The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 3, Issue 1, September 2000

By Peter deCourcy Hero

As described elsewhere in IJNL and originally in Alliance (see p39 of Volume 5, Number 3), the Council on Foundations, in collaboration with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), has recently launched the United States International Grantmaking (USIG) website, www.usig.org. As the president of a community foundation with a base of hundreds of donors, many originally from outside the US, I see the new site as a valuable information resource. It will make a fine platform for future expanded technical assistance to both grantmakers and grantseekers.

Navigating the site is simple, divided as it is between the two intended audiences. There is adequate explanatory material and the links are logical and helpful. Filling out the online forms for grantseekers seems to present no problems – although, as with all such efforts, the ‘English only’ format will present a barrier to some worthy but not English-proficient organizations. (There has been some recent progress in translation software, so perhaps this is not an insoluble issue.)

The site is straightforward and spare with little clutter, befitting a sort of ‘resource functional’ approach. However, some graphics and visual devices would help present the information even better, it seems to me. Perhaps these can be added in the future.

Looking down the road, while the present site does an excellent job assisting the standardization of information being sought by so many US grantmakers who must assess grantseekers abroad, it is likely to reignite the more sensitive debate over whether US grantmakers might at some point accept each other’s affidavits, thus potentially streamlining the process and reducing grantseekers’ administrative burdens.

Even further ahead, I hope it will also spark a wider discussion (and exploration) of how, at some point, a single generic equivalency affidavit form could be created, to be used by all foundations making grants outside the US. Anything to make the grantseeker’s job simpler, it seems to me, is the goal (consistent, of course, with adequate required data).

But these are issues for the future. For now, www.usig.org is an outstanding resource, a carefully crafted new effort to facilitate more efficient grantmaking abroad, to be applauded by grantmakers and grantseekers alike.

Peter deCourcy Hero is President of Community Foundation Silicon Valley. He is a board member of the Council on Foundations and a member of the Council’s International Committee. He can be contacted by email at phero@cfsv.org.

This article originally appeared in Alliance, a publication of the Charities Aid Foundation. For more information on Alliance, please contact Caroline Hartnell at crhartnell@aol.com.