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The group describe themselves as the "salvage squad". After their sudden termination when foreign assistance faced cuts earlier this year, a team of dedicated professionals decided to establish their own rescue package.

Refusing to "remain in despair", Rob Rosenbaum, along with similarly motivated ex-colleagues, began endeavors to rescue some of the vital initiatives that faced closure after the cuts.

Now, almost 80 programmes have been preserved by a matchmaking service operated by the economist and fellow past agency employees, which has found them more than $110 million in new funding. The group behind the resource optimization project effort calculates it will help 40 million people, covering many young kids.

Following the office shutdown, spending was frozen, thousands of employees were laid off, and global initiatives either came to a shuddering halt or were barely continuing toward what the economist describes as "drop-dead dates".

He and a few co-workers were contacted by a philanthropic organization that "sought to understand how they could optimize the utilization of their limited resources".

They built a menu from the terminated programmes, pinpointing those "delivering the most critical assistance per dollar" and where a new funder could practically intervene and maintain operations.

They soon understood the requirement was more extensive than that initial entity and began to contact further funding sources.

"We called ourselves the lifeboat crew at the beginning," states Rosenbaum. "The organization has been collapsing, and there are insufficient lifeboats for each programme to board, and so we're trying to literally protect as many infants as we can, get as many on to these rescue options as attainable, via the projects that are delivering aid."

The project, now functioning as part of a global development thinktank, has garnered backing for numerous programmes on its roster in more than 30 nations. Three have had initial backing returned. A number were unable to be rescued in time.

Backing has come from a mix of philanthropic foundations and wealthy individuals. Many prefer to stay anonymous.

"The supporters come from very different reasons and perspectives, but the common thread that we've received from them is, 'I feel horrified by what's going on. I sincerely wish to discover an approach to intervene,'" says Rosenbaum.

"I believe that there was an 'aha moment' for everyone involved as we started working on this, that this created an opportunity to transition from the passive sadness, dwelling on the gloom of everything that was happening around us, to having a constructive endeavor to deeply commit to."

A specific initiative that has secured support through Pro is activities by the Alima to provide services encompassing nutritional rehabilitation, prenatal and postnatal support and essential immunizations for kids in Mali.

It is essential to maintain these operations, says Rosenbaum, not only because restarting operations if they ceased would be prohibitively pricey but also because of how much trust would be eroded in the conflict-ravaged areas if the organization withdrew.

"The organization informed us […] 'we're very worried that if we withdraw, we may never be invited back.'"

Programmes with extended objectives, such as strengthening health systems, or in different sectors such as schooling, have been excluded from the project's focus. It also does not seek to save the projects indefinitely but to "buy time for the groups and, truthfully, the wider community, to figure out a permanent resolution".

Now that they have obtained backing for each programme on its original roster, the team announces it will now focus on helping more people with "proven, cost-effective interventions".