An opportunity has been evolving over the past year that some of you in the US might find interesting. USCIS Form I-134A allows US residents (with qualifying income, approx. $30k/yr+) to sponsor families or individuals from specific countries (in flux—but presently Ukraine, Afghanistan, Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua) looking for US visas under humanitarian parole programs. Form I-134A contains scary language in which the sponsor agrees to take on financial responsibility for the newcomers. However, (a) many potential beneficiaries do not need financial support, (b) some of them, especially Ukrainians, are eligible for a wide range of public benefits, and (c) many legal commentators claim the language in the form is unenforceable.
A nonprofit backed by four former US presidents, https://Welcome.US, helps potential sponsors navigate the process and match with potential beneficiaries. Through them, my wife and I recently sponsored a family of three we had never met. It ended up costing nothing and being easier than expected. Every situation will be different but you can meet (video chat is common) the people you consider sponsoring before making a decision.
It’s not necessarily the very best use of your time and/or money, but if you’ve ever felt that US immigration/refugee policy is too restrictive, and you are well-situated to welcome newcomers and/or good at navigating government paperwork, here’s a chance to sort of take matters into your own hands. The newcomers aren’t immigrants per se; for the most part these are two-year temporary visas. But some of them may find paths to citizenship under other programs now or in the future.
Glad to see this idea come to life, thank you for working on it! Many of us understand the temptation to hold back more than we ought to, due to concerns about unforeseen financial reversals, some of which are not conventionally insurable. If implemented well, Basefund sounds likely to encourage marginal donations in excess of its costs, and help individuals at difficult hinges in life.
Sounds like you’ve done a lot of homework and this is workable in a Dutch context. Best wishes to you, and I’ll drop you an email about possibly participating.
If it were to expand to the U.S., having support that is formulaically tied to past donations would be difficult. However, one could envision a model that achieves both tax deductibility for donors and tax exemption to grant recipients, and the economic benefit would be significant compared to individual gifts (which are tax-free to the recipient but not tax-deductible to the donor). The key would be a well-defined mission and charitable class of potential recipients, as discussed here, and a layer of discretion at the board level between donor and recipient.
One example of a U.S. public charity that supports individuals in financial hardship is ModestNeeds. Their program is innovative, although for several reasons it’s unlikely to meet the high bar of a “top charity”. Nevertheless, they are worth a look as general inspiration for your project, as it lets funders recommend individual grants (where the grantee is anonymous but their circumstances are described) without formally earmarking donations.