The chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, Mr Willie McCarter, is hopeful of continued US contributions this year in spite of possible budgetary constraints because of the conflict in Kosovo.
The EU recently pledged to continue funding up to 2002, and it is also hoped that Australia, Canada and New Zealand will continue their contributions.
Mr McCarter, who is lobbying influential members of Congress this week, says the White House has proposed $19.6 million for the fund in the next budget. This would be the same figure as in previous years.
The chairman said in a media briefing that the booming Irish economy had not made the US question the need for funding community projects in Northern Ireland and in the six Border counties in the Republic.
Mr McCarter said the cross-Border "implementation bodies" to be set up under the Belfast Agreement would gradually take over some of the work carried out by the IFI, which is administered by the British and Irish governments. It was possible the IFI would no longer be necessary in three to four years.
The IFI, which was established as part of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, had succeeded in dissipating the initial distrust of unionist politicians. The fund's projects were now actively supported by politicians of all parties.
Mr McCarter was distributing copies of a recent KPMG assessment of the impact of the fund as he met members of Congress this week. The reports says that projects assisted by the IFI have contributed to the creation of 31,600 full-time jobs.
It is estimated that the £314 million investment by the IFI in 3,600 projects has resulted in attracting twice that amount in private investment. But the report also says that the figures alone cannot convey the extent to which the IFI projects succeed in helping "contact, dialogue and reconciliation" between the communities and across the Border.