In 2002, Amish Parashar, David Morse, Jesse Rokicki, and Kathleen Reeder, all of whom were students at either Dartmouth College or Harvard University founded the International Humanitarian Foundation (IHF). Inspired by their various experiences in communities throughout the developing world, they wanted to create a new type of international development; one that would tap the vast potential for reciprocal partnerships between students in the US and communities abroad. The IHF was incorporated in New Hampshire in 2003 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
The IHF started out with a partnership with the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation (CRHF). In the Fall of 2003, the IHF recruited its first chapter at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH to support the CRHF, as well as a newly formed partnership with the Betsy Elizabeth Trust (BET) in Tamil Nadu, India. That year, the chapter of twenty-nine student volunteers wrote grants, conducted research and sent student fellows to support the work of the CRHF and BET.
In Spring 2004, Heidi McAnnally-Linz founded the IHF’s second chapter at Haverford College in Haverford, PA to support a newly formed partnership with the community of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala.
In 2007, the IHF launched an initiative to build on the success of its model by reaching out to new partners in India, Mexico, and Belize as well as by founding new chapters at Brown University and Tufts University.
The IHF has learned important lessons and grown since the founding of the first chapter in 2003, but one thing has remained the same: a commitment to needs-driven, sustainable development solutions that maximize the potential for reciprocal relationships between visionary youth in US Universities and their counterparts in communities in the developing world. The direct approach to challenges and consequent exploration of solutions is an animated, continual communication peppered with colorful expletives and ecstatic exclamations that keep the whole process moving forward on a very human scale.
Our continuing and growing project experience includes health, technology, education, and micro-enterprise.
Since the beginning, the IHF’s volunteer base in the United States has steadily grown, as students graduate and find ways to stay connected to the IHF and the organizations they partnered with in the University Chapters. The IHF graduates’ enthusiasm continues to inspire family, friends and colleagues to participate in our growing circle of influence.
As we look to the future, we welcome new members to the IHF family of practical visionaries who believe that the world changes one person at a time, one community at a time, one dream at a time.
To find out about volunteer opportunities: contact@internationalhf.org
