NGO Source is a collaborative effort between nonprofit technology organization TechSoup and philanthropic network Council on Foundations to persuade the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to relax regulations on international charity registration within the United States. It helps international organizations obtain nonprofit status within the U.S. and aims to make the process of giving to international organizations easier and more cost-effective.

Background

NGO Source is a project of the Council on Foundations and TechSoup. It was founded in 2006 to help American foundations engage in international giving. ¹ The project was spearheaded by the Council on Foundations, the Foundation Center, and Independent Sector, with the goal of making it easier for foreign charities to obtain “equivalency determinations.” ² Equivalency determinations are the recognition by U.S. tax authorities that a non-U.S. charitable organization is equivalent to a U.S. public charity. ³

TechSoup was tapped to manage the service due to its global network and ability to scale philanthropic organizations. TechSoup and Council on Foundations joined forces and approached two law firms, Caplin and Drysdale and Adler and Colvin, to ensure compliance with U.S. law. ⁴

Activities

NGO Source primarily aims to streamline philanthropic disbursements to its recipient organizations. It aims to improve the efficiency of international funding and advocate for increased international cooperation between nonprofit groups that support left-of-center policies. ⁵

In 2012, TechSoup and the Council on Foundations through their new joint effort NGO Source persuaded the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS to make international giving easier and more cost-effective. This followed from requests that NGO Source had made to the agencies as far back as 2009. ⁶

NGO Source launched its equivalency determination service on March 18, 2013. By 2014, it was incorporating a Brazilian branch of TechSoup and was offering support in five languages. In September 2015, the Treasury and IRS solidified equivalency determination rules based around the NGO Source model. ⁷ This was further solidified by the IRS enacting Revenue Procedure 2017-53 in September 2017. ⁸

By July 2020, NGO Source had received its 10,000th equivalency determination request, up from 5,000 in August 2018. ⁹ It has received equivalency determination requests from 150 countries, including Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Rwanda, and Venezuela. ¹⁰

In 2022, NGO Source began running sanctions checks on organization names. ¹¹

1. “Who We Are.” NGO Source. Accessed September 30, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
2. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
3. “What is equivalency determination?” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/what-is-equivalency-determination.
4. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
5. “Who We Are.” NGO Source  Accessed September 30, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
6. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
7. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
8. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
9. “Our History.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.
10. “Our Global Reach.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/about-ngosource/our-global-reach.
11. “Who We Are.” NGO Source. Accessed October 1, 2023. https://www.ngosource.org/who-we-are.