The concept of ISIS is a simple one. We believe that it is illogical for any non-profit organisation to achieve long-term sustainability of its work in the developing world, whilst being unable to sustain itself. As the Founders are business people by training, they decided that they would sustain The ISIS Foundation over the long-term by establishing quite separate, profit-making businesses and using the revenues of those businesses to pay the general and administrative costs of the Foundation. The ISIS businesses generate revenues by receiving corporate finance fees, legal and consultancy fees and commissions in their work with clients based worldwide.

A great deal of criticism is levelled at the non-profit industry in comparing the rising "administration" costs of organisations against the "project" costs of the development projects they are responsible for. We see that debate from both sides. On the one hand, a not-for-profit needs professional administration. Those costs are likely to be hard currency costs (such as US dollars or pounds sterling) and are thus very hard to balance against local currency project costs. On the other hand, donors want as much as possible of their hard-earned dollars to go directly to the projects they are trying to support.

Our solution to this issue is to endeavour to cover all of the general and administrative costs of The ISIS Foundation, either from the revenues of the businesses, or from donations made specifically to administration and management costs. The ISIS businesses generate corporate finance fees, consultancy fees and commissions in its work with the finance and insurance markets. Over US$2.5 million of the ISIS Group’s revenues have been used to pay these expenses to date, since the ISIS Group’s inception.

The essence of this structure is that the business is the "engine" of the Foundation, and has been established to provide it with funding support for the years to come. With the help of donors who specifically support the administrative and management overheads of the charity, the vast majority of donations to the Foundation go directly to fund in-country and project related costs.