Lauren Evans

Los Angeles

Writer and Reporter at Freelance

Writer on climate, gender and humanitarianism for @devex, @vice, @foreignpolicy, @smithsonianmag, @wireduk, etc. Find me at https://t.co/coplQ1APUj

Articles

Foundations own huge amounts of stocks. Are they using them for good?

5 days ago | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Last year, mega-donor MacKenzie Scott pledged to do good not just with the money she gave away, but with the cash she invested in the stock market too. How many other foundations are following the same trend? At the end of 2024, MacKenzie Scott made an announcement. In an essay titled “Investing,” she said that she planned to make an impact not just with her grants, but with the money she didn’t give away.
The fall of USAID changed everything - even for those it didn’t fund

2 months ago | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Many major organizations in the aid sector didn’t take any USAID money, but even they haven’t been spared the impact of the agency’s collapse. When the Trump administration halted USAID funding on Jan. 24, it seemed like no one in the sector was left unscathed. Programming across more than 10,000 organizations in over 120 countries ceased overnight, and the fallout wreaked havoc on operations everywhere from Brazil to Burkina Faso.
US foreign aid has collapsed. How should philanthropy respond?

Feb 12, 2025 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Can philanthropy fill the gap left by the closure of USAID? Unlikely, say the experts — but it can do something. On Friday afternoon, nearly three weeks after the Trump administration announced a pause on foreign development assistance, the Rockefeller Foundation issued a statement. In addition to being one of the top development funders in the world, the foundation is helmed by Rajiv Shah, who served as the head of the newly-gutted U.S. Agency for International Development between 2009 and 2015.
Here's how philanthropy may change under Trump

Dec 6, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

The arrival of Donald Trump is likely to herald changes for philanthropic foundations — but how will they respond? “Anxious.” That’s how Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, described the current mood pervading the philanthropic sector following the election of Donald Trump for a second term as U.S. president.
Is the aid sector still failing victims of sexual abuse?

Nov 21, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Two decades ago, a United Nations report found that sexual abuse was commonplace in the aid sector. But little has changed since, experts told Devex, and the problem has not gone away. Back in 2002, the United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, and Save the Children UK published a joint report that rocked the aid world — at least, it seemed to.
Women in leadership won’t solve development’s equality problem

Aug 21, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

From the challenges of parenthood to entrenched traditional systems, climbing the development ladder for women can be "death by a thousand cuts."Nyla hadn’t been at her job for long before she was told that there was only space for one woman “who looked like her” on the team. Her employer, one of the largest USAID implementers in the world, was actually filling two positions in the business development division where Nyla would ultimately land a job.
Hold your horses! Are humanitarian cowboys a relic of the past?

Jul 17, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

The machismo mentality is no longer as prevalent as it once was in the aid sector, but there are still remnants. Fred Spielberg says he isn’t a humanitarian cowboy, though he has been called one. “I started out as a U.N. volunteer, but I rapidly got on the circuit of being sent to every major emergency in Africa,” he tells Devex, rattling off countries: Angola, Somalia, Mozambique, Sudan — and that’s not even including his many short-term duty postings.
Platform to transform African agriculture launches at Paris Peace Forum

Jun 12, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

A new, high-level forum aims to dissolve the binary between the global north and global south in order to transform African agriculture for an era of climate change. But can it attract the financial investment it needs? Who stands to benefit from investing in African agriculture? The continent itself is one obvious answer. But in reality, the stakes are global.
Juan M. Lavista Ferres on the power of AI for good

Apr 26, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Listen to "Juan M. Lavista Ferres on "AI for Good"" on Spreaker. Juan M. Lavista Ferres got his start with AI for good in an unlikely way: He really didn’t want to go hiking. While working at Microsoft running randomized control experiments, Ferres had a colleague who was raising money for research on sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, to which he had lost a child. The campaign involved climbing the Kilimanjaro mountain — decidedly a no-go for Ferres.
Alex Amouyel on how to lead an impactful life

Mar 29, 2024 | devex.com | Lauren Evans

Listen to "Alex Amouyel on "The Answer is You"" on Spreaker. Breaking into the social impact space can be daunting. The competition is fierce, job postings demand years of specialized experience, and the acronyms alone can be enough to scare a person out of even trying. But Alex Amouyel is here to tell you that finding a life of meaning is not only possible, but that anyone can do it.