As humanitarian crises around the world outpace the available funding to address them, senior United Nations officials rallied the international community on Tuesday to urgently mobilize more support for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) at an annual pledging event in New York marking the Fund's 20th anniversary.
“The humanitarian system’s tank is running on empty – with millions of lives hanging in the balance,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“This is a moment when we are asked to do more and more, with less and less. This is simply unsustainable.”
Guterres noted that when CERF was created 20 years ago, the international community made a simple promise: when disaster strikes, help will come. He called on donors to renew that promise and contribute to "keep hope alive for millions of people who depend on us."
On Tuesday, 40 donors announced contributions totaling just over US$300 million for CERF in 2026, with several others planning to contribute in the coming months. Donor announcements at last year's event totaled approximately $351 million.
The drop in pledges for 2026 reflects the increasingly dire financial outlook facing the humanitarian community as it continues to grapple with the steepest funding cuts in its history. In 2025, contributions from humanitarian donors fell sharply, and this year's projected contributions are expected to be the lowest since 2015.
“As a result, countless more people have died, others have gone hungry, or been left without health services, shelter and protection,” Guterres warned.
CERF has also reached its lowest projected income in a decade.
“When we’re needed at full strength, the warning lights are flashing,” said UN relief chief Tom Fletcher. “If the CERF falters, then the world’s emergency service will falter. And the people who rely on us will suffer.”
Fletcher announced a significant allocation of $100 million to support life-saving operations in some of the world's most underfunded emergencies, including those in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Syria. This year, CERF has invested nearly $212 million overall to sustain relief efforts across underfunded crises.
CERF is designed to complement, not replace, existing humanitarian financing mechanisms. At least twice a year, CERF allocates resources to underfunded emergencies to raise global awareness of the need for additional funding from UN Member States, the private sector, and other donors.
Funds for underfunded emergencies are used to scale up and sustain protracted relief operations to avoid critical gaps where no other resources are available. Meanwhile, its rapid response funds help UN agencies and their partners respond quickly to newly emerging humanitarian needs.
Tuesday’s event, which was co-hosted by Ireland and the Philippines, comes one day after the UN and its partners launched a $33 billion global humanitarian appeal for 2026. This appeal prioritizes saving 87 million lives with $23 billion in funding.
Fletcher noted that, at a time when humanitarian needs are outstripping the available resources to meet them, the CERF is more aligned than ever with those life-saving priorities.
“As you’ve heard and as you know, the brutal cuts that we’re experiencing have forced us to make brutal choices, a ruthless triage of human survival,” Fletcher said.
Since CERF's establishment two decades ago, global funding needs through humanitarian appeals have soared.
Thus far in 2025, CERF has allocated $435 million to support millions of people in need of urgent assistance in over 30 countries and territories. These funds have supported the humanitarian scale-up in Gaza following the ceasefire announcement, as well as provided aid to individuals displaced by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
The Fund has also enabled the UN and its partners to take action before predicted shocks and disasters, including in the Caribbean, where families were given the chance to prepare before Hurricane Melissa made landfall, and has responded rapidly, most recently allocating funds to Mozambique, Vietnam, and Jamaica.
However, so far this year, the Fund has only received $401.6 million in contributions, which is well below its annual target. For instance, the United States, which has been the world's largest humanitarian donor for years, has not paid or pledged a single dollar in 2025. CERF's annual funding target is $1 billion, but this goal has never been reached. Since the 2020 pandemic, contributions have faltered.
Throughout its 20-year history, CERF, managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and administered by the Emergency Relief Coordinator on behalf of the UN Secretary-General, has helped hundreds of millions of people in more than 100 countries and territories with nearly $10 billion.
According to OCHA, the top ten contributors over the past two decades were the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, and Spain.
In recognition of climate change as a key driver of humanitarian needs, CERF launched its Climate Action Account at the COP28-Climate Change Conference, providing a channel for climate-related humanitarian financing. Since 2023, CERF has been the primary international source of funding for responding to climate-related humanitarian emergencies.
CERF aims to support the world's most vulnerable communities facing the impacts of the climate crisis, including through early action and life-saving projects that build people's adaptation and resilience.
The Central Emergency Response Fund is primarily financed by UN member states. Additionally, CERF accepts donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals. The Fund enables UN agencies and others to launch or scale up emergency operations wherever they are needed in a timely and effective manner.
Further information
Website: United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
https://cerf.un.org/
Donate to CERF now
https://cerf.un.org/donate
https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/cerf