From interns to chief administrators, former USAID employees currently serve in various positions at nonprofit organizations with strong links to the Democratic Party and the broader liberal movement. The Washington Examiner identified well over 100 USAID alumni working for shadowy entities linked to the Democratic-aligned Arabella Advisors dark money network, philanthropies controlled by the Soros family, and abortion-rights organizations, among many other left-of-center groups.

Critics of USAID charge that the agency has strayed from its original mission of providing assistance to people on the brink of death to funding ideologically motivated grants designed to socially engineer developing nations. Meanwhile, proponents of it argue that the spending is necessary for the United States to project its soft power and counter Chinese influence. 

Regardless of which side is correct on the merits, many former USAID staff filter into the left-wing nongovernmental organization world, often shortly after their tenure at the agency, signaling that many of those moving the levers of U.S. aid do have liberal beliefs.

These left-of-center beliefs, according to critics, often filter into what should be apolitical work. The White House, for instance, put out a press release Monday accusing the agency of funneling taxpayer dollars to “ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects,” citing USAID grants that paid for a “DEI musical” in Ireland, a “transgender opera” in Colombia, sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala, and embedding DEI in Serbian workplaces.

Open Society Foundations, the Soros family’s primary philanthropic vehicle, funds left-of-center LGBT and climate initiatives across the globe in a manner similar to USAID, and members of the Soros family are major contributors to the Democratic Party. Moreover, several former USAID officials now occupy senior positions at the Soros-funded charity.

One woman, a former senior USAID official under the Obama administration who worked to support political transition projects in the developing world, now serves as the director of the vice president and chief opposition officer’s offices at Open Society Foundations. Other former USAID officials, most of whom held senior posts, now hold mid to high-level positions at Open Society Foundations. 

Notably, at least two current Open Society Foundations employees had jobs at USAID during Republican administrations, showing that people with liberal views continue to staff the agency even when Republicans are in charge.

Unsurprisingly, many USAID alumni end up working for left-of-center organizations with global focuses after leaving the agency. The Gates Foundation, a liberal, globally minded nonprofit organization funded by Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, for example, was the most common landing place for USAID alumni identified by the Washington Examiner’s analysis, with at least 42 current Gates Foundation employees coming from the agency, many having occupied senior posts. 

The Gates Foundation pours hundreds of millions of dollars per year into abortion and “reproductive health initiatives,” efforts to combat climate change, and grants to liberal advocacy organizations such as the New Venture Fund and Demos. Additionally, the foundation has transferred tens of millions of dollars to arms of the Chinese government in recent years. Gates was a major donor to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and has defended USAID against Republican critics. 

Similar to the USAID officials turned Open Society Foundations functionaries, many of the USAID alumni at the Gates Foundation served during the first Trump administration, with some even leading agency centers and divisions. 

“I think everyone in the world knows exactly what USAID is, no matter what part of the political spectrum they are on,” Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, told the Washington Examiner, echoing the White House’s critiques. “The far-left has used it as a government staging ground to fund their ecosystem and to do things that otherwise couldn’t happen through normal channels.”

The Rockefeller Foundation, another left-of-center philanthropy that focuses on global matters, is led by Rajiv Shah, who served as USAID administrator under the Obama administration. The organization’s chief of staff and vice president of innovation are also USAID alumni. 

A number of USAID alumni end up working for organizations with explicit ties to the Democratic Party. The Washington Examiner identified three former USAID employees working for the Democratic National Committee, two working for organizations linked to Arabella Advisors’s pro-Democratic dark money network, one at New America, two at the Center for American Progress, and three at Planned Parenthood.

The Washington Examiner’s tally of USAID alumni staffing left-of-center NGOs is almost certainly an undercount as it relied on public social media profiles, and not everyone makes their employment history public. 

Other left-of-center organizations staffed by USAID alumni include the American Civil Liberties Union, Anti-Defamation League, Guttmacher Institute, Human Rights Campaign, J Street, Migration Policy Institute, Omidyar Network, Roosevelt Institute, Aspen Institute, Gravel Institute, Truman National Security Project, World Resource Institute and Ford Foundation.

“It’s heavily ironic that you see Jamie Raskin and others speaking in these constitutional terms when, functionally, USAID has been operating outside congressional oversight and specific appropriations as to what they are doing for decades,” added Howell. “All of these claims about a ‘constitutional crisis’ are hypocritical on their face. This agency was widely operating in secret — funding some of the worst aspects of far-leftism and international interventionism, and self-enrichment for the Left.”

On Monday, the Daily Wire reported that 97% of reported political donations made by USAID employees during the 2024 election cycle went to Democrats.

The White House and USAID did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.

Gabe Kaminsky contributed to this report.