Agencies, once dependent on individual donations, have benefited from an input of funds as governments and international bodies have funnelled aid through bodies set up institutionally as charities. As a result, many agencies are now structured like corporate business. This text examines what has happened to aid. It outlines who the leading agencies are, who controls and funds them and decides on their role, and includes an assessment of organizations such as Oxfam, Save the Children and the Red Cross.