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Non-profit

Interfaith America (IA)

Website:

www.interfaithamerica.org/
Location:

CHICAGO, IL
Tax ID:

30-0212534
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2023):

Revenue: $22,773,353
Expenses: $14,001,364
Assets: $37,849,144
Type:

Faith-based grantmaking organization
Formation:

2002
Executive Director:

Eboo Patel

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Interfaith America (IA) (formerly Interfaith Youth Core) is a left-of-center grantmaking organization that focuses on religious pluralism by creating interreligious dialogue targeting leaders from universities, governments, businesses, religious institutions, and civic organizations. 1 IA has shifted its original focus to promoting left-of-center ideals on race in the educational system. 2

The group operates on college campuses around the world by hosting webinars, maintaining campus chapters, and creating online and in-person training modules that focus on religious toleration. 3 IA also provides grant funding for individuals and organizations who have participated in its programs and who agree to disseminate the message to as many people as possible. 4 IA has also created the university model activities, including online modules, webinars, trainings, grants, and programs to promote its vision in the health care system, workplaces, and civic life and to shape emerging leaders. 5

On December 23, 2020, IA announced that it would begin engaging leaders of faith communities to promote vaccination against COVID-19 by harnessing community trust in religious institutions to allay health concerns about the vaccine and to help in its distribution. 6 In July 2020, IA received a $6 million donation from left-of-center billionaire donor MacKenzie Scott and vowed to use the donation to shift the organization’s focus from interfaith activities to left-of-center “racial and economic justice.” 7

Activities

Education Initiatives

Interfaith America (IA) hosts online trainings, in-person events, and research projects to promote interfaith dialogue. IA hosts the Building Regular Interfaith Dialogue through Generous Engagement (BRIDGE) program, a publicly accessible series of free internet teaching modules that can be tailored to different audiences through 90-minute workshops. The BRIDGE program is a “train the trainer” model where educators complete the program and are meant to then incorporate it into their teaching, promoting “broader conversations around diversity.” Modules focus on self-reflection, challenging biases related to diverse worldviews, and building skills for discussing personal faith and identity. IA offers one-on-one coaching to facilitate a workshop. 8

In 2020, the organization shifted its focus to promote a left-of-center narrative around social justice and race relations. IA launched “We Are Each Other’s,” a series of online learning modules that provide training in interreligious dialogue and encourage young people to engage in left-of-center activism projects, claiming that 2020 revealed the “brokenness of American democracy.” This project was launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread movement for left-wing racial activism sparked by the death of George Floyd. 9

IA also hosts in-person events, including the annual Interfaith Leadership Summit, a three-day conference designed to encourage undergraduate students and college professors to become leaders in the field of interfaith dialogue. Graduate students may attend but are considered “educators.” 10

Aside from its conference programs and online modules, IA coordinates research studies on religious tolerance. From 2015 to 2019, IA launched the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS) research project to track changes in student perceptions of religion based on surveys given to students three times over the course of their college careers. 11 Funding for the IDEALS project was provided in part by left-of-center organizations, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Julian Graces Foundation, and The John E. Fetzer Institute. 12

Other Initiatives

Interfaith America (IA) created the Sacred Journey Fellowship to support civic leaders, organizers, and storytellers who advance their mission. The 2025 to 2027 cohort, supported by Fellowship in Prayer, brings together ten leaders working across sectors to share their projects and insights, which will be featured in Interfaith America Magazine and on social media. 13

For the fifth year, Religion News Service and Interfaith America sponsored the Religion Journalism Fellowship, a nine-month program running from September to May that trains early-career journalists on how to cover religion, faith, and civic pluralism. The fellowship provides a $4,200 stipend, two fully paid trips to Chicago to attend the Religion News Association Conference and a writing conference, mentorship, workshops, and editorial training, focusing on religion’s role in individual and public life. 14

Launched in October 2025, IA created the Religious Inclusion, Skill-building and Engagement (RISE) membership program that can be used either by an individual ($500 annually) or an organization ($5,000 annually) that would like to learn to implement religious pluralism within the workplace. 15

Media

In 2020, Interfaith America (IA) launched its own magazine, Interfaith America Magazine. 16 In 2022, the magazine brought on seven left-leaning columnists with backgrounds and knowledge in community activism, advocacy, diversity, equity, inclusion, race relations, religious polarization, and LGBT issues. 17

IA created its own podcast, Voices of Interfaith America, with rotating hosts, including IA’s founder, Eboo Patel; the organization’s CEO, Adam Nicholas Phillips; and vice president of external affairs Jenan Mohajir. 18 In 2024, under IA’s Voices of Interfaith America podcast, it launched the “Faith in Elections” podcast series enabling the organization to focus on “free and fair elections.” 19

