As we reflect on 2024, we recognize it as a year that asked all of us to meet the moment—with courage, compassion, and an abiding respect for one another.
It was a year marked by profound challenges: a nation bracing for a contentious election, and a surge in prejudice and fear in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, fueling conflicts that played out across our campuses and communities. These events tested not only our institutions but the very fabric of our society.
In the face of such division and polarization, Interfaith America continued to shift the national mindset through our actions and leadership, grounded in our belief that bridging divides is possible through respect for diverse identities, mutually inspiring relationships, and a shared commitment to the common good.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership in building an interfaith America – lifting up identities as a source of pride, using our faith as a bridge, and fostering cooperation instead of division. Together, we can help shape a future where everyone has a place in our democracy and contributes meaningfully to civic life.
This report highlights the many ways we showed up, collectively and courageously, to advance pluralism and strengthen the ties that bind us. Across campuses, workplaces, civic institutions, and local communities, we inspired, equipped, and connected leaders to bring this vision to life.
Thank you for your commitment, your energy, and your belief in what’s possible. The road ahead may not be easy, but it is one we are honored to walk with each of you.
With gratitude,
Eboo Patel
Founder and President
Toni Clark
Chair, Board of Directors
Interfaith America received unprecedented outreach from campus leaders seeking resources amidst growing divisions resulting from the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, the ensuing war in Gaza, and the environment of campus protests in Spring 2024. In response, IA provided tools, resources, and opportunities for all members of a campus community – including students, faculty, staff, and administrators – to enact programs and policies that promote interfaith engagement and advance religious and civic pluralism, as described below. Highlights in 2024 included:
As a result of new and ongoing initiatives, IA now maintains a network of 573 campuses that have engaged substantively with IA programs over the past four years and are positioned to advance institutional change.
In February 2024, Interfaith America Vice Presidents Jenan Mohajir and Rebecca Russo delivered the keynote address, The Promise of Pluralism in Times of Tension, at the George Washington University Diversity Summit. Building on the momentum of this impactful speech, Senior Consultant Rabbi Or Rose and Director of Campus Partnerships Dr. Homayra Ziad designed and led two thought-provoking panels for Incoming Student Orientation in August.
The panels—Faith, Politics, and Pluralism and Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and The Challenges of Navigating the Politics of Israel/Palestine on Campus—reached 3,200 students, including the entire freshman class for the latter discussion. The impact was immediately palpable: more than 25 students approached Homayra afterward to share how deeply the discussions resonated with them.
IA has centered innovation as part of our organizational ethos, intentionally seeking growth in new strategic areas. IA applies the learnings and expertise from our work in higher education to new sectors and changing and evolving conditions. In 2024, we concretized programming that engages religious diversity in healthcare and other workplace settings.
As America’s religious landscape rapidly diversifies, health professionals and leaders increasingly recognize religion as a critical social determinant of health—a reality underscored during the COVID-19 pandemic. IA leverages the positive potential of our nation’s growing religious and spiritual diversity to strengthen healthcare and health equity for all.
Through our Faith and Health programming, we work to embed this understanding across clinical and community settings by:
We advance this mission by developing digital resources for educators and practitioners, awarding grants to embed religious literacy and interfaith competence in health fields courses and programs, convening a cohort of Emerging Leaders working in healthcare, and amplifying the role of religious identity in healthcare through national media and publications.
In the 2023-24 academic year, 27 Religion and Health Curriculum grantees completed projects to design or revise health fields courses that engage religious identity and diversity, reaching nearly 800 students across the country. To further expand support for faculty and campus leaders at the intersection of faith and health, IA awarded 15 Faith & Health Campus grants in December 2024. These grants support collaborative campus teams—pairing religious studies and health fields faculty—to explore how religious and spiritual diversity can enrich health education and practice.
IA’s work with corporate leaders supports the proactive and positive engagement of religion in the workplace through gatherings, online resources, and strategic consultations.
In Fall 2024, IA hosted Driving Inclusion in the Workplace, a virtual series designed to equip professionals with practical skills to approach religious diversity at work and opportunity to connect with peers invested in the same goal. Participants walked away more confident in formulating a comprehensive approach to religious diversity; navigating relevant legal considerations; developing ERG-support strategies; and handling bumps in the road.
