Survey of 36,300: 75% Back Global Cooperation but UN/IMF Trust Slumps to 58%/44% - Rockefeller Launches $50M 'Shared Future'

A global survey of more than 36,300 people across 34 countries finds a big appetite for cooperation on cross-border problems - but a clear lack of faith in the bodies that are supposed to manage them.

Commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation and run from August 8 to September 10, the poll shows 75% of respondents back international collaboration when it demonstrably fixes problems. But only 42% think such collaboration lines up with their own interests. In short: people want collective action, just not necessarily the current cast of characters running it.

Numbers that jump off the page: 90% said cooperation matters for jobs and employment; 92% for trade and economic development; 93% for food and water security; and 91% for global health. At the same time, confidence in multilateral institutions is patchy. Trust ratings: United Nations 58%, World Health Organization 60%, International Monetary Fund 44%.

Those low marks come as governments in advanced economies pare back development spending and nationalist rhetoric bubbles up in various capitals. The result is a funding and credibility gap at a moment when hunger, climate stress and pandemic preparedness are front-and-center on the global agenda.

Enter the Rockefeller Foundation's $50 million program called "The Shared Future," aimed at retooling international cooperation - with a focus on health systems and food security. Wally Adeyemo, who served as deputy treasury secretary under President Joe Biden, has been named to lead the push to create new models for cooperation. Rockefeller's president, Rajiv Shah, framed the effort as a response to institutions that "worked in the 20th century" but are struggling today.

Adeyemo's pitch is blunt: beneficiaries of aid want pathways into trade and economic participation, not permanent aid dependency. He's lining up expert meetings around next week's UN General Assembly and outreach to partners both inside and outside the U.S.

What this means for markets - stated as observable channels, not guidance - is straightforward. Reduced trust in global institutions can reshape how sovereign risk is priced, tweak the mix of public and private financing for development projects, and accelerate private philanthropy and corporate-led initiatives stepping into gaps left by government retrenchment. The Rockefeller commitment is small compared with global needs, but it's a signal: wealthy non-state players are willing to underwrite experimentation in governance and delivery models.

Sector-level impacts are already on traders' radars. Changes in how global health is funded could change demand patterns across vaccine supply chains, diagnostics and logistics. Shifts in food security priorities influence commodity flows and the kinds of agricultural technologies in favor. And lower confidence in institutions that mediate crises can increase geopolitical and policy risk premiums, which in turn show up in fixed income spreads and currency moves.

There's theatre, too. With the UN General Assembly around the corner, expect a burst of pledges, task forces and new partnerships - plus the usual headlines about institutional reform. Whether any of it translates into durable policy or funding shifts is an open question. The poll makes that clear: people want cooperation, but they don't trust the institutions they've got. Can new, public-private arrangements close that credibility gap?