In 2024, while partnering with Protect Democracy, a left-of-center litigation and advocacy organization opposed to the policies of then-former President Donald Trump, the organizations created a 36-page “Faith in Elections Playbook,” to be used during the 2024 elections. The Playbook argued that misinformation, violence in elections, low trust in the U.S. elections, and campaigns that were targeted specifically toward “marginalized communities” should encourage left-leaning voters in the 2024 election. The Playbook linked to organizations that support left-of-center ideologies, including Vote Early Day, the movement by a coalition of nonprofits and businesses which encourages voters to use early ballots and wants October 24 to become an official “Vote Early Day” holiday; the League of Women Voters, a group that lobbies and advocates on a number of left-leaning issues; the One America Movement, whose leadership includes a former Democratic Party campaign staffer; and A More Perfect Union, a coalition of left-of-center Jewish advocacy organizations that hoped to mobilize 10,000 American Jewish organizations during the 2024 election cycle. 20

Grantmaking

In addition to its core programming, Interfaith America (IA) provides grants to individuals who participate in its programs. The Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) are campus units created across colleges and universities that support faculty and staff. IA has developed Teaching and Learning Pluralism (TLP) Cohorts that will work with selected groups of CTLs to develop and create projects that promote pluralism in teaching and learning. Participants will receive training, teaching resources, and grants of up to $10,000 to support their work. The 2025 to 2026 institutions chosen to participate in the TLP Cohorts include College of Charleston, Columbia University, Cornell University, Goucher College, and James Madison University. 21

IA awards a series of $1,500 grants called Building Interfaith America. Grants may be used by recipients to fund programs, events, or projects that address a social need using the idea of pluralism or that will develop the individual’s leadership skills, but topics should encompass racial equality, environmental protection, or bridgebuilding, while half of the grant may be used as individual compensation. 22

IA awarded an Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship (ICFP) for October 2025 to June 2026 for senior leaders at faith-based civic institutions to include a $4,000 stipend, convenings, trainings, a travel stipend, and other resources in exchange for collaborating with other fellows on programming focused on social trust, religious liberty, and to implement “pluralistic frameworks and habits with their own organizations.” 23

The Faith and Health Pipeline grant program, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, enables IA to disseminate religious pluralism into the healthcare system by sponsoring initiatives that promote integration, research, public scholarship, and community initiatives with the goal to “shape the public narrative.” This program allocates yearly $5,000 grants to those who integrate religion into the factors that influence a person’s health and well-being, including course revision, research, the public narrative, and community partnership. Recipient’s proposals are chosen based on an initial blind review, however final selection recipients are prioritized based on diversity, specifically racial and ethnic identities. 24

Funding

Interfaith America (IA) has received funding from prominent left-of-center organizations. Based in Chicago and founded by Muslim sociologist, speaker, educator, and author Eboo Patel, IA (at the time Interfaith Youth Core) received its initial funding in the form of a $35,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, a left-of-center activist and grantmaking organization, in 2002. 25 In 2007, IA (at the time IFYC) received a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation. 26

In 2025, IA received a $300,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to “advance pluralism, decrease polarization, and support our diverse democracy.” 27 On July 28, 2020, IFYC was named as one of MacKenzie Scott’s “116 Organizations Driving Change” and received a  $6 million grant, which, according to Patel, would be used to shift the organization’s focus to “racial and economic justice.” 28 In 2023, IA reported assets of nearly $40 million. 29

