JDC humanitarian assistance efforts since its founding years included a nonsectarian component. In the 1920s, as hundreds of thousands of Jews fell victim to disease, famine, pogroms, displacement, and new hostilities in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s collapse, JDC established a nonsectarian partnership with the American Relief Administration for aid to famine-stricken Ukraine and Poland.

An "Open Mailbox" is a dedicated mechanism or fund that allows the American Jewish community and other donors to direct non-sectarian aid to victims of major natural or man-made catastrophes around the world. In 1979, JDC established its first Open Mailbox as a vehicle to enable the Jewish philanthropic community to direct nonsectarian aid to Cambodian refugees fleeing to Thailand. Subsequently, similar Open Mailboxes were set up in response to natural disasters and major emergencies around the world such as the earthquake in Armenia, famine in Ethiopia, the tsunami in South Asia, and the Bosnian war.

In 1986, JDC formally established the JDC–International Development Program (JDC-IDP). These relief efforts focused on addressing initial emergency needs, then providing longer-term rehabilitation and development assistance, and empowerment of local partners. Examples of JDC-IDP projects included: JDC's Women's Health Empowerment (WHEP) operating in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Israel and the Palestinian territories; the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, a haven for orphans and youth at risk; and programs in response to the South Asian tsunami in December 2004 and the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

In 2017, JDC-IDP was renamed GRID – Global Response. Innovative Development.

Austria: Beth Bialik