To designate an organization as a proscribed terrorist group, the United States government (USG) only needs to have a “reasonable suspicion” that it is providing “financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to” a designated terrorist organization or “otherwise associate[ing]” with a designated organization. Consequences of designation include the seizing and freezing of all tangible and financial assets and significant civil and criminal penalties. Designated organizations may be Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) listed by the Secretary of State, Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT) listed by the Department of Treasury, or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) also listed by Treasury.
In October 2001, the PATRIOTatriot Act expanded the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by allowing sanctions pending an investigation, so that “all the blocking effects of a designation, including freezing an organization’s assets indefinitely and criminalizing all its transactions, without designating it as a SDGT. Treasury only needs to assert that it is investigating whether the entity should be designated.” It also allows the court to review classified information in the agency record without notice to or knowledge of the blocked organization.
Penalties for charities suspected of violating U.S. counterterrorism policies can be severe: organizations can be raided and destroyed, and officers sentenced to life imprisonment. If a charity’s assets and funds, including donations, are seized by the government, there is no process to release the charitable funds to programs that respect the intentions of the donors.
This page contains information on various aspects of the Designation Process, including Due Process, Frozen Funds, and Listing and Delisting. Please see our Background page for details on the Material Support prohibition and how that underpins our work.
Featured Resources
New EO on Terrorist Listings Could Worsen Bank Derisking
A new Executive Order (EO) signed by President Trump on September 10, 2019, specifically targets correspondent bank relationships as possible sources of terrorist financing. The new order, which gives U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)
Rule Allows Charities Listed as Terrorist Supporters to Access, Pay Lawyers in Most Cases
When a nonprofit organization (NPO) is listed by the U.S. government as a supporter of terrorism its assets within U.S. jurisdiction are generally frozen – or “blocked.” In order to contest the listing NPOs
Mind the Gap: When It Comes To Nonprofits the Tax Code and Sanctions Regime Are In Conflict
External Link: When U.S. sanctions laws are applied to U.S. charities, funds can be frozen indefinitely, despite tax rules that require they be distributed for charitable purposes when a charity shuts down. In the Oct.
List of U.S. Charities Designated and/or Shut Down by Treasury
The legal authority for the Department of Treasury to designate a person or organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) (or freeze assets "pending investigation") is based on laws providing for economic sanctions
Model Policies for Fair Procedures for Listing and Delisting U.S. Charities
After summarizing current law on how U.S. charities may be shut down for supporting terrorism and citing problems with the lack of due process for charities to defend themselves, this article presents the rationale
Summary of Economic Sanctions Laws and Regulations Authorizing Treasury to Shut Down Charities
The legal authority for the Department of Treasury to designate a person or organization as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) or freeze assets "pending investigation" is based on laws providing for economic sanctions