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Donor Support Group

The ICRC Donor Support Group (DSG) is a unique and privileged collective consisting of the ICRC's top government and institutional donors. It provides a platform for exchanges on key ICRC policies, priorities and programming.

ICRC_Donor support group

Our partnership approach

The DSG was established at the initiative of several government representatives who attended the Wolfsberg Humanitarian Forum and the ICRC roundtable on preventive action in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1997. During these events, the ICRC's major donors expressed their wish to have more insight into the organization's policy and programming.

In May 1998, the government of the Netherlands facilitated an initial meeting between the ICRC and its ten largest donors, each represented by the respective government officials in charge of humanitarian aid. These ten donors went on to become the first members of the DSG.

Since then, the ICRC's DSG has grown to more than 20 members. Each year, the ICRC provides its DSG with unique access and insights into the organization and its operations, enabling the members to better understand the humanitarian challenges the ICRC faces. It also provides an environment conducive to open and transparent exchanges that strengthen ongoing discussions and mutual understanding on a wide range of issues of interest, such as:

Criteria for membership

In order to become a member of the DSG, the entity must be a government, a supranational organization or an international institution exclusively composed of governments.

Membership is conferred to those donors who have contributed a minimum of 10 million Swiss francs (CHF) or the equivalent EUR/USD at the ICRC’s budget exchange rate, rounded at the closest hundred thousand in cash in a given Swiss calendar year. Qualifying contributions must be direct to the ICRC, with funds transferred by the financial closure of the year (maximum 30 January following the preceding calendar year). Qualifying contribution levels are confirmed through the annual external audit of contributions, which takes place after the financial closure of the year.

Once the qualification has been confirmed, membership begins at the next DSG Annual Meeting, which usually takes place in June. Membership lasts a full DSG cycle, ending at the subsequent DSG Annual Meeting.

DSG members who do not re-qualify in a given Swiss calendar year will be granted ‘special guest status’ for one additional DSG cycle. If they do not re-qualify for membership at the end of that cycle, their membership will cease. If they do re-qualify, they return to full membership.

If a non-DSG donor reaches the CHF 10 million threshold in disbursed contributions before 1 June of a given Swiss calendar year, they will be invited to join the DSG as a ‘special guest’ for one cycle, starting at the same year’s Annual Meeting, in advance of their full membership that will begin the following year.

Contact the Donor Engagement Team