U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in humanitarian and development work overseas seek a more balanced relationship with the U.S. government—one in which NGOs are seen not merely as service providers but as the major actors we already are. With 180 members, InterAction represents a broad spectrum of U.S. NGOs working in all of the world’s poorest countries. They bring to the U.S. government decades of experiences and relationships and a myriad of skills and knowledge that have not been effectively accessed or consulted.

Our community works with the U.S. government on a daily basis in Washington (see USAID page) and throughout the world. But our members’ most enduring and strongest relationship is with individual Americans who, through their private donations and other support, sustain thousands of programs across the globe. Millions of these private donors entrust our community to feed children, clothe families and provide clean water to villages. Our members are the face of the American people overseas. They show our country’s humanity and compassion when distributing food donated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to an internally displaced family in an Angolan village. They personify American know-how when a Macedonian man accesses critical microcredit financing to start up his own business.

We have successful and proven methods of designing programs, building relationships and leveraging resources to benefit the greatest number of people in need. The amount of funding our members now receive from private sources outweighs U.S. government funding by a ratio of 2 to 1. With these privately raised funds, U.S. humanitarian and development NGOs are exploring best practices and advancing crucial partnerships with donor governments, local and international NGOs, and communities around the world that are often not reached by official development assistance.