FFI History

Friendship Force International, a nonprofit international cultural exchange organization headquartered in Atlanta, was founded with a single mission: to create an environment in which personal friendships are established across the barriers that separate people. It is active in more than 60 countries, promoting friendship and goodwill through an extensive program of homestay exchanges.

A 1992 nominee for The Nobel Peace Prize, Friendship Force International began by organizing the travel of goodwill Ambassadors who share the lives of a Host family in another country for one or two weeks. Since the program began in 1977, nearly half-million volunteer Ambassadors and Hosts have participated through 3,300 exchanges, touching the lives of more than two million people, and the means for accomplishing its mission has expanded considerably, as new relationships uncovered new possibilities.

Friendship Force International is supported by membership and exchange fees, donations, and foundation grants. Friendship Force International was founded in 1977 by its first president, Wayne Smith and was announced on March 1, 1977, by President Jimmy Carter at a White House gathering of state governors.

Friendship Force Club Exchanges
The organizational framework of Friendship Force International has evolved over the past 24 years from a few large back-to-back charters to 275 small, more flexible exchanges using scheduled airlines, carried out by a global network of clubs. For the past 15 years, these independent local Friendship Force Clubs, have been the backbone of Friendship Force International, providing volunteer leadership for the exchange program as well as a community focus for Friendship Force International between exchanges. They are supported by professional staff and trained volunteers. Membership is open to all in the community who share in the organization's goals. There are now more than 350 clubs in 56 countries and 41 U.S. States.

Friendship Missions
Friendship Missions, with day hosting only, were introduced in 1982, first to the USSR, then to mainland China, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Yugoslavia. Today, most of these countries or their successors participate in the regular homestay exchange program. A new mission program to Vietnam was launched in 1993 and Iran in 1998.

Festivals of Friendship
Festivals of Friendship were begun in 1987, combining informational seminars with home-hosting experience. Participants from across the U.S. and around the world spend three nights in a hotel setting with orientations designed to celebrate the culture of the host country. A 5-7 day homestay follows the orientation activities.

Bridgebuilders
Bridgebuilders uses the basic homestay format as the means for linking professional counterparts in medicine, agriculture, banking, law, education, small business development, communication, and other vital areas. Bridgebuilders exchanges provide unique opportunities for putting friendship into action through joint projects that grow out of the personal friendships established during the exchange. One of the first involved a group of doctors and medical technicians traveling to a hospital in Moscow in July of 1992 to aid their counterparts, delivering medicine, medical supplies and equipment and exploring possible joint efforts to meet the hospital's most critical needs. In 1994 The Friendship Force received its first two U.S. government grants to support specialized training under the Bridgebuilders program.

International Conferences
Each year, an International Conference brings together hundreds of Friendship Force volunteer leaders from around the world. The 2005 conference will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Partnerships
Friendship Force International has begun conducting joint programs with Sister Cities, Open World Russian Leadership Program, and the National Peace Corps Association. If these experiments are successful, they will be expanded, with additional connections sought with Sister Cities and other organizations. The goal is to use mutually supportive programs with these organizations as a means of introducing Friendship Force International to new audiences.