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Brief No. 1 in the Nonprofits in Focus series
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From their first appearance between
the two World Wars to the 1960s, U.S.-
based international nongovernmental
organizations (INGOs) operated largely
separate from the federal government.
Funding for INGOs came almost entirely
from private contributions, and programmatic
approaches of INGOs and the
government differed. The failure of direct
government-to-government foreign
assistance, however, eventually spurred
the federal government to work more
directly with INGOs, which were seen as
more efficient and effective. The result has
been a dramatic rise in government funding
for INGOs since the 1970s. However,
little attention has been paid to the extent services of government support for INGOs, the
types of INGOs involved, and the regions
they work in. Moreover, it has been difficult
to track how changes in foreign policy
affect government funding for INGOs.
Currently, about fifty federal agencies
and offices support some kind of international
programming and often work with
INGOs to achieve their objectives. INGOs
that partner with government run the full
spectrum, from large multimillion-dollar
organizations that offer many programs
in multiple regions of the world to small,
single-service entities focusing on one
program in a given region. They provide services in an increasingly diverse array
of areas, including disaster relief, agriculture,
technology, economics, environment,
health, education, human rights, refugees,
and, more recently, democracy and
civil society. Examples of larger INGOs
working with government include World
Vision, Freedom House, Save the Children
Federation, Landmine Survivors Network,
Africare, the Carter Center, and Winrock
International Institute for Agricultural
Development.
The United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) is the largest
INGO government partner and provides
the most information on its INGO involvement.
Historically, the portion of USAID’s
overall budget going to private voluntary
organizations (which include all nonprofits,
not just U.S.-based INGOs)1 has ranged
between 14 and 19 percent.2 However, this
figure can vary dramatically by individual
office. In 2000, for example, USAID’s
Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance
reported that over 70 percent of its aid was
channeled through private voluntary organizations
(PVOs) (Office of U.S. Foreign
Disaster Assistance 2000). The percentage
of USAID money going to PVOs may be
even higher, as some USAID funding is
indirectly provided to PVOs through other
organizations, such as other U.S. government
agencies and the United Nations
(GAO 2002). While these numbers tell
us how much of the USAID budget goes
to nonprofits, little information exists on
the fifty or so other government agencies
providing international assistance and
their work with INGOs.
Indeed, the full scope of federal government
financing for INGOs, and how
it has changed over time, has generally
been difficult to estimate. With different government agencies providing international assistance
in different areas, the numbers and types of
organizations involved and their funding have been
hard to determine. However, newly analyzed data
from the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable
Statistics (NCCS)/GuideStar National Nonprofit
Database provide insight on government funding for
INGOs, including new trends after 2001 due to shifts
in foreign policy.
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