Sometimes, when those dollars are earmarked for specific equipment or food purchases, donations are about clandestinely subsidizing industry or agriculture back home. In the case of food aid, this is especially pernicious, because these foreign food purchases flood local markets and undermine local food production, often making the food-availability situation worst post-donation.

Do you have any evidence for this assertion?

This is about one Foundation and how it was used as vehicle by CIA to launder money into other countries as "Aid to Developing nations", and achieve its political ends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation#Relationship_wi...

The CIA had been laundering its funds for dozens of organizations and events, and the foundation served as one of its main fronts.

If you look around you will find a lot of such covert channels.

>If you look around you will find a lot of such covert channels.

And if you look around you'll find far, far more examples of honest foundations, filled with honest people, doing honest work. What's your point?

That billions of dollars and foreign aid programs are not decided and funneled through and to honest people.

We're not talking about some small time charity here.

Yes, I read history. And am from a country that has seen actual, hard, 20th century history in the making -- instead of watching it from a far in the History channel.