American India Foundation

The American India Foundation (AIF, founded 2001) is a nonprofit American organization working in India.^[2] It is one of the largest secular, non-partisan American organizations supporting development work in India.^[3]

American India Foundation

Founded	2001
Founder	President Bill Clinton, Lata Krishnan, Rajat Gupta, Victor Menezes[1]
Type	Charitable trust
Focus	Education, Livelihood, Public Health
Headquarters	New York
Area served	India and United States
Key people	Lata Krishnan (Co-Chair) Harit Talwar (Co-Chair) Nishant Pandey (CEO) Mathew Joseph (India Country Director)
Website	AIF.org

It also runs the ServiceCorps Fellowship, renamed the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service to India on May 11, 2009, which sends skilled young Americans in an immersive volunteer service program training and placing young professionals to support development organizations across India for 10 months.^[4][5][6]

History

Founded in 2001 at the initiative of US President Bill Clinton following a suggestion from Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by a group of Indian-Americans responding to the Gujarat earthquake.^[7]

It has offices in New York City and California, twelve chapters across the U.S., and India operations headquartered in New Delhi.^[8]

AIF's Emergency Response

In cases of major national disasters in India, AIF has been involved in relief and rehabilitation efforts. It has undertaken several campaigns for relief and rehabilitation:

1. In 2001, after the Gujarat earthquake
2. In 2004, after the tsunami
3. In 2005, after the Kashmir earthquake
4. In 2019, after the Pulwama attack^[9]
5. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic^[10]

AIF takes a multi-phased approach to disaster relief: relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation. AIF's focus is the long-term rehabilitation of communities, and it dedicates most of its resources to this phase. In Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, AIF funded organizations in affected communities for up to three years following the earthquake so that NGO partners could identify long-term solutions to improve the lives of people affected by disaster.^[11]

References

1. "Long Distance Philanthropy Brings Donors Closer to Home". Retrieved 2008-11-20.
2. "Creating socio-economic change in India". AIF. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
3. "American India Foundation - MacArthur Foundation". macfound.org. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
4. "William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India | UPENN CURF". www.curf.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
5. "William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India – UChicagoGRAD | The University of Chicago". grad.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
6. "William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service in India: Learning about Grassroots Development and Inclusive Leadership in India | ProFellow". 2018-11-12. Archived from the original on 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
7. "Clinton Presidential Center "Council on Foreign Relations, 2002"". 2007-09-28. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
8. Foundation, American India. "American India Foundation and WestBridge Capital Announce Four-year Partnership". prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2020-03-27.
9. Rijiju, Kiren (2019-05-08). "India's Minister of State for Home Affairs". @kirenrijiju. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
10. "American India Foundation Launches COVID-19 Response Effort – AIF". 27 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
11. "AIF Emergency Response". Archived from the original on 2008-05-22. Retrieved 2008-11-20.