NGOsource, a project of the Council on Foundations and TechSoup, helps U.S. grantmakers streamline and save in their international giving.
Mission
NGOsource aims to dramatically improve the efficiency of international grantmaking and inspire a significant increase in cross-border philanthropy by centralizing, streamlining, and standardizing the equivalency determination process for U.S. grantmakers.
Who Joins NGOsource?
NGOsource is open to the entire grantmaking community, including independent, corporate, community, operating, and family foundations, as well as donor-advised funds, intermediary organizations, and public charities.
The NGOsource Team
We are a dedicated team working to accelerate global giving. Meet the team.
Our History
2006 — Recognizing the need for streamlined international giving, a consortium of international funders and the Council on Foundations, Foundation Center, and Independent Sector initiated a process to make equivalency determination easier.
2007 — These organizations met with IRS officials to discuss their vision.
2008 — TechSoup was chosen to build and manage the service because of its extensive global network and proven ability to offer scalable, sustainable services that facilitate philanthropy. TechSoup and the Council on Foundations then joined with legal partners Caplin & Drysdale and Adler & Colvin to design and operate NGOsource in compliance with U.S. legal requirements.
2009 — TechSoup and the Council on Foundations submitted requests to the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury in support of NGOsource and to urge clarification of certain ED standards.
2012 — The Treasury and the IRS proposed significant rule changes ("Reliance Standards for Making Good Faith Determinations" in the Federal Register) to make international giving easier, more cost-effective, and less redundant for both U.S. grantmakers and NGOs.
2013 — NGOsource's equivalency determination service launched on March 18.
2014 — NGOsource adds ATN-TechSoup Brasil as a global partner. TechSoup now offers ED support in five languages with the addition of Portuguese to French, Spanish, English, and Chinese.
September 2015 — Final rules on equivalency determinations issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service affirm the NGOsource approach, strengthening grantmakers' ability to confidently rely on EDs provided through their repository.
March 2017 — NGOsource launches LegalEASE: Notes from the Legal Experts, a bimonthly blog dedicated to explaining compliance and legal issues relevant to the grantmaking world.
September 2017 — The IRS issues Revenue Procedure 2017-53, further confirming NGOsource's approach.
March 2018 – NGOsource kicks off its 5th anniversary year.
August 2018 – NGOsource receives its 5,000th ED request.
February 2019 – NGOsource obtains an outside legal opinion confirming our repository’s alignment with current legal requirements.
November 2019 – NGOsource in partnership with the Start Network, promotes its work by developing a new uniform due diligence assessment tool.
July 2020 – NGOsource receives its 10,000th ED request, doubling its total requests in less than two years.
About TechSoup
TechSoup equips changemakers with the transformative technology solutions and skills they need to improve lives globally and locally. The TechSoup Global Network, a partnership among 70 of the world's leading civil society organizations, manages a range of capacity-building programs to serve communities in nearly every region of the world. The network has reached 993,000 organizations and delivered more than US$10 billion in technology tools and philanthropic services.
About the Council on Foundations
An active philanthropic network, the Council on Foundations, founded in 1949, is a nonprofit leadership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. It provides the opportunity, leadership, and tools needed by philanthropic organizations to expand, enhance and sustain their ability to advance the common good. The Council empowers professionals in philanthropy to meet today's toughest challenges and advances a culture of charitable giving in the U.S. and globally. For more information, please visit www.cof.org