Faced with US budget cuts, declining Official Development Assistance (ODA) in many European countries, and hostile rhetoric questioning the effectiveness and legitimacy of ODA in a global context of rising extremism, the international humanitarian sector is in crisis. This unprecedented crisis is having a severe impact on programmes and on organisations, and is causing concern and outrage around the world. While the need to improve the international aid architecture had already been recognised in recent years, there is now talk of a profound transformation of the sector. This funding crisis, which constitutes a real threat to the international humanitarian system, can – and must – also be a starting point for rethinking some of its foundations and reinventing itself.