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Frequently Asked Questions

The USA PATRIOT Act and List-checking

Q. Where can I find out about the USA PATRIOT Act?
A. We encourage you to become more familiar with the potential impact of the USA PATRIOT Act by reading the following:
Q. Why do you capitalize the letters in USA PATRIOT Act?
A. USA PATRIOT Act is an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act.
Q. Why is Mott requiring USA PATRIOT Act compliance?
A. Mott has provided USA PATRIOT Act compliance information for its re-granting grantees on the Mott website at http://www.mott.org/resources/patriotact.aspx. If you have additional questions about Mott's policy or decisions, please contact your Mott program officer.
Q. What if I'd like to use list-checking software that you haven’t included in your suggestions?
A. The list-checking applications we suggest are not requirements. As long as the application you choose allows you to fulfill all of Mott’s documentation requirements you are welcome to use whatever works for you.
Q. Does Mott pay for the yearly subscription to Bridger Insight or for fees for the other applications you suggest?
A. No. The cost of the Bridger Insight subscription and the other list-checking applications will be paid by Mott's grantees through their project or general purposes grant budget. If you have questions about this, please contact your Mott program officer.
Q. List-checking. You keep saying list-checking. What are you talking about?

A. List-checking refers to the process of comparing your grantee lists (those organizations to whom you are re-granting Mott monies) with one terrorist watch list from the U.S. Government – OFAC-SDN (Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals). You can read more about this list on the US Treasury website.

Software applications have been developed to facilitate the list-checking process. There are a few different software options available, and we have chosen three in addition to the Bridger Insight Online and Bridger Insight XG products that were used by Mott grantees in previous years.

Q. How is this list put together?
A. The list is compiled by the U.S. Treasury. Unfortunately, no detailed information exists that describes the process for creating and maintaining it.
Q. Does that mean we can't write checks to anyone who is on the list?
A. Compliance is a matter of behaviors – not software. To this end, Mott has provided a series of documents that describe the human procedures that need to be put in place to ensure compliance. If you have a match during list-checking, there are steps that you need to follow to ensure that you are documenting a match and the process you used to determine whether or not to continue to provide funding to that organization. Mott has provided an explanation and guidelines for this process at http://www.mott.org/resources/patriotact.aspx .
Q. Why do I have to document that I list-checked? Do I have to keep paper copies or may I keep files on my computer? How long do I have to keep that documentation?
A. The documents prove that you checked the grantee list and is your (and Mott’s) legal protection. You are required to keep records for five years after the end of your Mott grant, as explained in your grant agreement document from Mott. You can choose to keep “soft” copies of the checking, but if you do this, you need to make sure that your computer’s storage drives or network is backed up regularly and that you are able to restore those back-ups. Paper copies should be stored in a safe and organized place so they don’t get lost.
Q. Will the technology assistance providers tell Mott whether or not I'm following the rules?
A. TechSoup Global and all other technology assistance partners are here to help you build the capacity you need to meet the list-checking requirements. Along the way, we hope to provide you with the capacity to care for your data and the information technology systems which you maintain. We are not here to let Mott know whether or not you are using the list-checking software – that's between you and the Mott Foundation via reporting requirements. We will simply report on whether or not you've attended training or taken advantage of your direct assistance visits (for non-U.S. Mott grantees).
Q. Does my organization have to participate in training on the list-checking applications you suggest?
A. The Mott Foundation expects that most of their grantees in the United States will not need training in any of the suggested list-checking applications. Of course, in the rare case when an organization in the U.S. feels they need to attend the online training, they should email . Organizations outside the U.S., on the other hand, may not have access to technical staff. These organizations are strongly encouraged to attend one of the online training sessions if list-checking is new to their organization or if they are unfamiliar with the application they choose to use.
Q. Does my organization have to participate in the technical assistance visits?
A. Organizations outside the U.S. may not have access to technical staff. These organizations are encouraged to take advantage of the free consulting visits that can be scheduled after the online training. We applaud Mott for putting resources behind building the capacity of the organizations they fund to meet this requirement, so we encourage you to accept this free assistance. If you do not want to participate in the technical assistance that TechSoup Global provides through the global eRiding network it is not required.
Q. I have questions that aren't in this FAQ. How can I ask them?
A. Email your questions to

