DemocracyAID
DemocracyAID is a proposed organization to recruit former staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) following the agency’s closure by the second Trump administration. As of July 2025, the group had no website or formal IRS registration status, but has been reported to be hosting workshops with federal employees. It was co-created by former USAID staffers Ro Tucci and Danielle Reiff. 1 2
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Background
On July 2, 2025, the second Trump administration officially shut down the operations for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with the remaining components of the agency being absorbed by the U.S. State Department. Following initial reviews and cuts in early 2025 by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), then-led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, by March that year, roughly 80 percent of USAID’s programs had been cut. 3 4 2 Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it the end of an “era of government-sanctioned inefficiency” and said its remaining 1,000 programs would be managed by his department. 5 6 2
Following the closure, former USAID staffers Danielle Reiff and Ro Tucci organized to recruit laid-off USAID staff as a means of “noncooperation” with the administration. The joint project would later be named “DemocracyAID.” 1
As of July 2025, the group lacked a website or official legal entity status with an IRS registration number, and largely consisted of informal workshops and meetings. At that time, the organization was estimated to have 200 volunteers and an Instagram account, @friendsofusaid, with more than 88,000 followers. 1 7
According to a July 2025 interview with news outlet NOTUS, co-founder Ro Tucci claimed she and Reiff intend for the group to “start off slow” by “taking coffee breaks together.” Eventually, they projected the invite-only organization would conduct a “massive strike” to advocate against the Trump administration. 1
As of July 2025, Tucci was teaching workshops for DemocracyAID on “Authoritarianism 101.” Other laid-off USAID employees interviewed by NOTUS claimed they were circulating an old CIA pamphlet “with allies who still work in the government” called “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” to encourage federal workers to practice “minor acts of rebellion in the office.” 1 8 9
Leadership
Danielle Reiff and Rosarie “Ro” Tucci are the co-founders of DemocracyAID. Reiff is a former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) diplomat whom worked for USAID from 2005 until retiring from the organization in late 2024.Reiff previously volunteered with the Peace Corps from 1998 to 2000, and worked as a poll worker at the D.C. Board of Elections from September 2020 to November 2020. 1 10
Rosarie “Ro” Tucci was the former director of the USAID Center for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. 1 Ro Tucci previously worked for the New York State Senate as a Human Rights and Health Policy Analyst, for the Obama administration as a senior policy writer and special assistant, and as the director of “peace processes, reconciliation, and inclusive societies” at the U.S. Institute of Peace. 11