5. The Dangers of Foreign Funding

Foreign funding to NGOs has been one of the most controversial issues for governments in many countries. Often the governments try to introduce new policies to scan and restrict these funds to the detriment of the very survival of the NGOs. But governments are not the only obstacle between NGOs and foreign assistance. There are also activists and other types of organizations continuously opposing foreign aid for a variety of reasons. Foreign aid is mostly determined by trade and international relations, so often the donors do not really consider the developmental factors while giving out funds to NGOs. Also, the foreign aid policies of many developed countries are contentious. For every dollar spent for developmental support, the developed countries ensure that at least 40% of it returns back through international volunteering and consultancy, which actually means only 60% of the total funds reach organizations. Foreign funding has also been the source of corruption at both the governmental as well as the non-governmental level. Also, it has been observed that increasing presence of foreign-supported organizations fail to mobilize local support for their initiatives. There is less and less of local resource mobilization practices. Also, foreign support contradicts the self-reliance concepts. The more foreign assistance reaches the NGO, they become less dependent on themselves for sustaining their work.