Center for Internationalundersstanding
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
CIU is an international exchange organization that promotes cultural understanding.
- Income
- $5,903
- Spending
- $5,515
- Reserves
- 5.3 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 100%
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
We do not score finances when yearly spending is very small or the return has too little detail. The ratios stop meaning much at that size.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- The Center for International Understanding, Inc. (CIU), a non-partisan, 501(c) (3) non-profit organization engages Appalachia in capacity and democratic institution building for international professionals from emerging democracies whose short-term US-based visits are sponsored by US Congress's Open World Programs, USAID, and the US Department of State. These soft diplomacy programs are essential for sustaining trade and other types of relations with emerging democracies and also for ensuring the US's national security interests. In collaboration with public and private sector entities in southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and the Washington DC area, the CIU has hosted professionals from almost 100 countries who are responsible for enabling youth leaders, entrepreneurs, NGO leaders, and public sector decision-makers on topics such as accounting and auditing reform; agribusiness and agricultural economics; arts and culture; budget formulation; business development; corporate governance; democratic institution building; democratic policing; economic restructuring; educational reform; elections; energy and mining; environmental preservation; forestry and forestry-related industries; historic and cultural preservation; housing, public and private; infrastructure development and maintenance; library and information services; local and regional accountable governance, including federalism; print, broadcast, and electronic media; private voluntary organization development; rule of law; rural/public health; social services delivery; tourism and hospitality development and management (eco-, agri-, and geo- tourism); telecommunications; women's leadership development; and, youth issues/leadership development/advocacy. The CIU implements the Open World programs for the Congressional Office of International Leadership. Most recently, the CIU has trained judges from Mongolia who not only learned about the US judicial system but also provided insights to their professional counterparts in West Virginia about Mongolia's unitary court system (comparable to those of our states' judicial systems, Presidential appointments of judges after successful passage of exams and recommendation of National Judicial Council, non-jury trials but with public representative, investigative role of administrative court judges (our administrative judges are housed in various departments within the Executive Branch, e.g. SSA, IRS, HHS, etc.). In summer 2022, the CIU will implement an Open World Program on Rule of Law for judges from Estonia. Impact: Every Open World Program consists of 5 delegation members from a specific sector. These 5 are placed with home stay hosts in Bluefield and Princeton and over a 5 day period they interact with professional counterparts at the municipal/city, county, state, and federal levels numbering between 15 - 200 individuals. Publicity given the programs by local media, print and electronic, has a multiplier effect as the larger community learns about the visiting delegation's presence in their midst and the reason for their visit. The Center for International Understanding, Inc. is the only entity in West Virginia that is called upon to host the Open World Program by the Congressional Office of International Leadership and its primary contractor, FHI 360, to help the American public, especially those of rural West Virginia, understand better the impact of geopolitics and the need to sustain peace and promote greater understanding between the US and other nations.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since March 2007.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.