World Vision —with more than $1 billion in revenue last year— is among the largest international nongovernmental organizations and widely known as a Christian humanitarian group. It got some bad press this year over reports it subcontracted relief work to an Islamic charity—a decade after the Treasury Department designated the group a sponsor of terror.

This Christmas season I’ve been asked to #GiveLuv and #doublethelove and more. The time from Giving Tuesday to New Year’s Eve represents for many U.S. nonprofits a make-or-break fundraising opportunity. Punching a button in tangible support of a good cause helps both giver and receiver.

But problems arise with the ease of internet giving, and one is accountability. Willing donors see slick appeals in their social media accounts, give, and go away. Behind the campaigns, it’s harder to know how the nonprofits manage their money, and whether the message matches the work.

World Vision—with more than $1 billion in revenue last year—is among the largest international nongovernmental organizations and widely known as a Christian humanitarian group. It got some bad press this year over reports it subcontracted relief work to an Islamic charity—a decade after the Treasury Department designated the group a sponsor of terror.

That relief work represents a small fraction of World Vision’s overseas assistance. But World Vision did not disclose the violation—and apparently has a longer-standing relationship with the group.

According to emails and other documents obtained by Middle East Forum under the Freedom of Information Act, U.S. officials ordered World Vision to suspend all activities with Islamic Relief Agency once they learned the subcontractor was a designated terrorist group. But World Vision appealed for “an urgent license” to pay the group.

Further, it’s apparent World Vision through its European affiliates established a close working relationship with Islamic Relief Agency—a Khartoum-based charity that once opened a U.S. office and used it to raise millions of dollars for al-Qaeda.

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