Your generosity empowers our advocacy, inspires our work, and sustains our momentum.
Founded in 1915, the currently-named Near East Foundation (formerly known as Near East Relief or NER) is the United States’ oldest Congressionally-sanctioned non-governmental organization which for the first time in American history expressed the collective generosity and humanitarianism of the American People. The NER served as a model upon which future philanthropic organizations, including the U.S. Peace Corps and USAID, and future calls for overseas relief efforts known as “citizen philanthropy” were modeled. The highly successful Near East Relief (NER) movement literally saved the Armenian nation from total annihilation.
As a tribute to this effort, Armenian-Americans, most of whom are direct descendants of Armenian orphans and refugees rescued by NER, have initiated the ANCA Western Region “America, We Thank You” project to express our collective gratitude to the American people for the benevolence which allowed our nation to survive and thrive out of the ashes of destruction.