The Inter-American Foundation, or IAF, is an independent agency of the United States government that funds community-led development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
[4] With his articles in Foreign Affairs and his book The Engines of Change, Harvard professor George C. Lodge significantly influenced the intellectual climate that led to the passage of the IAF's enabling legislation.
Aid to Latin America: Funding Radical Change,” which appeared in Foreign Affairs in July 1969.,[5] he urged creation of an “American Foundation [to] find and fund the engines of change which work directly to revolutionize Latin American social and political structures.” Lodge was appointed to the IAF's founding board of directors in 1971.
[8] Congress designed the agency with a unique characteristic: gift authority, the ability to accept and channel contributions to its grantees: “[The IAF] may accept money, funds, property, and services of every kind by gift, device, bequest, grant, or otherwise, and make advances, grants, and loans to any individual, corporation, or other body of persons, whether within or without the United States of America, or to any government or governmental agency, domestic or foreign, when deemed advisable by the Foundation in furtherance of its purposes.
In his Second Annual Report to the Congress on United States Foreign Policy on February 25, 1971, President Nixon set forth the administration's vision of the agency as follows: “The need is for innovative ideas and programs, particularly from non-governmental sources, which are more directly responsive to social problems as perceived by the people of the region.
Directed by a board with a majority from the private sector, the new Institute will provide funds primarily to non-governmental organizations in the U.S. and Latin America--such as universities, credit unions, and foundations--to help them share their expertise.”[13]On August 3, 1971, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a legislative amendment changing the name of the agency from the Inter-American Social Development Institute to the Inter-American Foundation.
[12] In 1973, the IAF partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank to use up to $10 million annually in regional currencies from the U.S. government-funded Special Progress Trust Fund, an arrangement that was periodically renewed through 2019.
Today, the agency defines its mission as follows: to identify, support, and partner with underserved people, their enterprises, and grassroots organizations to create thriving communities.
[18] The IAF funds initiatives received in response to its call for proposals from grassroots groups and the organizations that support them in Latin America and the Caribbean.
[19] The IAF looks for the following in a project it funds: The IAF has periodically supported academic field research on grassroots development since 1974, providing fellowships to doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, master's degree candidates and, between 1991 and 1995 a few outstanding Latin American and Caribbean grassroots leaders awarded the Dante B. Fascell Inter-American Fellowship to pursue independent study.