Support Moldova's Democratic Resilience
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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United States Agency for International Development
15 min read
The article discusses USAID's destruction and its impact on Moldovan civil society funding. Understanding USAID's history, scope, and role in democracy promotion worldwide provides essential context for why its elimination created such a funding crisis.
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National Endowment for Democracy
11 min read
Mentioned as a key funding source that ceased operations alongside USAID. Understanding NED's unique structure as a private nonprofit funded by Congress and its role in supporting democratic movements globally helps explain the funding ecosystem for civil society organizations.
Today I’m writing to share with you a new project - a US based 501c3 non-profit called the Moldova Resilience Fund. I am a co-founder of this organization, which seeks to support Moldovan civil society organizations and independent media in their struggle for an open, accountable and democratic society. If you believe that Moldova Matters, please read on to hear more about our work and how you can get involved.
After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, many of you would have seen emails from me explaining how you could get involved and support Ukrainian refugees. My restaurant became a volunteer run aid distribution center - one of hundreds of grass roots efforts across the country that sprang up and gave Moldova the name “A Small Country With a Big Heart.”
As you all know, this small country has come under unrelenting pressure in the last year as Russia’s hybrid attacks against Moldova’s democracy pushed the country to the brink. September’s parliamentary elections were a victory not only for Moldova’s European course, but for the huge number of independent journalists, activists, civil society organizations and motivated volunteers who pushed back on the propaganda and disinformation coming from the Kremlin.
While we rightly celebrated this victory, there is a darker reality underpinning this coalition of pro-democracy activists - there simply aren’t enough resources to keep up. With the destruction of USAID a huge amount of funding for civil society and independent, fact-based media, dried up. While most organizations and newsrooms have continued their important work, almost all have seen budget cuts and substantial layoffs. This situation is only getting worse - for many critical organizations this election may have been their last rodeo.
The European Union has stepped into the gap left by USAID, but there is only so much that they can do. There are still gaps, and it is more important than ever to fill them.
So today, I’m announcing that I’ve co-founded a new US based 501c3 non-profit called the Moldova Resilience Fund. In this email I’m going to share a bit about our new organization and how you can get involved.
Introducing the Moldova Resilience Fund
The origins of the Moldova Resilience Fund (MRF) go back to December 2024. The country was still reeling from the razor thin referendum on EU integration, and subsequent Romanian election disaster. We were only beginning to learn
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