MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: APRIL, 2026 by TAI Collaborative

Dear readers,

It has been a busy month with many relevant “futures” conversations ranging from the CSIS Futures Summit to the University of Manchester’s future of global development conference to sessions around the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings to a future of civil society convening in Buenos Aires to events at and around the Skoll World Forum - including the Roundtable’s own. There is much more nuance and insight than we can capture in one newsletter, but we offer some reflections and a roundup of recent research and opinion.

Thank you to those who joined our multistakeholder discussion in Oxford. For those who could not, here is an overview. It is exciting to see some shared priorities begin to emerge, including the need to demystify the “capital stack”, for philanthropy to work more effectively with partner governments, building narratives for future development cooperation, and continuing to diversify whose voices are heard.  

And, we are excited to welcome Soheila Comninos as secretariat lead - some ofyou got to meet her in the sessions in Oxford. Soheila notes, “It has been a pleasure to hit the ground running, and I look forward to honing priorities for collective action and ensuring that the work of the Roundtable is truly useful—for all Roundtable funders and for the field at large.” 

Warmly, 

Roundtable Team

Highlight of the Month

Roundtable advisor Nicole Itano engages with Alliance Magazine and other networks and leaders across philanthropy to take stock and look ahead: Where are we now? What is being reimagined? And how can collective action unlock new pathways for resilience, influence, and impact in an increasingly uncertain world? Ultimately, Itano reflects on what it means to lead together at a time when therules are being rewritten.

Pair with this recent episode of Frontlines of Social Good that explores themechanics behind large-scale giving—from MacKenzie Scott–style philanthropy to the underlying incentives shaping how capital moves across the sector. 

Both conversations surface a core tension: while philanthropy is scaling rapidly, alignment, coordination, and long-term strategy often lag behind the money. They are another prompt to ask how to move from fragmented, personality-driven giving to coordinated, system-level collaboration that can sustain impact.

What’s Emerging Across the Field: 4 Insights on the 4 Shifts

Shift 1: Building a New Era of Development Cooperation

Ammar Malik argues that the latest OECD ODA data (showing a record 23% drop) signals a deeper structural issue: we are still treating development finance as a reporting exercise rather than a strategic tool. Moving toward “development finance intelligence” could enable funders to better understand flows, gaps, and real impact—shifting from compliance to decision-making.

Governing Without Anchors: Mark Leonard writes for Project Syndicate this reflection on the collapse of global order and the implications for policy and cooperation. Instead of trying to restore outdated systems, he calls for embracing radical uncertainty as thenew normal.

Devex offers a sharp critique: thedecline in foreign aid influence did not start with recent cuts, but with a gradual erosion of its moral purpose and clarity of mission. Read Patrick Fine´s piece on why rebuilding trust and legitimacy in developmentcooperation calls for a reset of values, narratives, and accountability.

New analysis by Rachael Calleja and Beata Cichocka explores how partnerships between developmentagencies and philanthropy are taking shape: from mobilising domestic philanthropic networks to matching funders with vetted projects. At a time of shrinking development budgets, thepiece also reflects on the opportunities and limitations of philanthropy as a development partner.

Shift 2: Remodeling Development Finance Flows

A new UNDP framework sets out how to strengthen the enabling environment for blended finance across South and Southeast Asia—moving beyond deal-by-deal approaches toward more systemic conditions for success. Blended finance has long promised to unlock private capital, but without the right policy, regulatory, and institutional ecosystems, it struggles to scale.

Jason Ross highlights Margules Groome’s argument that the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is doing more than regulating supply chains: it could help unlock, standardize, and scale restoration finance flows—addressing one of thesector’s most persistent barriers: credible, comparable data.

The OECD reveals that in major middle-income markets, such as Mexico, domestic philanthropy now provides 88% of total philanthropic contributions, dwarfing cross-border flows. The report calls for a total remodeling of the international donor's role in Latin America. Instead of bringing new money, global donors should provide "first-loss" guarantees and technical support to these burgeoning domestic foundations, leveraging local wealth to solve local challenges.

As development finance tightens, Keyi Tang suggests the most important question may not be who is lending, but how domestic politics shapes where the money goes – the subject of a forthcoming book.

Shift 3: Strengthening Locally-Led Development

Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2026: Implementing the Sevilla Commitmentassesses the early implementation ofthe Sevilla Commitment and signals a systemic shift toward “Institutional Re-geography.” The report emphasizes that strengthening Global Majority leadership requires more than just better representation; it requires giving developing countries the policy space to pursue new developmentpathways and highlights the potential of integrated national financing frameworks (INFFs), now used by 86 countries, to help remodel the "rules of the game" from the ground up.

The Southern Voice on Global Development initiative was just launched, exploring how to move from simply including Global South actors to enabling their genuine influence in shaping the post-2030 agenda. By centering locally grounded evidence, South–South collaboration, and researcher-led case studies, it seeks to reposition the Global South not just as a source of data, but as a driver ofideas, narratives, and policy direction.

ICYMI Marcus Vinicius de Freitas argues that the Global Majority should no longer act as “supplicants at a crumbling gate” but as custodians of a necessary alternative order. Leveraging African relational ethics (Ubuntu) and Latin American legalist traditions, his brief provides a philosophical and practical toolkit for donors to fund South-led diplomatic power.

Claudia Sanhueza makes a compelling case that the absence of global rules does not create freedom—it reinforces the power of the strongest. For countries in the Global South, the path forward lies not in opting out, but in shaping the rules collectively through shared positions and coordinated strategies.

Shift 4: Improving Philanthropic Collaboration

The Philanthropy Reset Summit, part of the emerging Eight Point Threeinitiative, is a new initiative exploring how philanthropy can work better for the world’s 8.3 billion people. Rather than focusing only on funding, it invites reflection on how philanthropic systems, decision-making, and priorities could shift toward more collaborative, adaptive, and inclusive approaches, particularly in relation to who gets to shape them.

Collaborative philanthropy continues to gain traction, with funders moving from isolated grants toward pooled, long-term investments designed to scale solutions. At a Devex event with The Audacious Project, leaders shared how flexible, multi-year funding helps move ideas from pilot to impact.

Emerging initiatives like the Proximate Fund—launching in 2026 through partnerships across African philanthropy networks—are channeling resources directly to locally led organizations through collaborative structures. Haley Grieco-Page and Julia Rohrer reflect on how collaboration is increasingly being used not just to pool capital, but to shift power.

At a moment that demands deeper, more coordinated philanthropic action, data from the Center for Effective Philanthropy suggests collaboration remains too fragmented and insufficiently aligned with frontline needs. Improving collaboration is about listening better, acting collectively, and closing thedisconnect between funders and thefield.

Events of Interest