Nonprofit Working in War Zones Encounters Little Oversight

A nonprofit backed by federal grants and contracts has been one of the leading organizations carrying on humanitarian and rebuilding efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last 10 years, says The Washington Post. But while the organization handled hundreds of millions of dollars and important nation-building tasks, it had little oversight from government agencies, leading to mismanagement and poor performance, an investigation by the newspaper has found.

A minister and his wife from war-torn Bosnia founded International Relief Development (IRD) in 1998 as a small nonprofit to bring humanitarian aid internationally. For efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contracted with IRD, paying the group $1.9 billion—more than it gave any other nonprofit in recent years.

Interviewees said that IRD acted as a nonprofit in name only, and that the organization was built around getting money from USAID. Because of several performance issues, the government is now reconsidering its relationship with IRD, according to the Post.