InterAction is the largest coalition of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) focused on the world's poor and most vulnerable people. Collectively, InterAction’s more than 180 members work in every developing country.
In poor communities throughout the developing world, InterAction members meet people halfway in expanding opportunities and supporting gender equality in education, health care, agriculture, small business and other areas. To forestall or recover from the violence that affects millions of innocent civilians, InterAction exercises leadership in conflict prevention, the peaceful resolution of disputes and peacebuilding initiatives in post-conflict situations.
Members Share Common Commitments That Define Their Work
InterAction members:
• Foster economic and social development
• Provide relief to those affected by disaster and war
• Assist refugees and internally displaced persons
• Advance human rights
• Support gender equity
• Protect the environment
• Address population concerns
• Press for more equitable, just and effective public policies
InterAction Membership Is Broad and Inclusive
Member organizations vary widely in size, yet each has an equal voice at InterAction. The largest member has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion and thousands of staff around the world; the smallest has an annual budget of less than $60,000 and no paid staff at all.
Member organizations include secular, faith-based and faith-founded. Some of our members work on humanitarian relief and disaster response only, while some are focused on international development exclusively and some work in both arenas. We define development in the broadest sense and our members work includes health, education, economic opportunity, gender equity, climate change and the environment, sustainability, democracy and government, and human rights.
Some members focus their efforts in one country, some have staff on every continent, and some focus their efforts on advocacy, public education and media education related to international issues and have no direct service component.
Members Are Professional and Accountable Organizations
Our community of U.S.-based NGOs working on international issues collectively manage annual revenue exceeding $16 billion, of which over $9 billion is for international work.* These numbers do not include the monetary equivalent of person-hours of the thousands of volunteers who support the work of our member organizations in the United States and around the world.
Millions of individuals show their support for advancing human dignity and peace in the world through contributions to InterAction members. Private support for our members, including donations from individuals, totaled nearly $6 billion in 2006, and members receive several billion from other sources including the federal government.
InterAction members do not take lightly the trust placed in them by those who fund their work. Members manage their organizations with professionalism, transparency and accountability, and voluntarily adhere to professional standards and certify their compliance with the standards every two years.
InterAction Leverages the Impact of Its Members
Staff of member organizations engage with each other and the broader U.S. and global community through InterAction working groups, meetings, workshops, training sessions and the annual InterAction Forum. Member staff interact with their peers, experts in the field and decision-makers to share best practices, influence the national and global agenda, resolve issues relating to our work and, together, seek solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
InterAction leverages the impact of the public and private support of our members by insisting that policies and programs are responsive to the realities of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations and by advocating the expansion of U.S. government investments.
InterAction’s comparative advantage rests on the uniquely field and practitioner-based expertise of its members. InterAction works with its members to compile data on the impact of NGO programs, as a basis for promoting best practices and for evidence-based public policy formulation.
InterAction brings the values and experience of the NGO community into the broader development and humanitarian assistance community through strategic alliances with key partners around particular issues and objectives. These partnerships further leverage InterAction’s political, intellectual and financial capital. InterAction believes its future is one of strategic alliances.
