Since the magnitude 7.2/7.5 earthquake doublet struck Venezuela’s coast on June 24, killing thousands and displacing tens of thousands, the impulse to help has been immediate —and so has the confusion about how. Individual donors abroad are staring at a flood of GoFundMe links, Instagram fundraisers, and bank account screenshots with no easy way to tell which ones are legitimate. Organizations, diaspora groups, and companies face a sharper version of the same problem, plus a legal one: can you actually send money and aid into a country under active U.S. sanctions?
The short answer to the sanctions question is yes — but not without knowing the rules. And the short answer to “where should my money go” is: to organizations that are both vetted and actually positioned to deliver aid, not just the first campaign that shows up on your feed. Below, we walk through the legal framework, then lay out the specific organizations Ecosistema recommends — chosen because they combine a transparent, accountable structure with real operational reach inside Venezuela right now.
OFAC General License 60: the legal green light
On June 25, one day after the earthquake, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License 60, authorizing transactions tied to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela that would otherwise be blocked under the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations.
What GL 60 allows:
- Donations and relief-related transactions tied to earthquake response
- Fund transfers to Venezuela, including through third countries — OFAC has specifically clarified that U.S. financial institutions may process relief-related payments routed via other jurisdictions
- Dealings with the Government of Venezuela where necessary to deliver aid, supplementing the pre-existing General License 29 that already lets NGOs work with the government on humanitarian projects
What it doesn’t change:
- You still cannot transact with individuals or entities on the Specially Designated Nationals list or otherwise blocked under Venezuela sanctions
- Frozen or blocked assets remain frozen — GL 60 opens a channel for new relief transactions, it doesn’t unlock old ones
GL 60 is temporary. It expires at 12:01 a.m. ET on October 23, 2026, so any relief effort planned for the medium term should build around that window.
Bottom line: aid to earthquake victims is permitted under U.S. law, but compliance still matters. Screen your counterparties, keep records, and don’t assume “humanitarian” is a blanket exemption from everything.
Why a 501(c)(3) is the safest route
For donors in the United States — or anyone routing funds through a U.S.-based intermediary — giving through a 501(c)(3) nonprofit is the most straightforward path. A 501(c)(3) is a U.S. tax-exempt organization recognized by the IRS as operating for charitable, religious, educational, or humanitarian purposes.
What that status means in practice:
- Donations are tax-deductible for U.S. taxpayers
- The organization must serve a public benefit, not private or commercial interests
- It’s barred from political campaign activity, which also happens to make it a cleaner vehicle for operating inside a sanctions-sensitive environment like Venezuela
For a foreign company or foundation that wants to be able to show its own board, regulators, or tax authority that a donation was clean, transparent, and properly routed, a 501(c)(3) is generally the lowest-friction option.
Where the money can go: organizations with real reach on the ground
Not every well-known international NGO has functioning infrastructure inside Venezuela right now. These are organizations that combine U.S. tax-exempt status (or an equivalent transparent structure) with an actual operating presence in the country:
- Catholic Relief Services — the U.S.-based affiliate channel for Caritas Venezuela, one of the most respected relief organizations in the country. It has parish-level distribution networks across the country.
- World Food Programme USA — the American fundraising arm supporting WFP’s Venezuela operations.
- United Way, working through its alliance with Dividendo Voluntario para la Comunidad or DVC (branded locally as United Way of Venezuela), a longstanding Venezuelan corporate-giving network.
- Save the Children, with an existing child-protection and emergency response program in Venezuela.
- Sun.risas, a Venezuelan organization with direct on-the-ground relief operations.
- Alimenta la Solidaridad, a Venezuelan food-security organization (founded 2016, over 240 community kitchens in 15 states) registered as a U.S. 501(c)(3) — Alimenta La Solidaridad, Inc., EIN 83-3573144 — running an earthquake-specific campaign, “Venezuela Nos Necesita”.
- United Nations Development Programme, coordinating recovery and reconstruction alongside the Venezuelan state, and channeling this specific earthquake fund through its 24-year partnership with Gustavo Dudamel and El Sistema.
- UNICEF USA, focused on children and families in the affected zones.
A different case: organizations without a 501(c)(3) structure
Not every legitimate, high-reach organization fits the tax-benefit model above — and that’s worth flagging, because the donation mechanics differ.
The Venezuelan Red Cross is a clear example. It has serious ground presence —it was among the first responders after the earthquakes— but its own donation channel is a direct bank transfer into a Banesco America account in the United States But it’s nto a 501(c)(3): There’s no tax deduction, which makes it a harder case for a foreign donor or company to justify to its own auditors.
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. Sanctions compliance is fact-specific — it depends on who you are, where your funds originate, and exactly how the transaction is structured. Ecosistema will continue tracking how OFAC’s earthquake relief framework evolves and which organizations are actually able to move aid on the ground.
