Strengthen your grantmaking. Protect your reputation. Anticipate compliance risks before they emerge.

A grantee’s charitable status alone isn't enough. In today's complex, high-risk environment, strategic domestic grantmaking demands deeper due diligence. Paragon Philanthropy delivers rigorous vetting and tailored risk management — safeguarding compliance, strengthening grant integrity, and empowering your team to move faster with confidence.

Domestic Grantee Vetting & Risk Management

Before a single dollar moves, Paragon Philanthropy delivers precision-driven vetting to shield your grantmaking from hidden risks. Our Domestic Grantee Vetting & Risk Management package reaches far beyond basic IRS verification — exposing regulatory, reputational, and operational vulnerabilities that standard diligence often misses. Every assessment is tailored to the unique risk profile of U.S. foundations, corporate funders, and DAFs. For stronger protection, we offer ongoing monitoring to safeguard your grants across their full life cycle.

Core vetting services:

• Regulatory and Corporate Good Standing Verification. We confirm a nonprofit’s active federal and corporate good standing through IRS tax-exemption checks and corporate registration verifications with state authorities. Even with valid IRS recognition, deeper scrutiny is essential to uncover emerging risks, administrative dissolutions, or misconduct that basic verification can miss.

• State Charity Registration Verification. We verify that domestic grantees are properly registered and in good standing with state charity regulators — confirming compliance with charitable solicitation laws in their state of incorporation and key fundraising jurisdictions. This critical screening helps uncover hidden regulatory risks, such as administrative suspensions, delinquent filings, or solicitation bans, protecting your grants from compliance gaps that IRS verification alone may miss.

• FBI Terrorism Risk Screening. We screen grantees against trusted proxy databases for known ties to designated terrorist organizations or individuals, helping you meet federal compliance standards and proactively mitigate terrorism financing risks.

• OFAC Sanctions List Screening. We cross-reference grantees against the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List, as well as other applicable sanctions lists. This essential screening safeguards your grants from prohibited transactions and ensures compliance with federal anti-terrorism and sanctions laws.

• SAM.gov Exclusion Screening. We screen grantees against the federal SAM.gov Exclusions List to identify organizations that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise prohibited from receiving federal funds. This critical safeguard protects your grants from reputational, regulatory, and operational risks — and helps ensure alignment with best practices for domestic philanthropic compliance.

• Reputational Risk and Adverse Media Screening. We monitor adverse media sources to detect historical or emerging reputational risks — including fraud, financial misconduct, discrimination, harassment claims, and other material issues — safeguarding your foundation’s credibility and funding integrity.

• Foreign Affiliation and Sanctions Exposure Review. We conduct in-depth reviews to detect foreign ownership, prohibited affiliations, sanctions risks, and potential exposure under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Our screening safeguards against hidden foreign influence or control that could jeopardize your grantees' regulatory compliance — protecting your foundation from sanctions violations, FARA penalties, and reputational damage.

Enhanced risk management services:

• Mission and Program Alignment Assessment. We review grantee programs, project narratives, and public materials to ensure strong alignment with your foundation’s mission and charitable purposes. Early identification of alignment risks helps protect regulatory standing, strengthen reporting accuracy, and sustain public trust.

• Political Activity and Lobbying Risk Review. We examine proposed funded activities, organizational materials, and public-facing content to flag any political or lobbying risks. This critical screening helps ensure your grants remain fully compliant with IRS restrictions and avoid exposure to prohibited expenditures.

Optional Add-On Service:

• Ongoing Grantee Monitoring. Some risks — such as regulatory suspensions, sanctions, or reputational events — can arise well after a grant is awarded. Paragon Philanthropy offers streamlined monitoring throughout the grant term, including annual regulatory status checks and periodic watchlist re-screenings, helping you anticipate emerging risks and maintain full compliance with confidence.

• PEP Screening. For higher-risk domestic grants — such as those involving large awards, politically connected organizations, or recipients with government ties — Paragon offers optional Politically Exposed Person (PEP) screening. This screening identifies grantee executives or key individuals who may pose elevated risks due to past or present political positions, helping to safeguard your grants against conflicts of interest, corruption exposure, and reputational harm.

Domestic Expenditure Responsibility.

When grant recipients do not automatically qualify as public charities — such as start-up nonprofits or other non-501(c)(3) entities — Paragon Philanthropy helps ensure you meet all Expenditure Responsibility (ER) obligations with precision, efficiency, and full regulatory confidence. We facilitate the complete ER lifecycle on your behalf, including rigorous pre-grant inquiries, organizational due diligence, project narrative and budget reviews, verification of project purpose, and identification of lobbying or political risk factors. After grant approval, we facilitate secure grant agreement execution, facilitate disbursements with dual verification protocols, and collect detailed interim and final reports to maintain continuous compliance throughout the grant term.

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Portfolio Development and Strategic Grantee Research

Building a resilient, mission-aligned grant portfolio demands clear, comprehensive insight into organizational strength, leadership credibility, and sector reputation.

Paragon Philanthropy delivers tailored research services to empower family foundations, corporate funders, and DAF sponsors to make informed, confident grantmaking decisions. We produce detailed profiles of prospective and current grantees, evaluating organizational history, program outcomes, financial health, leadership credibility, sector reputation, and strategic alignment with your philanthropic objectives.

Our research also identifies potential risk factors — such as governance concerns, leadership turnover, or reputational vulnerabilities — enabling you to curate grant portfolios that are not only compliant, but resilient, impactful, and sustainable.

Back-Office Grant Administration

Paragon Philanthropy provides secure, streamlined administrative support for every stage of your grantmaking operations — from grant agreement execution to post-grant reporting. We coordinate DocuSign processing, securely collect and verify wire instructions through dual confirmation protocols (including verbal verification with grantees), and proactively safeguard against fraud or misdirection of funds.

Following disbursement, we confirm fund receipt, monitor grant reporting deadlines, collect interim and final reports, and compile a complete, audit-ready grant file — protecting the integrity of your grants while saving your team valuable time and resources.