International Giving
Philanthropic families face a multitude of challenges when giving across borders. From coordinating family strategy to navigating complex tax regimes, global family philanthropy is not a simple feat. However, due to generational change and technological advancements, it’s becoming far…
A Mexican American Linguist describes that in U.S. we would say “why has one of us stolen a television?”.
In Mexico, it would be, “one of us has stolen a television, why have we done this?”
The emphasis is not on punishing the individual at fault but recognizing our collective failure to…
Legal Compliance Guidance
Current as of June 2025 | Download print version (PDF)
This describes the legal framework of nonprofit organizations (also known as non-governmental organizations or NGOs) in Ethiopia, along with translations of legislative provisions relevant for a foundation or advisor undertaking an equivalency…
Global Philanthropy Update - October 2019
From Greta Thunberg’s passionate climate advocacyto concerns about the efficacy of multilateralism that the UN represents, there was no shortage of news from the 74th UN General Assembly. Despite only having ten years left to achieve the SDGs, recent reports are bleak. Of more than 1,000 CEOs…
Forget the Divide: It's time for us all to be "glocal"
West Central Initiative (WCI) is one of six community foundations in Minnesota created by the McKnight Foundation in 1986 to response to the farm crisis. Together, we cover the area of the state called “Greater Minnesota.” We have cities and towns in all of our regions, but we are commonly…
Health Outside the Clinic: Community Health Workers and the Future of Healthcare
During the United Nations General Assembly in late September, Heads of State, government officials, civil society, and the philanthropic and commercial private sector will convene in New York with a focus on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). UHC is a key part of Sustainable Development Goal 3…
Previewing the UN General Assembly: A Global Community of Actors
Previewing the UN General Assembly: A global community of actors
The world faces pressing challenges that require global responses – the climate crisis, entrenched inequality, migration, and more. But with international cooperation increasingly at risk, actions taken at the local level are ever…
Global Philanthropy Update - August 2019
We’re only a month away from the 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) – and the world still has significant work to do if we are to meet the development thresholds set in the SDGs.
This slow progress combined with a new wave of gun violence and hate crimes in the United States, alongside civil…
Global Philanthropy Update - July 2019
The United Nations' annual mid-year High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) finished earlier this week. I was in New York to join several events and enjoyed connecting with a broad variety of organizations and people working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, including many…
I’ve been thinking about Sudan recently. Protests began in Sudan during December of last year, eventually leading to a military coup and arrest of Former President Omar al-Bashir. Yet, these protests continue. Some reports say more than 128 people have been killed in these protests. As this year is…
Members, View Recording
The alphabet soup of global regulatory acronyms – FARA, FATF, and De-Risking to name a few – can lead to confusion for grantmakers. Join us for an update and discussion for how these regulations affect global grantmakers today. Hear directly from global experts and ask your…
We’re less than two weeks away from Leading Together 2019. We’ve been busy preparing a great program with fantastic speakers representing diverse perspectives. Best of all, it’s not too late to register!
Additionally, we’ve updated the full global preconference program with all of the speakers and…
What do you do when you have a difficult and complex problem? If you’re like me, you start by trying to understand it. You think the problem through from all angles, looking at the data, talking to people in your community. You study the problem, inside out.
Now, what do you do when you're looking…
March is an exciting month at the Council! Our new President and CEO, Kathleen Enright, started this month and we’re looking forward to her leadership. Our global team has also expanded with the arrival of Brian Kastner, our new Manager of Global Philanthropy. Brian will be an important resource…
This month, Council staff have been busy emptying filing cabinets and cleaning out closets in advance of our move back to DC. As we packed program files from our international program, I was reminded of the long history of our work to strengthen cross-border giving by US foundations.
We found…
Legal Compliance Guidance, Publication
A Chapter in Mastering Foundation Law:
The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources
Making grants to institutions outside of the United States is challenging and rewarding. We hope this revised publication will be a useful resource that encourages grantmakers of all types to expand…