About Us
Our Mission
The NUFDI Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization representing the Iranian-American community in pursuit of a U.S. policy toward Iran based on the values of human rights and democracy.
The NUFDI Fund's sister organization, NUFDI, is a 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan organization.
The Iranian People's Movement (1979–Now)
The NUFDI Fund is a non-profit, non-partisan organization made up of Iranian-Americans of diverse backgrounds who closely follow events in their mother country of Iran.
Those events are defined by the Iranian people's ongoing struggle to reclaim Iran from the Islamic Republic and establish freedom, human rights, and democracy in Iran.
What Are the Iranian People Asking For?
Free and Fair Elections
Non-discrimination on basis of gender, religion, sexual orientation, or social status
Economic Development
Separation of Church & State
An Independent Judiciary & Due Process
Opportunity
Equal Protection Under the Law
Freedom of Speech, Assembly, & Religion
Prosperity
The Iranian people's movement seeks to reestablish peaceful, friendly relations with Iran's neighbors and to have Iran re-engage the community of nations in a manner befitting its rich culture and heritage as a great civilization.
It rejects the regressive notion of Balkanization as a political solution. And it believes that the transition to a secular democratic system must be brought about through civil disobedience and other forms of nonviolent resistance, as advocated for many years by Prince Reza Pahlavi, a consistent and vocal supporter of this movement, and now echoed by many of the most prominent Iranian and Iranian-American political figures, activists, scholars, artists, athletes and other voices.
These are the values we have come to cherish as American citizens, and they are the same values that the people of Iran seek for their own country.
The NUFDI Fund strives to empower Iranian-Americans to be a voice for the Iranian people's movement for freedom, human rights, and democracy.
By transmitting the sacrifices and aspirations of the Iranian people to an American audience of policymakers, media, and concerned citizens, it is our hope that we may serve to better position our fellow Americans to understand and support the Iranian people in their struggle to establish a free, democratic Iran.
Meet the Team
Saeed Ganji, Ph.D., Sc.D.
President
Shahpar Razmzan
Senior Advisor
Ahmad Batebi, D.C.S.
Senior Fellow for Advocacy & Cybersecurity
Alireza Kiani
Editor-in-Chief, Fereydoun
Andrew Ghalili
Policy Director
Khosro Isfahani
Research Director
Nina Khoshkish
Deputy Communications Director
Tymahz Toumadje
Senior Policy Analyst
Nader Sadeghi
Policy Analyst
Armita Hooman
Research Analyst
Vafa Fanaii
Research Analyst, Fereydoun
Jeremy Roesner
Graphic Designer
Panthea Radian
Graphic Designer, Fereydoun
Advisory Council
Shayan Arya
Advisory Council Member
Aylene Fallah
Advisory Council Member
Shahpour Shiralian
Advisory Council Member
Pardis Sabeti, M.D., D.Phil.
Advisory Council Member
Nazenin Ansari
Advisory Council Member
Maryam Ovissi
Advisory Council Member
Marjan Greenblatt
Advisory Council Member
Babak Amini
Advisory Council Member
Afschineh Latifi, Esq.
Advisory Council Member
What we do
NUFDI Fund supports a family of programs that give Iran's democratic future substance:
- The Iran Conference — an annual gathering in Washington of policymakers, scholars and members of the Iranian diaspora.
- Fereydoun — a Persian-language quarterly devoted to political thought, governance and social transformation in Iran.
- The Norooz Gala — an evening of remembrance and resolve that brings the community together each spring.
How we are funded
NUFDI Fund receives no government funding. Everything we do is made possible by the generosity of the Iranian-American community and friends of a free Iran. The NUFDI Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization; contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Questions? Write to us at [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
The NUFDI Fund does not receive any government funding whatsoever. It is supported solely by members of the Iranian-American community and allies who support the cause of human rights and democracy in Iran.
The NUFDI Fund's largest expenditure is its staff payroll. Many members of the team have left leading international firms and Washington think tanks to mobilize the Iranian-American community and advocate for the Iranian people's cause and have taken significant salary cuts to work for the NUFDI Fund. Despite this, we believe that for a Washington-based organization, quality work requires a full-time dedication to the cause and thus are proud to—for the first time in our community's history—have an Iranian-American organization with a physical office and a full-time staff in the nation's capital. Furthermore, within its ultimate goal to mobilize the Iranian-American community in support of a human rights and democracy-focused U.S. foreign policy towards Iran, the NUFDI Fund has a project-focused approach to our work. The NUFDI Fund's resources support its ongoing projects, from The Iran Conference to The Norooz Gala and Fereydoun Magazine.
The NUFDI Fund is not an opposition group. It is an Iranian-American civic organization dedicated to engaging and mobilizing the Iranian-American community in support of U.S. foreign policy towards Iran based on human rights and democracy. As such, it does not take positions on some Iran-related political issues such as the country's post-Islamic Republic form of government except that that government and its form should be decided by the Iranian people in a free, fair referendum.
The NUFDI Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization. Its sister organization, the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), is a 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan organization.
The NUFDI Fund opposes war with Iran. We believe that the path to establishing a stable democracy in Iran and ensuring regional and American national security is non-violent disobedience by the Iranian people, supported by the United States and the international community.
The NUFDI Fund was initially founded in 2003. Like many other Iranian and Iranian-American organizations its activities were mostly volunteer based. In March of 2020, the organization was re-launched with a new mission and its first full-time staff member. Today, its team continues to grow.