing in their own people, systems, and long-term sustainability.
Advocate alongside NGOs and CSOs for trust-based, flexible funding models — and equip organizations with the evidence, systems, and credibility to make that case to donors themselves.
05
Moving toward trust-based, flexible funding models that give community-rooted organizations the freedom to lead.
