Cross-border donors often face daunting challenges. Complex US and international regulatory frameworks apply to cross-border giving, and a lack of understanding of these rules and regulations can result in excessive exposure of donors to risks impacting both their bank accounts and their reputation. In this age of increased prevalence of money laundering, terrorist financing, and an ongoing global trend of tightening regulation of the nonprofit sector, compliance in cross-border grantmaking has never been more difficult nor more important to achieve.
Even with the noblest of intentions and goals, if donors do not ensure that their funding is going to well vetted, trustworthy recipients they could be doing more harm than good. As you will learn from the authors in this book, many issues must be addressed when US donors, be they foundations, individuals, corporations, or anyone else involved in philanthropy, choose to make cross-border donations. These span a wide range of regulatory compliance issues, such as adhering to laws blocking the use of charitable funds to finance organized crime and terrorism, preventing the cooptation of the grantmaking process for fraud or personal gain, and ensuring full compliance with applicable laws in the foreign countries that host grant beneficiaries.
