The association was founded in Japan in 1978 by mathematician Hiroshi Noguchi and Anglican missionary Philip Noble, and is now run by Mark Sherman out of California.
[1] ISFA publishes the Bulletin of the International String Figure Association (ISSN 1076-7886) annually, ISFA News semi-annually, and String Figure Magazine quarterly (ISSN 1087-1527).
The mission of the ISFA is to "gather, preserve, and distribute string figure knowledge so that future generations will continue to enjoy" them.
[2] Activities of the association include working backwards and attempting variations to solve "Figures Known Only from the Finished Pattern".
[1] Other activities include the Arctic String Figure Project.