The best OFAC screening software for nonprofits checks every grantee, foreign partner, vendor and large donor against the OFAC sanctions lists before money moves, and saves a dated record of each check for auditors, banks and funders. OFAC compliance for nonprofits is not optional: U.S. charities and foundations are U.S. persons, so they may not send funds to, or accept funds from, a blocked person. A small charity with domestic grantees pays $24 to $50 a month for this. An international NGO that wires funds to partners abroad usually needs UN, EU and UK lists too, which costs $150 to $500 a month.
We compared the options a finance or grants director is likely to shortlist, including our own product, a direct competitor, a bundled AML data provider, the free Treasury search and the screening built into grant and donor software. Prices come from each vendor's public pages in October 2026. They change, so confirm them before you buy.
OFAC screening software compared for nonprofits
| Tool | Entry price | Checks included | Lists | Record for the grant file | Rescreening of open grants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OfacScanner Starter | $49 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly | 1,000 a month, 1 user | OFAC SDN and Consolidated | PDF certificate per check with list version, time and user | No, run checks again by hand |
| OfacScanner Growth | $499 a month, or $249 a month billed yearly | 50,000 a month, 5 users | OFAC plus UN, EU, UK, Canada and Australia | PDF per check plus a case with the reviewer's decision and reason | Yes, up to 50,000 records after every list update |
| OFACScreen | $49 a month (Starter), $149 (Professional), $349 (Business), 33 percent off on yearly billing | 1,000, 2,000 or 10,000 searches, 3 to 25 users | 14 lists on every plan | Free PDF records on every plan | 10, 50 or 500 names checked daily |
| sanctions.io | Quote by calculator; its HubSpot listing shows $3,660 a year for 10,000 screenings | A yearly block of screenings | 75+ sanctions lists plus PEP and adverse media data | Results in the portal or by email | Yes, monitoring is a pricing option |
| Screening inside grant or donor software | Varies by vendor, often an add on | Varies | Often OFAC only, ask which lists | Ask whether it saves a dated record per check | Varies |
| Treasury Sanctions List Search | Free government website | One name at a time | OFAC lists only | None, you print or screenshot it | No |
Two honest takeaways. If your grantees are U.S. organizations and you only need OFAC, OfacScanner Starter or OFACScreen Starter will do the job, and OFACScreen gives you three logins and daily checks on 10 names at the same $49 monthly price. If your program also has to cover politically exposed persons and negative news about partners, sanctions.io bundles that data and our tool does not. Our pick for international grantmakers is Growth, because it screens a full partner file in one upload, rechecks every open grant after each list update and keeps a reviewer's decision next to each possible match. You can compare the sanctions.io packages in detail on our sanctions.io pricing comparison.
Does OFAC compliance for nonprofits really apply to small charities
Yes. OFAC rules apply to every U.S. person and every organization formed in the United States, and there is no size or tax status exemption. A local food bank that buys from a domestic supplier faces little real risk. A church that funds a school abroad, a university center paying researchers overseas or a family foundation giving to a foreign charity faces a lot more, because the money crosses borders and passes through people you do not know well.
OFAC enforces on a strict liability basis, so a payment to a blocked party can be a violation even if nobody knew. What reduces the penalty in practice is a written, risk based program and proof that you followed it. That proof is the screening record. Funders, auditors and your bank ask for the same thing, usually in a grant agreement clause or a compliance questionnaire.
Who should a nonprofit screen
Screen by risk, and write the rule down in your policy so staff apply it the same way every time.
- Grantees and their key people. The organization's legal name, any trade names and its directors or leadership, before you sign the grant agreement.
- Foreign implementing partners and sub grantees. These carry the highest risk. Screen the partner and the people who control it.
- Vendors and contractors paid abroad. Freight agents, local suppliers and consultants paid by wire. Our OFAC vendor screening page covers this workflow for AP teams.
- Foreign donors and unusually large gifts. Accepting funds from a blocked person is also prohibited.
- Board members, staff and volunteers in high risk regions. Usually once at onboarding, then on a schedule.
