The gap between the demand for assistance and the funds available are alarmingly growing and the global community is scrambling for a solution. The United Nations (UN) is leading the search as a high level panel unveils a report entitled "Too important to fail - addressing the humanitarian financing gap."

During his remarks (via United Nations website) at the release of the high level panel report on humanitarian financing in Dubai, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon talked about the age of "mega-crises" and the organization's plans to address the financial challenges of humanitarian aid, a report from the UN News Centre revealed.

"We are seeing all-time-high numbers for the amounts of money requested through humanitarian appeals, the amounts raised from generous donors, and scale of the global humanitarian funding gap," the Secretary-General said. "That is why, in May last year, I asked a high level panel of eminent independent experts to urgently seek solutions to the funding gap."

The chief met with the panel to gather their findings and recommendations on humanitarian funding. While he acknowledged the dire situations with the onslaught of natural disasters and wars throughout the world, Ki-moon said, "But, as this report clearly demonstrates, the gap in funding is a solvable problem."

The report identified three areas to address the financial issues of humanitarian aid: shrinking the needs, increasing the resource base, and improving efficiency by creating a "Grand Bargain" among significant humanitarian partners.

With this report in mind, the Secretary-General will produce his own report and plans for upcoming agenda.

According to a report from the International Business Times, the funding falls short of the necessary aid despite countries shelling out 12 times the amount they contributed 15 years ago. Last year, governments offered $24.5 billion for humanitarian aid, which is a massive increase from the $2 billion back in 2000.

However, the numbers still prove to be an insufficient amount as the panel revealed there is a need for around $40 billion annually in global aid. Some of the suggestions for raising funds include a voluntary tax on soccer matches and concerts as well as tapping into the Islamic donations called "zakat."

European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, who chaired the panel along with Sultan Nazrin Shah of Malaysia, said that overcoming the gap is not an impossible feat and would be marked as a "victory for humanity".

She added, "A gap of $15 billion is a lot of money, but in a world producing $78 trillion of GDP [gross domestic product], it should not be out of reach to find."