In a context of increasing donor commitments to shift power and funding to local actors, there has been mounting interest in understanding the global ecosystem of ‘local intermediary’ structures. Intermediary organizations act as a conduit for large scale donors - who can only engage in a limited number of grants - to channel funds to larger ecosystems of local actors. Between 2022 and 2024, the Share Trust led a series of seminal studies on the cost-efficiency of local intermediaries. The “Passing the Buck: The Economics of Localising Aid” found that local intermediaries could distribute funding up to 32% more cost efficiently than international intermediaries such as the United Nations (UN), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and other private enterprises.