Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a global non-governmental, humanitarian aid organization operating in transitional contexts that have undergone, or have been undergoing, various forms of economic, environmental, social and political instabilities. The organization claims to have assisted more than 220 million people survive humanitarian conflicts, seek improvements in livelihoods, and deliver durable development to their communities.
Mercy Corps proposes a mission to "alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities." As of August 2021, the organization reports to be operating within 38 countries, including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Myanmar and Yemen, with programs focused in a number of humanitarian sectors ranging from conflict management, children & youth to agriculture and food security.
History
Originally established as the Save the Refugee Fund in 1979 to provide first hand post-conflict relief after the Cambodian genocide under the Pol Pot regime, the organization has since expanded its mandate to deliver humanitarian assistance. In 1982, the organization's founders, Ellsworth Culver and Dan O'Neill, chose the name of Mercy Corps to represent the broader international activities of the organization that has since been focusing on delivering durable, long-term solutions to a range of humanitarian and development issues. The organization has been present in varying locations at different times – cumulatively, it reports to have delivered humanitarian assistance in 122 countries.Mercy Corps delivered its first development program in Honduras in 1982. The program led to the establishment of the non-profit organization Project Global Village/Proyecto Aldea Global in 1984 with a number of initiatives focused on development issues such as "health & HIV/AIDS prevention, domestic violence, education, agro-industrial development, microcredits, environmental development & infrastructure." In the next decade following the formation of Mercy Corps, the organization would gradually expand its mandates into the broader international arena, stationing in countries including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Korea, North Macedonia, China, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti.
Mercy Corps incorporated the Conflict Management Group founded by Roger Fisher in 2004. Three years later, it also moved to incorporate NetAid seeking to broaden its scope of youth engagement in fighting global poverty.
Its programs have gradually gained structural and facilitating consistency throughout the course of the organization's development, ranging from long-term market system development programs, such as the Resilient Communities Program in Mongolia that would last until 2019, to short-term emergency response programs, such as the organization's post-disaster relief initiatives in Puerto-Rico after Hurricane Maria in the months following September 2017.
In April 2025, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that cuts to the United States Agency for International Development by the second Donald Trump administration had forced the Mercy Corp to end "more than 2/3" of its federally-funded international aid programs.
Scandal
According to Ellsworth Culver's daughter, Tanya Culver Humphrey, Culver sexually abused her from her early childhood until she was a teenager. Humphrey said that despite her repeatedly bringing the issue to the attention of Mercy Corps senior leadership, no action was taken beside moving Culver to another position in the organization. Following a 2019 documentary on the sexual abuse allegations released by the Oregonian, the leader of Mercy Corps, Neal Keny Guyer, as well as senior legal counsel, and a longtime board member resigned. Beth deHamel served as interim CEO and was succeeded by Tjada D'Oyen McKenna on 15 October 2020.Broad philanthropic strategies
Throughout the course of Mercy Corps' history in its deliverance of humanitarian programs, the organization's focus in its overall operational strategies has seen substantial shifts. Starting as a non-government humanitarian aid organization specifically focused in the immediate humanitarian complexity of the refugee dilemma caused by the Cambodian genocide in 1979, the preceding incarnation of the organization, Save the Refugee Fund, focused on providing the means necessary to respond to first-hand emergencies of the grim implications of the genocide: short-term aids in food, water, shelter and other corresponding refugee assistance.As Mercy Corps expanded its mandates and progressed into a large humanitarian aid organization with a notable international presence, it has also gradually transformed its main philanthropic focus from solely the deliverance of temporary assistance that contribute short-term impacts to the development of broader socio-economic infrastructures that encourage long-term improvements in the well-being of target beneficiaries. In a nutshell, Mercy Corps programs' main focus has transitioned from direct deliverance of emergency aid to long-term provision of assistance in improving community "resilience". Through a presentation published by USAID, Mercy Corps defines "resilience" as: "The capacity of communities in complex socio-ecological systems to learn, cope, adapt, and transform in the face of shocks and stresses."
To upkeep its new humanitarian focus on long-term community development, the phrase "Market System Development" has become one of the operational concepts of increasing importance for recent and upcoming Mercy Corps programs. Instead of focusing solely upon assisting one type of stakeholder within a community, the organization has dedicated increasing effort into engaging and all related actors and stakeholders in the complete market chain to participate in the improvement of the overall health of the targeted economic sector to eventually create a self-reliable operational market structure. Darius Radcliffe, the Country Director of Mercy Corps in Jordan, stated on 26 September 2023, that the organization will enhance diverse, dynamic economic opportunities that foster sustainable and comprehensive growth in Jordan while also improving water and energy management practices.
Mercy Corps International
Mercy Corps International is the organization's main branch of operation. It focuses on resolving humanitarian and development challenges currently faced by societies in countries of unstable, transitional backgrounds. Mercy Corps International is commonly considered to be a leading organization in its field, contributing "close to 94 percent of its resources to the most vulnerable areas in the world." With primary focuses on disaster relief and capacity building, the organization has also been integrating long-term civil society and human rights initiatives into their humanitarian programs, delivering notable funds and resources to target states of operation. The organization has been gradually expanding its general mandates, and they mainly revolve around 14 main objectives:Main operational objectives
In 38 countries ranging from the Democratic Republic Congo, Haiti and Guatemala to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia, Mercy Corps reportedly designs and delivers both temporary and long-term humanitarian assistance programs that are predominantly funded by other partnering international donor institutions. Some of the partnering donors include:Partnering donor institutions
Mercy Corps accepts contributions from both individual and institutional donors. For instance, the organization received a combined operational grant of more than US$13 million from the United States Agency for International Development's 2016 Emergency Food Security Program in post-Ebola recovery in Liberia and conflict response in Yemen.Mercy Corps Northwest
Mercy Corps Northwest operates domestically within the United States with focuses in primary economic development. It mainly aims to stimulate business growth opportunities for individuals and communities in the states of Oregon and Washington. Through different community development programs, Mercy Corps Northwest seeks to offer financial and technical assistance to low-income individuals to start a business, or small local business owners who experience financial hardships to overcome particular challenges, with the ultimate end-goal to enhance community-level economic capacity. Some of the specific target populations include :- New college graduates;
- Retirees;
- Low-income families;
- Female small business owners;
- Former prisoners seeking community reentry.