Mourning Loss Of USAID, NYT Makes Clear Case For Its Death
The Federalist piece argues that many NGOs funded by U.S. government aid, such as the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA), are effectively government-funded outfits that operate with bloated salaries and grant-driven budgets, leading to distortions in priorities and outcomes.By contrasting a high-paid nonprofit executive losing a job with the broader funding and payroll patterns at CNFA, the author suggests that taxpayer money is propping up expensive, non-governmental organizations rather than delivering clear value.
Key points:
– A New York Times story about a USAID-funded nonprofit employee being laid off is used to illustrate how top-level pay can coexist with fragile, low-wage opportunities for others.
– CNFA’s 2024 finances show a heavy reliance on government grants (about $70 million) and large internal payroll costs (roughly $28 million in salary and benefits for about 100 employees), plus considerable spending on subcontractors, travel, consultants, and other expenses. Onyl a small portion goes to direct grants.
– The institution’s stated mission includes improving food security and nutrition in africa, with projects like YALWA Niger and Rwanda Hinga Wunguke that aim to boost market linkages, productivity, and domestic consumption of nutritious foods.
– CNFA’s Form 990 reveals very high executive salaries (e.g., former CEO around $608k base pay plus additional compensation; the COO around $467k base pay) and substantial compensation beyond base salaries, highlighting perceived “free money” cronyism.
– The author contends that CNFA is essentially a government-funded NGO and questions the value and efficiency of such arrangements, arguing that government funding creates distortions and that these “not real salaries, not real jobs” should be eliminated.
– The piece also notes that the Times did not name CNFA directly, but data surfaced via public records and social profiles, reinforcing the argument that this is a pervasive issue in the NGO sector funded by government dollars.
Author background:
– Chris Bray, a senior correspondent for The Federalist with a history PhD, who also runs a Substack column on related topics.
Here’s a real example from a pathetic New York Times story of the Trump administration being boo-hoo mean and taking away people’s good jobs:
“Sheryl Cowan, 57, was making $272,000 a year as a senior VP at a U.S.A.I.D.-funded nonprofit when she was let go at the end of March 2025. Last month she had an online interview for a $19-an-hour job managing a Penzeys Spices store in Falls Church, Va.”https://t.co/OGDiHFV79u
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) April 23, 2026
Half the planet has already dunked on this nonsense, but the topic is nearly inexhaustible. Start with this, and then we’ll keep going:
The organization is the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs. Here’s their 2024 expenses.
$28 million on salary + benefits (for 100 employees)
$12 million on subcontractors
$3 million on travel
$5 million on consultants
$9 million on otherOnly $4 million on grants https://t.co/rGvTvPJw4o pic.twitter.com/11CXbMZNZ9
— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) April 23, 2026
The Times doesn’t name Cowan’s nonprofit, but she’s on LinkedIn, so it took ten seconds for everyone and his brother to find it. And the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs (CNFA) is possibly as strong an example of absurd free money cronyism as anything you could ever hope to find.
You can read the CNFA’s most recent publicly available Form 990, their financial report to the Internal Revenue Service as a registered nonprofit, here. It describes their spending in 2024. They do food security projects in Africa, and you can read descriptions of those projects in the Form 990. Example, in the original all-caps:
YALWA PROJECT NIGER:PROJECT IN NIGER SUPPORTS USAID’S REGIONAL RESILIENCE IN THE SAHEL ENHANCED (RISE) II OBJECTIVES BY TRANSFORMING MARKET ECOSYSTEMS IN THE MARADI, TILLABRI, AND ZINDER REGIONS. YALWA WILL EXPAND AND IMPROVE MARKET LINKAGES; BUILD INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITIES; ENCOURAGE VULNERABLE POPULATIONS TO BUY AND CONSUME SAFE AND NUTRITIOUS FOODS; AND ENGAGE PROCESSORS AND TRADERS TO PROFITABLY MEET THIS DEMAND.
They “encourage vulnerable populations to buy and consume safe and nutritious foods.” Those poor fools in Niger were probably thinking about eating fiberglass before an NGO showed up and told them they could actually just cook a chicken. And so on:
THE FIVE-YEAR FEED THE FUTURE RWANDA HINGA WUNGUKE ACTIVITY (2023-2028) AIMS TO INCREASE INCOMES AND IMPROVE NUTRITION IN RWANDA BY SUSTAINABLY INCREASING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY AND STRENGTHENING THE DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION AND MARKET FOR HIGH-VALUE AND NUTRITIOUS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
They did a bunch of that. They strengthened the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural products in Rwanda. “Eat a carrot.” That’ll be $70 million.
Scroll down to “Statement of Revenue” to find the problem, and by that I mean the problem in America, the big one. The CNFA is an NGO, a non-governmental organization. Here’s their reported income:
- Government grants: $69,975,956
- “All other contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts not included above”: $112,583
They’re a non-governmental organization that lives on government, period. They’re an almost purely governmental non-governmental organization. The CNFA still exists, but it’ll be quite interesting to see its post-USAID financial statements in coming years.
Finally, look at salaries. Former CEO Sylvain Roy, who left to work as an independent consultant when USAID died last year, made a base salary of $607,666, with “other compensation” of $67,134. The chief operating officer, who took over as CEO when Roy left, made a base salary as COO of $467,017, with “other compensation” of $60,885. Then you can keep going down the list until you find the poor suffering victim identified by The New York Times, on a long list of very nice salaries.
“Encourage vulnerable populations to buy and consume safe and nutritious foods.” Government funding. Base salary of $607,666.
This is what we’ve been paying for, and this observation is exactly right (screenshot of the top of a long post, because embedding truncates it, but click on the link to read the whole thing):
Image CreditScreenshot
Not real salaries, not real jobs. Government-funded distortions, outrageously expensive and functionally absurd. All of this needs to go away forever.
Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at “Tell Me How This Ends,” here.
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