The objectives of most donors have an ingredient of moral obligation stressing that social welfare should be promoted in the LDCs so as to decrease the disparity between the two groups. Donor provide aid for moral and humanitarian reasons to assist the poor, like emergency food relief programmes. Others feel obliged to compensate LDC's for past exploitation and colonisation.

National boundaries are quite artificial constructions, therefore, developing countries accept assistance not only from national governments as a part of their regular aid program, but also from many voluntary and charitable organisations, and from emergency and disaster relief funds.

The thesis that nations extend aid out of a sense of sympathy and charity has been rejected by Griffin and Enos (1970), and they say: "We believe there are other reasons for which foreign aid is given, and by which donor countries judge its effectiveness.. Individuals may be humane and disinterested, but nations are not. When people collect together to promote their own interests, they lose their sympathy for others" (Griffin and Enos, 1970, p.314).