List-checking and Grants

Q. What is an open grant?
A. An ongoing grant. Grants usually have a start and end date. If the end date has passed, and the work is finished, the grant is closed.
Q. Does list-checking apply to re-grants and scholarships?
A. Yes. When you sign a new grant agreement and issue a new grant payment, you should list-check. Likewise, when you give a scholarship you should list-check.
Q. Do we list-check if we pay a third party for conference registration fees for staff from another organization? What about if we support other organizations by reimbursing travel costs, providing meals, etc. when those organizations attend meetings or training? Are all these grants?
A. Payments for travel, lodging and tuition (and reimbursement for these purposes) are grants. When a Mott grantee makes such payments to or on behalf of third party individuals or organizations using Mott funds, the payments normally would be considered re-grants by the Mott grantee. Thus, they would ordinarily be subject to the list-checking requirement. Mott believes that, under certain circumstances, payments for travel, lodging, and tuition expenses may qualify for an exception to the list-checking requirement. However, the exception to the list-checking requirement must have Mott's approval. Therefore, please contact your Mott program officer for further information.
Q. Should we check an organization's official name and its acronym when the acronym is more commonly used?
A. List-check using the full name.
Q. With individual names, do you enter both first and last names separated by a space?
A. It depends how your data is arranged. Many data records have first name in one field and last name in another field. In that case, each name separated by a comma. When the first and last name is in a single field, the two names would not be separated by a comma.
Q. When you have data in different fields in a spreadsheet why do you choose a comma as a delimiter?
A. It's just a data convention. You can use other symbols such as tab, semi-colon, quote comma, pipe, asterisk, or @ sign.
Q. If we pay one grant in more than one installment do I have to check the grantee each time I pay the different parts of the same grant?
A. Yes, you should list-check every time you write a check.
Q. Should I use the individual's business address or home address?
A. The home address is preferable for an individual. If you have both, you can use both if you want to be very diligent.
Q. Should we write the Russian names without accents? And what if a Russian organization has an English name? Which one should I use?

A. If the list-checking application you are using was developed in the U.S., it may not have any other language capabilities. This is true of the two Bridger applications. Do the best you can to translate people's and organizations' names into the Latin alphabet. TechSoup Global's database specialist suggests adding fields (or spreadsheet columns) to your database for the transliterated names.

The University of Indiana publishes transliteration tables for Slavic and non-Slavic Cyrillic languages that may be helpful.

More comprehensive transliteration tables created by the American Library Association and Library of Congress may be found here.

Q. How frequently do you get hits? Has any Mott grantee actually had any true hits rather than false positives?
A. Almost everyone will get a hit because there are shared names around the world. In all the names Mary Gailbreath, Manager of Grants Administration at the Mott Foundation, checked since the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act, she didn't get any true positives. The more complete and accurate your data is, the fewer hits you will have. Here is an illustration of this: If you search on Orange Co. Volunteers you may get a hit. If you re-enter it as Orange County Volunteers it will not be a hit.
Q. After checking, the next thing is to confirm. How do I do that?
A. Confirming that a record is a false positive or a match doesn't have anything to do with the software. You would request a copy of a passport, drivers license, or other government-issued identification document to confirm that the ID # and birth date does or doesn't match.
Q. In case of a hit, how do we check their drivers license?
A. You ask them to send you a copy of it.
Q. How do I document a record that doesn't match anything on any list?
A. Print out the .csv list that was checked on a particular date, print out all hits, and Mott will assume that no hit documentation meant that the organization was checked and was not on the list.
Q. Do false positives still match if I run subsequent list-checks?
A. Accepting a false positive adds it to your list of vetted organizations and people. A re-run of the name would mean it wouldn't come up. True positives, however, keep coming up on subsequent runs.
Q. If we have a true positive, will that prevent making a grant, or are there exceptions?
A. Mott has said that no grants can be made to an organization or individual that is a true positive. If you have other questions about this, contact your Mott program officer.
Q. I just finished list-checking my entire database (50 organizations). There were no "hits" at all. How do I show that I checked all the grantees?
A. The confusion is due to the "clean" run. A "clean" run does not produce a paper trail. A "clean" list-check can be documented by taking print screens from the list-checking process. The two screen captures that Mott recommends appear below. To capture screen images like this, click anywhere on the screen, type ctrl-Print Screen. Open a word processing document, click anywhere in that blank document, and type ctrl-V. The image of the active screen should appear in the word processing document. Name and save the document in the normal way.
Q. I have questions that aren't in this FAQ. How can I ask them?
A. Email your questions to

Additional Resources

Q. Why are you providing information about "Data Care"? What does that have to do with the project?

A. List-checking requires that you have two things in place: a set of data about the organizations to whom you are re-granting Mott monies; and the ability to compare that data to the information contained on three main watch lists.

Many organizations do not have their data in a secure and accessible state. The point of the Data Care information is to provide the information necessary to ensure that data is stable and can be used for list-checking purposes.

