The international aid system is in need of reform. Despite rhetoric about localisation, a meagre 1.2 percent of international humanitarian aid directly reaches local actors. Overall, there is a lack of transparency and awareness in international policy circles on how funds flow from the donor level to the field. This brief argues that the issue is not just about a lack of capacity on the part of local actors—a sweeping statement often used by Western aid stakeholders to justify their marginalisation. Donors also need to reform their understanding of aid, accept to share power with Global South champions of change, and increase their own capacities to adapt to local development and humanitarian systems. The brief explores, in this regard, the potential of the non-profit incubation model.