Our Mission

AIFS Foundation Mission Statement

The AIFS Foundation Mission is to provide educational and cultural exchange opportunities to foster greater understanding among the people of the world.

What do students gain from educational and cultural exchange?

Personal Growth

Students gain an increased ability to be flexible, assertive, independent and open-minded in a nation of diversity.

INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

Cross cultural competencies and understanding supports international communications, commerce and trade.

EXPANDED WORLDVIEW

Gaining perspective and compassion across cultures, helps to address global challenges such as disease and diplomacy.

Global Awareness

Students thrive in a competitive job market with superior understanding of world regions, customs and languages.

Cultural exchange programs expose students to people from different national, religious, geographic and socio-economic backgrounds. In doing so, these programs help students learn how to listen and communicate ideas to develop a greater understanding of diversity. In turn, students build personal relationships, understand a broader range of perspectives and develop language and interpersonal skills needed for communication and participation in our multicultural society.

The AIFS Foundation seeks to fulfill its mission by:

Organizing high quality educational programs at affordable prices, enabling young people to live and study abroad.
Supporting educational and travel opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
Developing cooperative programs between organizations, both public and private, that share our goals.
Providing grants to individuals for participation in culturally enriching educational programs.

Become an AIFS Foundation Partner

Partner with us to help promote globalization of our youth. Support initiatives preparing young people to navigate different languages, countries and customs so they are ready to join the workforce with global skills in hand. Contribute to the AIFS Foundation to support existing initiatives or establish a new scholarship program to support your interests. Offer opportunities to talented, disadvantaged youth to broaden their horizons.

Join Our Mission

AIFS Foundation works in cooperation with many organizations to provide educational and cultural exchange opportunities for students to develop global skills and understanding. With the help of strategic partners and individuals the AIFS Foundation provides grants and scholarships to students for participation in study abroad programs and provides grants to high schools and institutions to encourage international and educational travel.

Become an AIFS Foundation Partner

We welcome new partnerships to help offer these life-changing opportunities to study abroad! We can help you to maximize your donations to assist students with financial need and from under-represented populations to participate in the best study abroad programs available. We can customize a scholarship program to meet your goals. Please contact AIFS Foundation Director, Melanie French at mfrench@aifs.org to discuss how you can join our mission today!

“We cannot always build the future of our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

—Franklin D. Roosevelt