PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 11, 2000

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) is pleased to announce that it has received new grants from several grantmakers within the past three months. These grants are intended to further the development of its Documentation Center and Online Library and its ongoing updating and publishing endeavors, including the International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law. The new funders include: the American Express Company, the AT&T Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Helen Bader Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. They join the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, USAID, Counterpart Foundation, and the Wallace Global Fund, all of whom have provided support for the project in the past.

Pursuant to the project, which began four years ago, ICNL has assembled a database consisting of a unique collection of framework and tax legislation, ancillary legislation, regulations, country reports, self-governance codes and codes of conduct, fiduciary and accounting standards, and other pertinent information on the legal environment within which NGOs operate in countries around the world. The collection contains information from over 115 countries, some 2500 documents in all. The documents are assembled in a hard copy Documentation Center and to some extent in an Online Library that is accessible through the ICNL web site.

The creation of ICNL’s Documentation Center and Online Library, as well as the publication of the International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law, are an important “civil society” project. The aim has been to provide resources that will assist the improvement of the enabling environment for the freedom of association and civil society around the world. The project has been truly path-breaking in its use of modern technology.

New programs being developed within the web publishing functions will further assist ICNL’s continuing focus on technical assistance, education, research, training, and capacity-building. These include the hosting of online discussion groups to conduct technical assessments of pending legislation.

The project continues to be attractive to grantmakers with strong interests

• in assisting the creation of a better enabling environment for civil society and
• in providing greater support for international grantmaking.

With the ongoing support of the organizations listed above, ICNL will continue to develop important information resources for the grant-making community and for civil society in general.