CIAO DATE: 04/2014
January 2014
In 2010, foundations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), religious groups and other charitable organizations in the United States contributed $39 billion to international development causes (Hudson Institute 2012). By comparison, $30 billion in US official development assistance (ODA) was disbursed during the same year. For US-based organizations, this represented a doubling of international private, voluntary development assistance over the past decade. In recent years, the proliferation of private development aid has been facilitated by peer-to-peer (or “crowd-funding”) practices. As with the broader “crowd-sourcing” phenomenon which solicits information from large numbers of individuals for various entrepreneurial activities, crowd-funding platforms bundle large numbers of small, individual contributions for investment, grants or loans. The bundling of funds is generally done through internet-based social networks. From the United States, internet-based companies such as Global Giving, Kiva, Wokai and Zidisha have channeled millions of dollars to individuals and partner organizations in developing countries.
Resource link: The Wisdom of Crowd-Funders: What Motivates Cross-Border Private Development Aid? [PDF] - 5.1M