The US Government understands that by funding the right NGOs and CSOs, it can project power by laundering its intentions through the goodwill and civic intentions of entrepeneurs, volunteers and activists. But it often takes this too far and embarrasses itself (as was the case with the Cuban Twitter NGOs).

This isn't exactly illegal - but the use of NGOs and CSOs to foment revolutions, weaken regimes, organize protests and replace governments around the world is starting to get significant resistance from other states which results in closed borders and fractured rather than unified global civil interaction. Russia has fully obliterated all civil organizations from the West because it was not able to differentiate which ones were puppets for the CIA or State Department and due to frustration with both the political upheaval they were organizing and the role they played in leading the Euromaiden protests in Ukraine.

Understand that if your civil project is being invested in it is because it magnifies US power. On its face that's not a bad thing - we probably want to live and certainly benefit greatly from a powerful nation - it just means that you should be aware about what you are getting yourself involved in.