- Beneficiaries. Only where your policy, a funder or a license condition requires it. Many humanitarian programs do not screen individual aid recipients.
When to run the check
Three moments matter. First, before you sign the grant agreement or contract. Second, before each disbursement or wire, because a partner can be designated between the award and the second payment. Third, after OFAC updates its lists, for every grant or partner that is still open. OFAC changes its lists several times a month, so a check from last spring does not cover today's transfer.
The third step is where manual programs break down. Rechecking 300 open partners by hand after every update is a full day of work nobody does. Ongoing sanctions monitoring rechecks saved records automatically and alerts you only when something changes.
What record should the grant file hold
For each check keep the exact name searched, the date and time, the lists and list version used, the result, and, for any possible match, who reviewed it and why it was cleared or escalated. OFAC now expects most sanctions records to be kept for 10 years, and our guide to OFAC recordkeeping requirements explains what that covers.
Store the screening record with the signed grant agreement and its sanctions compliance clause. If your agreements already live in contract management software, attach the PDF there so the award, the clause and the proof sit in one place when an auditor asks. A screenshot of the free Treasury search does not show the list version, and that is the gap auditors notice first.
Why UN, EU and UK lists matter for international grantmaking
OFAC lists are the legal requirement for a U.S. nonprofit, but they are not the only lists your partners are checked against. The bank that receives your wire in Kenya, Jordan or Ukraine screens the payment against UN, EU and UK lists as well. If your partner appears on one of those, the transfer can be frozen or returned, and the program stalls for weeks. Many institutional funders, including European ones, also ask grantees to screen those lists. Screening them yourself before you send the wire saves the fee, the delay and an awkward call with the partner.
OfacScanner Growth screens OFAC SDN and Consolidated together with the UN, EU, UK, Canadian and Australian lists in one pass, and batch sanctions screening takes your whole partner list as a CSV.
How much OFAC screening costs a nonprofit
| Organization | Names screened a year | Lists needed | Plan that fits | Yearly cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small charity, domestic grantees and vendors | Under 2,000 | OFAC | OfacScanner Starter or OFACScreen Starter | $288 to $588 |
| Family or community foundation with some foreign grants | 2,000 to 12,000 | OFAC, UN and EU for foreign grantees | OFACScreen Professional or OfacScanner Growth | About $1,200 to $2,988 |
| International NGO with many partners and regular wires | 12,000 and up, plus rescreening | OFAC, UN, EU and UK | OfacScanner Growth | $2,988 |
Compare that with the cost of doing it by hand. A program officer spending two hours a week on the free Treasury search costs more in salary than any plan above, and still leaves no record a funder will accept.
Humanitarian work, licenses and screening
Screening and licensing are separate questions. OFAC issues general licenses that authorize certain humanitarian and NGO activity in some sanctioned countries, and other activities need a specific license you apply for. A general license can make a project lawful in a sanctioned region, but it does not let you pay a blocked person who is not covered by it. Screening tells you who you are dealing with. Your counsel tells you whether the activity is allowed. Keep both in the file.
What to look for in OFAC software for a nonprofit
- Fuzzy matching that handles transliterated names, because Arabic, Cyrillic and Persian names are often spelled several ways in partner documents.
- A downloadable record for every single check, not just a monthly summary.
- CSV upload, so the full partner and vendor list can be screened before an audit.
- Rescreening of open grants after list updates.
- Enough logins for the grants team and finance, and a way for a second person to approve a cleared match.
- Monthly billing, so you can start before the next budget cycle without a multi year contract.
A short buying checklist for nonprofits
- List who you pay and who pays you, and mark which are abroad.
- Count names per year, including rescreening of open grants.
- Decide whether you need UN, EU and UK lists, which you almost always do if you wire funds abroad.
- Run three or four real partner names through a trial or demo and open the record it produces.
- Check that the record shows the list version and date, then pick the cheapest plan that covers your volume.
You can start with a single name right now. Type a grantee or partner into our OFAC search and see the score and the matched entry, then compare plans on the pricing page. A small charity can stay on Starter. An international grantmaker that wires money abroad should start on Growth, upload its partner file and let monitoring watch every open grant from the first day.