The Important Role of Global Intermediaries in COVID-19 Response

COVID-19 has prompted a rapid response from funders to channel funding to organizations across the world. To make this happen efficiently, global intermediaries have stepped up to support individuals, foundations, and corporations in directing support to charitable organizations in Asia & the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Global intermediaries are a specific kind of charity in the United States that serve as a connector and facilitator of grantmaking to charitable organizations outside the US. These charities have deep expertise in the rules and regulations around giving internationally but also lend their relationships and regional knowledge to funders who wish to embark on supporting causes globally.

For COVID-19 response, these organizations were some of the first to set up response funds and to warn of outbreak as they heard from partners in Asia about the disease.

They have helped facilitate nearly $300 million in grant dollars and made it easy for the rest of philanthropy to provide direct relief to other countries for COVID-19 response.