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In Niger, the number of NGOs has grown spectacularly since the 1990s. However, only a few have built up solid organisations and experience. Most barely manage or endure a series of ups and downs. Based on in-depth interviews with the managers of these organisations, the article shows that, despite policy statements supporting the role of national NGOs in development and the increasing flows of aid to help them, nonprofits in Niger, which are at the bottom of the aid chain, are vulnerable both in terms of funding and human resources. This partly explains their recurrent difficulties in gaining institutional status. The article sheds light on the development of this sector of the social economy in the context of high unemployment and the bureaucratisation of international aid against a backdrop of free-market politics.