The agency that spent decades presenting itself as the face of American generosity overseas is now the subject of a harder question: how much of that money was ever about charity? A Biden-era grant to a Serbian political organization, still paying out after USAID’s dismantling, has revived scrutiny of an agency whose record includes financing opposition movements, covert communications networks abroad, and ideological advocacy campaigns.

For Americans who believe their tax dollars should not fund the political preferences of foreign NGOs, the Serbia case is not a historical footnote. It is a live transfer of money heading into a national election.

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From The National Pulse:

The Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (CRTA), a Serbian NGO involved in election monitoring and public advocacy, has received $832,432.47 under a Biden-era USAID grant, with approximately $2.8 million yet to be given, meaning that despite massive cuts to USAID under the second Trump administration, money is still flowing to its political programs.

The most striking historical parallel to the current Serbian controversy is the American-financed campaign against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević in 2000. A Washington Post investigation published in December 2000 documented approximately $41 million in American appropriations during 1999 and 2000, much of which supported the political infrastructure opposing Milošević.

A Williams Institute analysis reported that USAID’s dedicated LGBT programming increased from approximately $6 million in 2021 to $25 million in 2024 under President Joe Biden. The agency also supported initiatives in Asia and Latin America addressing LGBT legal rights, discrimination, and political participation.

USAID was created by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to consolidate the nation’s foreign development programs. From the start it operated inside the Cold War, and its Office of Transition Initiatives became known for work in politically sensitive transitions, including support for opposition organizations in Serbia during the 1990s. A Congressional Research Service summary puts OTI spending at roughly $8.68 million across 631 grants in Serbia and Montenegro between 1997 and October 2000. Accounts of Southeast Asia operations during the same era describe USAID arrangements serving as cover for intelligence work, a charge the agency has long rejected.

The Milošević campaign was elaborate. American money paid for political consultants, polling, opposition training, election monitoring, and mass-produced material. Taxpayers funded 2.5 million stickers reading “Gotov je,” Serbian for “He’s finished,” plus 5,000 cans of spray paint for activists. The International Republican Institute trained leaders of Otpor, the student movement at the center of Milošević’s fall, and American-funded consultants helped opposition groups sharpen messaging and turnout. A later Washington Post report found assistance reaching Serbian heavy metal bands playing voter-registration concerts.

Under President Barack Obama, the agency financed ZunZuneo, a Twitter-style network in Cuba built through intermediaries and offshore arrangements that hid American sponsorship. The service launched with sports and music content before internal documents described ambitions to introduce political messaging and encourage mobilization. A USAID inspector general review confirmed implementers deliberately concealed the government’s role. The agency said discretion was needed to protect participants and work around Cuban censorship.

The LGBT Global Development Partnership, an $18 million, four-year public-private effort spanning 15 countries, worked with groups including the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute, and the Swedish Federation for LGBT Rights. A 2015 White House fact sheet listed about $3.3 million in stand-alone USAID LGBT programs for fiscal year 2014.

The Serbian grant was expanded on January 17, 2025, three days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and was framed as election integrity work. Serbia votes October 25, with student-led protests challenging the establishment associated with former President Aleksandar Vučić, who has accused foreign-backed NGOs of trying to destabilize his government. Serbian police raided the offices of democracy watchdogs in early 2025 seeking information on U.S. funding, a move rights groups called intimidation. CRTA says it monitors elections independently.

Scripture is blunt about who owns the purse: “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts” (Haggai 2:8, ESV). When a government spends what belongs to the people, it answers to them, and American aid ought to reflect American interests and American values, not the strategic hobbies of unaccountable bureaucrats. Proverbs 29:2 says that “when the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Intercessors should care about this because hidden money shapes governments quietly and then shapes lives loudly, and because a republic that cannot audit its own generosity will eventually export its corruption instead of its liberty.

Let’s pray for President Trump and those dismantling USAID, that the Lord would give them wisdom to root out waste; for the Serbian people ahead of their election, that they would be governed by leaders of integrity and protected from manipulation by any foreign power; for American taxpayers who never consented to these expenditures; and for the church in Serbia, which has often carried the Gospel faithfully under pressure. May God expose what is hidden and establish justice in the public square.

How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.

(Excerpt from The National Pulse. Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture – 20110826-FS-LSC-0054, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17801774).