Foundations Get Help Vetting Foreign Grantees

The Council on Foundations announced today that a San Francisco nonprofit group has been picked to help private foundations in the United States ensure that recipients of grants to foreign charitable groups meet U.S. antiterrorism standards.

TechSoup Global, in the Bay City, is planning to become a repository of information about international groups, noting their purposes and activities, financial data, and copies of relevant foreign laws governing the organization.

Such information is necessary under Internal Revenue Service rules for U.S. groups that distribute grants to foreign organizations. Under the law, each group seeking to award a grant to a foreign group must get approval before doing so. The repository will help foundations by storing the documents, making it easier to navigate the approval process.

The council has been working on the repository project since 2007 with help from the Foundation Center, Independent Sector, and InterAction. The council is entering into a multi-year contract with TechSoup to build the repository.