US INGOs Working in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Impacts Their Ability to Attract Private Donations?

ABSTRACT International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) help scale up foreign aid efforts by mobilizing private donations that can be used to supplement official development assistance (ODA). While there is an established literature on determinants of private donations for NGOs working within the U.S., there is a lack of comparable empirical evidence for U.S.-based INGOs with foreign aid activities. This study addresses this gap by assessing the factors which impact the ability of INGOs to attract private donations, using a sample of U.S.-based INGOs with foreign aid activities in sub-Saharan Africa. We find private donations to U.S. INGOs working in sub-Saharan Africa are not associated in expected ways with organizational characteristics that measure quality, efficiency, fiscal health, and funding source. We also find characteristics of giving, such as the ability to donate online and ability to make a recurring donation, impact private giving to U.S. INGOs working in sub-Saharan Africa, as does the number of countries in which the INGO works.