Implementing these suggestions across your organization will have broader benefit than just helping you with list-checking, so we believe this will be time well spent for many organizations.

Q. Why do you include training materials on Data Care? Do I have to take that training?
A. The Data Care training was offered in prior years and is not a required activity in this project. We publish the materials, as we do with all materials from past years, because it is possible that someone may be interested in upgrading their skills and knowledge.
Q. Why are you providing information about Healthy & Secure Computing?
A. HSC helps nonprofits strengthen the security of your information and communications technology. The HSC best practices lead you through the process of caring for and protecting your data and other components of your information technology.
Q. I’m in the U.S. and I need a consultant to help me, where do I find one?
A. TechFinder helps US organizations find the nearest consultants.
Q. I have questions that aren't in this FAQ. How can I ask them?
A. Email your questions to

About Bridger Insight Online and Bridger Insight XG

The following are more detailed questions and answers concerning the Choicepoint products, Bridger Insight Online and Bridger Insight XG.

If you already have a subscription to BIO or BIXG, you may continue to use those applications to check the OFAC-SDN list. Renewals of BIO subscriptions may continue until 2010, at which time you will be required to upgrade to BIXG or choose a new application. If you require online training on the use of these applications, please email .

Q. Do you recommend that we subscribe to a Bridger product?
A. Bridger applications are excellent products, and especially effective when you need to check more than one watch list. Now that Mott requires that you check only one list rather than multiple lists, your choice of helpful applications has increased. You may find some of them to be less costly or easier to use, so you should investigate them in light of your particular needs. We recommend that you consider the number of names you will check, how frequently you will check those names, and the technology skill level of the staff who will use these applications.
Q. My organization wants to establish a Bridger account. How do we do that?

A. In order to sign up for this software, please do the following:

  • Contact Brian Dashoff at ChoicePoint, the organization that owns the Bridger Insight Software. His contact information is: (800) 279-7710 Ext. 5382,
  • Let him know that you are a Mott Foundation grantee that is working with TechSoup Global (formerly CompuMentor), and that you would like to renew your subscription to Bridger Insight Online or subscribe to Bridger Insight XG. If asked, you DO NOT need to purchase the additional Identification Verification add-in to the Bridger Insight software to meet the Mott Foundation's requirements.
  • Provide Brian with the following information, the information is used to determine software pricing and enable billing:
    • organization name
    • billing address
    • phone number
    • organization's annual assets
  • Once he confirms the information with you, Brian will set up your organization with a primary administrative username and password. It may take up to three business days to receive this information, so please plan accordingly.
  • The Mott Foundation is not paying for the Bridger Insight subscription. You will be invoiced for the cost of the subscription.
Q. Can Bridger Insight be accessed by a dial-up connection?
A. Yes, of course it will be slower. The speed will depend on the speed of the connection and the size of the database, so it's difficult to say exactly how much slower.
Q. What are the Accept List and Deny List tabs that I see on my Bridger Insight Online screen?

A. You have to click on the Search button before you see any results in these lists.

The Accept List should be populated when clicking on the Add to Accept List button for documented false positives. The online training you participated in (or will participate in) does not cover how to review that list, and we don't expect that it will be necessary for you to use it.

The Deny list will always be blank when following our suggested workflow because you select the "Reject Transaction" code. We don't also suggest that you add the organization or individual to the Deny List. It doesn't seem necessary since in the rare case that an organization or individual is identified as on the terrorist watch list, it seems highly unlikely you will try to grant to them again. You certainly could choose to add them to the Deny List. This action is not covered in the online training.

Q. Where can I find more help from Choicepoint, the company that makes the Bridger applications?

A. Information about Bridger Insight Online and Bridger Insight XG is available from the following links:

  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Bridger Insight Online and Bridger Insight XG user manuals are available to subscribers only. You must create an account on the Client Services site using the 16-digit product code you received from Choicepoint when you subscribed to the product. You can also find this code by opening Bridger Insight and clicking Help > About
  • Access the User Manual from the Help menu when using Bridger Insight Online or Bridger Insight XG
  • The phone number is: 406-556-3055. Technical Support is available Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Time (excluding major U.S. holidays).
  • Questions about your Bridger Insight subscription may be emailed to
  • Additional online resources from Choicepoint
Q. I have questions that aren't in this FAQ. How can I ask them?
A. Email your questions to

About ISTwatch Online

Q. How can I subscribe to ISTwatch Online?

A. To request an account from ISTwatch Online:

  • Email Thuy Pham at ThuyPham@intelligentsearch.com
  • Her phone number is + 800-287-0412 if you need it

For training purposes or to "test drive" this application, you can use the free trial that checks 50 names.

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