The article discusses the mechanisms and directions of charitable activities of US non-profit organizations and foundations in developing countries, which determine the humanitarian direction in the framework of International Development Assistance. Currently, humanitarian problems are exacerbated due to the growing risks to human life in the context of globalization, which, while providing a wide range of self-realization opportunities available to every person, at the same time expanded the boundaries of using human potential as a “consumable” material, increased risks and devalued the status of human life. Today, humanitarian crises cover entire regions - Tropical Africa, the Near East, a number of Central American countries, where, due to the limited capabilities of the respective states, NGOs and charitable foundations operate within the framework of social, technical, educational and medical programs. Independent studies show that often the services of the non-profit sector have no analogues in the commercial sphere - they often provide assistance to the population of developing countries in hard-to-reach locations, in places engulfed by military conflicts, develop and use new approaches and communication and information technologies in their work.