Aid (from the french word aide, also known as international aid, overseas aid, or foreign aid, especially in the United States) is a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another, given at least partly with the objective of benefiting the recipient country. The Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development defines its aid measure, Official Development Assistance (ODA), as follows: "ODA consists of flows to developing countries and multilateral institutions provided by official agencies, including state and local governments, or by their executive agencies, each transaction of which meets the following test: a) it is administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective, and b) it is concessional in character and contains a grant element of at least 25% (calculated at a rate of discount of 10%)." (OECD, The DAC in Dates, 2006. Section, "1972".)

Former USAID official Carol Lancaster, in her book Foreign Aid (2007) defines foreign aid as: "a voluntary transfer of public resources, from a government to another independent government, to an NGO, or to an international organization (such as the World Bank or the UN Development Program) with at least a 25 percent grant element, one goal of which is to better the human condition in the country receiving the aid." (p 9.)

Both definitions employ the concept that benefit to the people of the receiving country must be one but not necessarily the only objective.

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