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We’re working towards an America that embraces the power of pluralism.
We activate leaders to build an interfaith America.
America embraces the power of pluralism, where we cooperate across differences for the common good.
Applying the principles of interfaith leadership, we equip leaders to create institutional cultures where people respect, relate, and cooperate across difference. We delight in knowing that we walk this path with many others — college campuses, government agencies, houses of worship, civic groups, media organizations, private companies, other interfaith organizations, and individuals of goodwill everywhere. The 21st-century American city on a hill has a steeple, a mosque, a synagogue, a sangha, a ward, a temple, a gurudwara, a secular humanist society, and more. You and I are not just citizens of this city — together, we are architects of it. Now, let’s build.
Interfaith America (IA) was founded as Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) in 2002 based on the idea that religious difference should serve as a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. Since that time, Interfaith America has evolved from a small Chicago-based nonprofit to one of the nation’s premier pluralism organizations. Utilizing a research-backed approach, we work on college campuses, in the corporate field, and across diverse civic spaces.
Interfaith America has two decades of experience as a partner to hundreds of universities with a range of affiliations including public, nonsectarian, and religious. Our programs and resources build the capacity of campus educators, administrators, and students. We offer grants and other funding, resources, and curricula, as well as consulting and training for campuses or networks. We value collaboration, developing robust institutional partnerships to leverage interfaith cooperation and bridgebuilding as proven approaches in solving challenges.
Interfaith America leverages the positive potential of our nation’s growing religious and spiritual diversity to strengthen our corporate and healthcare environments. Our work with corporate leaders supports the proactive and positive engagement of religion in the workplace through gatherings, online resources, and strategic consultations. We have been working with health leaders, who are increasingly recognizing religion as a critical social determinant of health, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We turn shared values into shared action by working with religiously diverse communities and community groups around common goals. Our courses and curricula help faith and civic leaders to foster interfaith understanding and bridgebuilding for the common good. We empower leaders to mobilize across differences on issues of shared concern.
Interfaith America curates rich and dynamic media platforms to showcase stories of interfaith cooperation across the nation. Founded in 2020, Interfaith America Magazine amplifies the voices of religiously diverse Americans working together for the public good. Building on our commitment to multimedia storytelling, our podcast, Voices of Interfaith America, invites listeners to hear directly from interfaith leaders and bridgebuilders as they share insights on their work within our diverse democracy. We collaborate with seasoned journalists, faculty and staff, community leaders, and storytellers to share narratives that challenge polarization and foster bridgebuilding.
Get equipped to cooperate across differences for the common good.
Impact
We create change by working across educational, civic, and professional spaces. Our network speaks to the breadth of our impact:
campuses that are engaging or have engaged substantively over the past four years and that are positioned to advance institutional change
local affiliates were awarded $15,000 Team Up grants, helping to make bridgebuilding not only a value but a norm in communities nationwide
The idea to create Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) emerges at a United Religions Initiative Conference at Stanford University.After a few international interfaith service projects, Eboo Patel officially founds the organization in Chicago on N. Monticello Avenue in the Albany Park neighborhood.IFYC receives its first grant - $35k from the Ford Foundation and uses it to hire its first full time staff member, evangelical Christian April Kunze.
IFYC launches its first three programs: the Chicago Youth Council, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Interfaith Service, and the National Days of Interfaith Youth Service, which eventually expands to over three dozen locations.
IFYC launches its first campus-based and international interfaith leadership programs: The Fellows Alliance and The Faiths Act Fellowship. Eboo Patel publishes his first book: Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. President Barack Obama appoints Eboo Patel to his inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
IFYC pivots its strategy to focus fully on higher education, hosts the first Interfaith Leadership Institute, and launches its alumni program.
President Barack Obama launches the Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, which grows to reach over 500 campuses.
With support and funding from IFYC, Elizabethtown College creates the country's first major in interfaith studies.
IFYC partners with leading researchers to design, launch, and execute the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Study (IDEALS), the first longitudinal study on religious diversity in higher education; analysis at the end of the study demonstrates the significant impact of IFYC's campus programming on desired outcomes.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, IFYC launches the Faith in the Vaccine Initiative, which trains over 1,000 interfaith community health workers to expand vaccine access and adoption.
IFYC celebrates its 20th anniversary and becomes Interfaith America.Interfaith America expands its mission beyond higher education into new spaces to meet people in all facets of American life, including health, democracy, business, and other civic fields.
President Joe Biden praises Interfaith America's bridgebuilding efforts at the United We Stand Summit.
In partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, Catholic Charities USA, and the YMCA, Interfaith America launches TeamUp, a nationwide bridgebuilding initiative.
Our Faith in Elections Playbook, developed in collaboration with Protect Democracy, provided faith-based, civic, and campus communities with practical, nonpartisan resources to engage in our nation’s elections. Fifty-nine grantees utilized the Playbook to conduct projects across the country.
Copyright @ 2024 Interfaith America. All Rights Reserved. Interfaith America is 501 (c)(3) non-profit recognized by the IRS. Tax ID Number: 30-0212534
