Im wondering, we launching a new chesed org that works around the world focussing on small communities and sending seforim to them and providing funding for education and ways to earn more parnossa and promoting Judaism etc
We are launching a site soon but need to work on tax exemption based in the US as credit card charges are the cheapest there and also a lot of donations will come from the US.
Can you give us any advice how we can do that as we are in South Africa or could you maybe help?

Shavua tov

I would suggest making an "American Friends of" organization managed by someone in the US. Applying for tax exempt status and then just transferring the money over. To have the foreign charity recognized is probably extremely difficult or impossible, especially from overseas.....

Obviously it would need to be someone responsible and trustworthy....

I don't think it's that difficult for a foreign charity to be directly recognized.

I think in many cases the "American Friends of" organizations are organized because the group to be benefited would not directly qualify as a charity. For example, is the IDF a charity? It's true that the U.S. gives billions of dollars to the IDF, but I don't think its mission of "defending the State of Israel and debasing holy Jewish girls" qualifies as a charity. But a group that is a "friend" of such a non-charity can limit its activities to providing counseling services for pregnant soldiers and thus qualify as a charity.