‘Foreign Affairs’: Overseas Aid

A country’s aid to other nations should be measured not simply in government dollars, but also by the charitable giving of individuals, foundations, and corporations, writes Carol C. Adelman, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former senior official at the Agency for International Development, in Foreign Affairs (November/December 2003).

Using that measure, she says, the United States is far more generous than other countries. She estimates that private giving abroad totals at least $35-billion yearly, or three and a half times the amount officially given annually by the federal government for “development assistance.”

Ms. Adelman notes that in the past decade, more “megadonors,” such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the UN Foundation, backed by Ted Turner, have been channeling many of their dollars abroad. She says international giving by U.S. foundations “now totals some $3-billion, almost double what the most-generous governments — Denmark, Norway, and Sweden — each give yearly in official development assistance.”

What’s more, she says, American nonprofit groups, such as the Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services, have “also continued a strong tradition of international aid.” Such organizations, she estimates, give about $7-billion a year in foreign aid, counting both dollars sent abroad and the time of volunteers.

Beyond such groups — as well as donations sent by corporations and religious institutions — Ms. Adelman notes that a growing number of immigrants to the United States are sending money to their hometowns overseas and many are involved in sophisticated fund-raising efforts to help people in their home countries.

Ms. Adelman urges policy makers to do more to take into account the impact of private aid, and says the federal government should work more closely with foundations and other organizations and philanthropists that give money abroad. She also recommends that the U.S. government put more money into developing philanthropy in countries that now receive federal aid.

The article is available online at http://foreignaffairs.org.