We are also supporting our network of Emerging Leaders as they apply interfaith leadership practices across a wide range of workplace settings. Our Interfaith at Work Cohorts provide dedicated spaces for members of the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) to build relationships with peers in their sector who are committed to advancing interfaith cooperation. In addition to the healthcare cohort, we also support professionals in education, business and law, arts and culture, and religious leadership.
Faith & Health Faculty Fellow Dr. David Tillman, Campbell University (Buies Creek, NC), utilized his fellowship to lead a transformative effort to combat the fentanyl crisis in Harnett County, North Carolina. Recognizing the devastating toll of fentanyl-related overdoses among young people in Campbell’s home county, Tillman collaborated with local faith leaders to address the epidemic.
Dr. Tillman’s connection with pastors, churches, and tribal communities was strengthened through IA’s prior Faith in the Vaccine project, which laid the foundation for a united response. With faith leaders at the forefront, they reshaped the community’s approach to fentanyl awareness and prevention.
The impact of Dr. Tillman’s relationship building efforts was staggering: the collaborative effort led to a 60% reduction in fentanyl-related deaths, a dramatic decline compared to peer counties and the state of North Carolina. His success underscores the power of partnership and faith-driven advocacy in saving lives.
IA works toward an America where people of different faiths, worldviews, and traditions can bridge divides and find common values to build a shared life together and strengthen our diverse democracy. In this presidential election year, IA prioritized programming to equip leaders around the country with the skills and resources to promote and protect democracy and pave a positive path forward. Through our programming, IA:
The Sikh Coalition used their Faith in Elections Playbook grant to fund a Civic Engagement Fellowship. The Fellowship took bold steps to boost voter participation, focusing on youth, new voters, and previously registered voters across the country, with an emphasis on California, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia.
Six fellows led dynamic outreach efforts—including workshops, speaker series, tabling events, and text banking—reaching over 45,000 likely Sikh voters nationwide. The program also fostered connections through bridge-building activities, hosting events at gurdwaras and community meetings in Michigan and California to engage voters and demystify election processes.
To deepen engagement, the initiative distributed 2,000+ resources, canvassed more than 100 voters, and piloted a postcard-writing campaign. The program successfully strengthened civic participation and encouraged greater electoral involvement. Community Development Manager Yashpreet Singh highlighted these efforts as a guest on Episode 1 of the Faith in Elections podcast.
IA is committed to elevating our message of cooperation across difference and fostering opportunities for individuals to unite through shared values and projects. We employ a variety of narrative strategies to lift up stories of bridgebuilders and interfaith leaders with the goal of increasing awareness, interest, and acceptance of pluralistic behaviors. Ultimately, we believe that through shared experiences and storytelling, we can help to establish a social norm of mutual respect and cooperation in our diverse society.
Interfaith America Magazine serves as vital platform for connecting with and supporting our diverse network of stakeholders. Through this publication, we share practical resources and amplify stories of hope, resilience, and leadership from individuals across religious, racial, and cultural lines.
We also expanded our storytelling through new video content, including the United We Build mini-documentary series, which premiered on IA’s YouTube channel in January 2024. The series profiles five diverse leaders from our network who are working to bring their communities together by addressing areas of common concern.
In addition to storytelling, we are also investing in innovative tools that equip a wider group of individuals to take action and deepen their impact across all walks of life. IA’s asynchronous courses hosted in partnership with ReligionandPublicLife.org continue to be effective introductions to the skills and principles of interfaith leadership and bridgebuilding for a variety of audiences.
In August 2024, we launched our new Learning and Action Bridge (LAB) platform—a dynamic tool designed to support partners in higher education and beyond in advancing their goals around interfaith cooperation and bridgebuilding. The LAB draws from IA’s extensive repository of learning and programmatic resources to deliver curated, high-impact recommendations tailored to each user’s unique needs. Since its launch, the platform has averaged over 250 users per month, demonstrating strong early engagement and growing interest in its offerings.
Together, these efforts reflect IA’s ongoing commitment to inspire, equip, and connect leaders and institutions to unlock the potential of America’s religious diversity.
Copyright @ 2024 Interfaith America. All Rights Reserved. Interfaith America is 501 (c)(3) non-profit recognized by the IRS. Tax ID Number: 30-0212534