References

  1. Mission and Vision – About Us. Interfaith America. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/mission-vision/
  2. Civic Pluralism Curriculum Development Grants. Interfaith. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/civic-pluralism/
  3. Advancing Campus Pluralism: Courageous Leadership in Contentious Times – Events. Interfaith America. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/events/advancing-campus-pluralism-2025/
  4. Courses, Curricula, and Tools. Interfaith America – Get Involved. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/curriculum/
  5. Homepage. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/
  6. Patel, Eboo and Raushenbush, Paul. “How to Motivate Millions of Americans to Get Vaccinated? Let Faith Help.” Religion News Service. December 17, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://religionnews.com/2020/12/17/how-to-motivate-millions-of-americans-to-get-vaccinated-let-faith-do-it/
  7. Smietana, Bob. “Eboo Patel Says $6 million Gift to IFYC Will Jumpstart ‘Interfaith America.’” Religion News.com Website. August 7, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://religionnews.com/2020/08/07/eboo-patel-says-6-million-gift-to-ifyc-will-jumpstart-interfaith-america/
  8. BRIDGE – Curricula. Interfaith America. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/curricula/bridge/
  9. Interfaith Leadership 101. Interfaith Mission Service. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithmissionservice.org/interfaith/i-leadership101/
  10. Interfaith Leadership Summit – Events. Interfaith America. Accessed November 1, 2025.  https://www.interfaithamerica.org/events/interfaith-leadership-summit/
  11. IDEALS – Research. Interfaith America. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/research/ideals/
  12. Rockenbach, A. N., Mayhew, M. J., Giess, M. E., Morin, S. M., Staples, B. A., Correia-Harker, B. P., & Associates. “IDEALS: Bridging Religious Divides Through Higher Education.” Interfaith Youth Core/Interfaith America. 2020. Accessed November 1, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/navigating-religious-diversity-9-27.pdf
  13. Peterman, Amar. “Announcing the 2025-2027 Sacred Journey Fellows.” Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/article/2025-2027-sacred-journey-fellows/
  14. RSN/IA Religion Journalism Fellowship. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/religion-journalism-fellowship/
  15. RISE: Unlock the Power of Religious Inclusion at Work – Membership Program. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/rise/
  16. Mission and Vision. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/mission-vision/
  17. “Interfaith America Magazine Welcomes Seven Senior Columnists.” Interfaith America. July 29, 2022. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/article/interfaith-america-magazine-welcomes-seven-senior-columnists/
  18. Voice of Interfaith America. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/voices-of-ia/
  19.  “Interfaith America Launches Podcast Series to Promote Fair Elections.” Business Wire. October 10, 2024. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241010568211/en/Interfaith-America-Launches-Podcast-Series-to-Promote-Fair-Elections
  20. Faith in Elections Playbook. Interfaith America. January 2024. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/resources/faith-in-elections/
  21. Teaching and Learning Pluralism Cohort – Higher Education. Interfaith America. November 1, 2025.  https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/teaching-learning-pluralism-cohort/
  22. Building Interfaith America Emerging Leaders Grants – Emerging Leaders. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/building-interfaith-america-emerging-leader-grants/
  23. Interfaith Civic Pluralism Fellowship – Civic Democracy Initiatives. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/interfaith-civic-pluralism-fellowship/
  24. Faith and Health Pipeline Grants – Faith and Health. Interfaith America. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.interfaithamerica.org/grants/faith-health-pipeline/
  25. Interfaith America. The Pluralism Project, Harvard University. January 20, 2023. Accessed October 30, 2025. https://pluralism.org/interfaith-america
  26. Interfaith Youth Core – Grants Database. Carnegie Corporation of New York. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.carnegie.org/grants/grants-database/grantee/interfaith-youth-core/#!/grants/grants-database/grant/31251.0/
  27. Interfaith America – Grantee. Ford Foundation. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/interfaith-america-153266/
  28. Smietana, Bob. “Eboo Patel Says $6 million Gift to IFYC Will Jumpstart ‘Interfaith America.’” Religion News.com Website. August 7, 2020. Accessed November 2, 2025. https://religionnews.com/2020/08/07/eboo-patel-says-6-million-gift-to-ifyc-will-jumpstart-interfaith-america/
  29. Interfaith America, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2023, Part 1, Line 20. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300212534/202501399349301020/full
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: July - June
  • Tax Exemption Received: April 1, 2004

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2023 Jul Form 990 $22,773,353 $14,001,364 $37,849,144 $2,811,703 N $22,204,346 $336,639 $221,668 $2,122,630
    2022 Jul Form 990 $14,394,776 $13,271,663 $26,794,305 $659,080 N $13,932,685 $308,375 $116,167 $1,541,613 PDF
    2021 Jul Form 990 $10,230,356 $10,294,604 $27,416,296 $1,752,186 N $9,798,080 $302,698 $90,390 $1,253,318
    2020 Jul Form 990 $17,800,645 $7,957,535 $26,504,366 $1,091,243 N $17,340,826 $342,702 $103,667 $1,402,410
    2019 Jul Form 990 $4,501,527 $7,098,100 $16,015,867 $517,276 N $3,913,997 $495,557 $91,373 $1,098,962 PDF
    2018 Jul Form 990 $7,378,364 $7,243,957 $18,520,299 $468,396 Y $6,808,687 $537,980 $31,697 $801,516 PDF
    2017 Jul Form 990 $7,464,691 $6,458,253 $18,598,808 $684,812 N $6,784,330 $659,924 $8,802 $501,504 PDF
    2016 Jul Form 990 $6,562,294 $6,478,688 $17,127,980 $223,254 N $5,951,392 $610,553 $5,770 $474,897 PDF
    2015 Jul Form 990 $12,773,463 $4,537,327 $17,016,721 $195,729 N $12,278,547 $490,751 $1,491 $400,108 PDF
    2014 Jul Form 990 $4,579,695 $4,643,724 $9,148,394 $563,538 N $3,944,241 $630,893 $1,925 $365,614 PDF
    2013 Jul Form 990 $9,865,202 $3,617,267 $8,888,185 $239,300 N $9,206,924 $650,879 $1,781 $485,194 PDF
    2012 Jul Form 990 $3,393,132 $3,773,451 $2,629,632 $228,682 N $2,744,699 $644,797 $210 $312,597 PDF
    2011 Jul Form 990 $3,164,665 $3,710,711 $3,015,068 $233,799 N $2,415,877 $739,359 $947 $653,337 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Interfaith America (IA)

    141 W JACKSON BLVD STE 3200
    CHICAGO, IL 60604-3208