Best Practices on Combating the Abuse of Non-Profit Organisations

Charities and non-profit organisations (NPOs) perform a vital role in our society, providing relief and support to groups of the population in need, and at times of urgent crisis. Unfortunately, charitable fundraising has also been used to provide cover for the financing of terrorism.

FATF Recommendation 8 requires that the laws and regulations that govern non-profit organisations be reviewed so that these organisations cannot be abused for the financing of terrorism. The FATF has established best practices, aimed at preventing misuse of NPOs for the financing of terrorism while, at the same time, respecting legitimate actions of NPOs.

FATF applauds the efforts of NPOs to provide charitable services around the world, often in remote and difficult areas. The purpose of this paper is to facilitate these efforts and to protect the integrity and reputation of the NPO sector by providing examples of ways that government and the NPO sector can work together towards protecting the global NPO sector from terrorist abuse. This paper, originally published in October 2002, and updated in June 2013, was fully revised to take into account the findings of the typologies report on the ‘Risk of Terrorist Abuse in Non-Profit Organisations’, published in June 2014 as well as input from governments and private sector.

The FATF is committed to maintaining a close and constructive dialogue with the private sector, including the NPO Sector and has consulted with them on a regular basis during the revision of this paper.