The Fight for the Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance: Why the Story We Tell Will Determine America’s Global Role
For decades, the United States' involvement in foreign assistance has been one of its most effective tools of global leadership. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the principle agency at the helm of these efforts, has strengthened national security, stabilized economies, and prevented crises before they reached our borders. Today, this critical work is being halted. Amidst these abrupt changes, and drowning out the stories of the real-world, life-altering implications, we’ve seen proliferated narratives disparaging U.S. foreign assistance that range from convoluted propaganda to outright lies.
The administration has seized on rising nationalism, pairing drastic policy decisions with a flood of rhetoric designed to consume the conversation and legitimize its actions. These narratives frame foreign assistance as wasteful, ineffective, or even unpatriotic. Meanwhile, USAID and its allies have struggled to break through the inflammatory noise and deliver a message that resonates with the public.
The stage has been set for an unprecedented four years of dismantling foreign assistance and international development infrastructure, but the threat is not limited to these policy changes. The fraying of public sentiment on the issue of U.S. foreign aid will have profound and long-lasting cultural implications for America. If we don’t counter these attacks with a stronger, more resonant story of our own, we will continue to cede ground.
The Power of Narrative: Why Policy Alone Won’t Save Us
A foreign assistance agenda that lacks deep, values-driven support from the American public will always be vulnerable to the next political shift. If we fail to reframe the conversation now, we may not only lose critical programs in the short term, we may find ourselves in a position where rebuilding them becomes politically impossible.
For too long, supporters of foreign assistance have placed their faith in good policy, assuming that well-crafted solutions and hard facts would speak for themselves. Time and again, we’ve seen that this isn’t enough. Policy without narrative is policy without protection.
Opposition groups have long understood this. They invest heavily in shaping public perception, using emotionally charged stories, misinformation, and cultural cues to shift attitudes. Over decades, they’ve turned climate action into a political wedge issue, public health into a battleground, and now, foreign assistance into a symbol of government overreach and misplaced priorities.
If we continue reacting to attacks rather than proactively shaping the story, we will always be on the defensive.
The Challenges Holding Us Back
Despite the urgency, we face four key barriers that are limiting our ability to win the narrative battle:
- Capacity is stretched too thin. Organizations are locked in crisis response mode, with little bandwidth for the long-term work of public education and narrative change.
- Messaging is fragmented. Without coordination, different groups develop their own narratives in silos, diluting their collective impact.
- Research isn’t fueling action. Public opinion studies exist, but too often they sit on shelves instead of driving strategic storytelling.
- The opposition is better funded and more coordinated. Those seeking to undermine foreign assistance have built a sophisticated media ecosystem designed to reinforce their message. We have yet to match their scale.
With a jumbled mission and contradictory justifications coming from various spokespeople, it is clear that a lack of messaging, or storytelling, as we call it, has long been USAID’s problem.
The Solution: A Research-Backed, Unified Narrative
To ensure that foreign assistance remains a priority, we must embed it within a compelling, values-driven national narrative. The fight for foreign assistance should be about how Americans see their country’s role in the world rather than a reductive conversation around the budget or the size of government.
We conducted a StoryHeat survey of 2,400 Americans to understand how real stories of U.S. foreign assistance could influence public opinion. This research answers critical questions:
- What values resonate most? Whether it’s national security, economic stability, or humanitarian leadership, we need to know which framing is most persuasive.
- What issues do Americans care about most? We must connect foreign assistance to the domestic and global challenges that people see as priorities.
- What type of storytelling moves people? Are personal, first-person stories more effective than broader strategic messaging?
Most Americans aren’t familiar with USAID specifically, and opinions on funding are split. But here’s what we do know:
- 73% of Americans believe preventing terror attacks should be a top priority.
- 52% believe preventing disease should be a national priority.
What’s missing? The understanding that USAID was actively engaged in both of these priorities. The challenge is the messaging, not the work. No one was helping Americans understand how foreign assistance benefits them.
When people were exposed to stories and messages that directly connected USAID’s work to their concerns, support increased dramatically.
Take the story of Gloria (not her real name), a Venezuelan woman who fled economic hardship and settled in Ecuador. Thanks to a USAID program, she was able to establish a new life there with her daughter and prevent further displacement, dangerous travel, and the possibility of an uncertain future in the U.S. People responded overwhelmingly to this story. They understood, in human terms, the direct impact of foreign assistance.
But these stories don’t spread themselves.
The Road Ahead: Reclaiming the Narrative
Telling strong, emotionally compelling stories about the real impact of foreign assistance is a crucial, irreplaceable strategy.
A winning narrative must:
- Position foreign assistance as an investment, not a handout. We must reframe it as a strategic tool for U.S. security, economic growth, and global leadership.
- Align with core American values. Leadership, strength, and the idea that America’s role abroad shapes its future at home are all critical anchors.
- Leverage emotionally compelling storytelling. Facts alone won’t shift public opinion—we need powerful human stories that make foreign assistance feel personal and urgent.
- Create a unified, scalable messaging strategy. A fragmented approach won’t work. Every organization working on international development must align around a cohesive, research-backed framework.
USAID may not be the last agency to face dismantling. The Consumer Finance and Protection Bureau, the National Labor Relations Board, and even the FBI and military are potential targets. Lawsuits and court orders may slow some of these efforts, but without public outcry and support, these institutions will be left defenseless. People need to understand what they’re trying to save when faced with calls to cut the deficit at any cost.
In a democracy, an informed public is the last line of defense.
USAID, and ultimately, the U.S. government, must tell better stories about the good they are doing for Americans. If we want to protect and rebuild U.S. foreign assistance, we cannot afford to see narrative change as a secondary priority.
The opposition has spent years embedding their message into the national psyche. Now, it’s our turn to be just as intentional. By investing in strategic storytelling that is grounded in rigorous research and unified messaging, we can shift public opinion, safeguard the future of U.S. foreign assistance, and ensure that America’s global leadership is not lost to a short-term political cycle.
The moment to act is now.
If we don’t tell the right story today, we may not have the opportunity to rewrite it tomorrow.
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