Uniting Voices, Changing Lives
“We Are The World” was recorded on January 28, 1985 as a groundbreaking musical collaboration aimed at raising funds and awareness for famine relief in Ethiopia. Nine months later Hands Across America brought together one of the largest community participation events in American history to raise funds for hunger and homelessness. USA for Africa’s legacy endures to support community-driven initiatives across Africa as well as in the United States continues today.
We're artists, advocates, and global changemakers united for lasting impact.
Established in 1985, United Support of Artists for Africa is best known for its 1985 recording of “We Are The World” and the “Hands Across America” event in 1986. In these 40 years USA for Africa has raised more than $100,000,000 to help address poverty and long term sustainable development in Africa, as well as hunger and homelessness in the United States.
Major support was provided beginning in 1985 to address the famine and refugee crisis, channeled primarily through UN agencies as well as international nongovernmental organizations with expertise in emergency relief. During the next two years USA for Africa partnered with the US NGO consortium InterAction, providing significant funding for efforts increasingly aimed at recovery and development efforts. Less funding went to UN agencies, with support going for the most part to international development organizations.
A third phase beginning in late 1987 continued support for long term development but focused as well on enhancing local capacity. Greater support was provided to African nongovernmental organizations and local associations of farmers, women and youth, and also to networks and initiatives promoting collaboration and collective learning.
While funding continues in much more modest form today, over the last four decades USA for Africa has contributed in small but significant ways to the emergence of African civil society organizations as key actors in the development process. While the challenges remain daunting, our commitment to creating opportunities and impacting real and lasting change remains strong.
OUr MIssion & Vision
USA for Africa’s mission is to take action that will help demonstrate the importance and power of individual participation and collective action in helping solve problems and address issues and challenges that presently confront global society.
Our vision today matches our vision in 1988. Hunger still exists, our climate is challenged, conflicts rage around the world. The need for people to care and act – locally in their own communities as well as in solidarity with others around the world – still exists, perhaps more urgently than ever before. While progress has been made there is still abundant need. And we remain committed. We honor our past and those who led our early efforts, those who made our initial efforts so impactful, and salute those dedicated visionaries, volunteers, and organizations across Africa and the world who are inspiring and guiding our efforts today.
Collaborative Partnerships
From its inception, the Board of USA for Africa has recognized the value of collaboration—actively seeking the expertise of organizations and advisors with deep experience in responding to crises caused by drought, civil conflict, and systemic challenges. This commitment has been matched over the years by an increasing investment in African organizations, networks, and community associations working to address both the immediate impacts and underlying drivers of poverty and insecurity. Their perspectives and lived experience have become essential to shaping USA for Africa’s approach.
Building on this foundation of trust and shared purpose, USA for Africa entered into a collaboration agreement in January 2025 with —an independent pan-African foundation dedicated to advancing democratic governance and equitable development across the continent. Initially launched in 2001, TrustAfrica has played a pivotal role in amplifying African voices within the global donor community. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in the United States with its headquarters in Senegal, TrustAfrica has over the last two and a half decades earned recognition as a trusted partner and a distinctive force within Africa’s philanthropic landscape.
Listen, Feel, Be Moved
Through Purpose
