A Private-Sector Model of International Aid

PIER Institute is a new approach to international aid and free market advocacy. In the 21st century, U.S. companies are trying to edge out global competitors for access to emerging markets while at the same time the U.S. government and nonprofits are struggling to fund their foreign aid budgets. These two facts reveal a new and profound alignment of business and humanitarian interests: most poor countries in the world today are the same "emerging markets" into which U.S. companies and investors are fighting to gain access.

With that new reality in mind, PIER Institute was founded to create authentic relief and aid projects that can also build relationships for U.S. companies in emerging markets.

Our Source Community Connexion model uses supply chains to develop aid projects around a common interest: the welfare of a community producing something of value to a U.S. company. As communities receive critical support, a U.S. corporate sponsor strengthens its partnerships along essential international supply chains.

PIER's success stories highlight how with a little innovation, free markets can have an immediate, positive impact to reduce poverty and suffering in some of the world's poorest regions. On a policy level, our advocacy reflects an empirical truth: prosperity arises in environments that support moral economic activity through individual rights, the rule of law, religious freedom, innovation, and collaboration.

In many ways, PIER Institute is a private-sector alternative to taxpayer-funded foreign aid. With no need for government grants, PIER is designed to operate much like a for-profit company with overhead costs are covered by project donations, corporate programs, and donor support of our education and advocacy endeavors.

While many of our programs and projects are secular in nature, we are a faith-based Christian nonprofit; everything we do is rooted in a desire to humbly and boldly serve God and bring glory to His name.