It's our 25th year. Choose what your gift makes possible.
Dr. Yehuda Stolov was a physics student when he first sat with theology students from Europe. Over time, he noticed his own prejudices changing.
Ten years later, at the height of the Second Intifada, he and his partners founded IEA as an interfaith partnership from day one.
“When people look each other in the eye and share their thoughts and feelings about what matters most to them, something like magic happens: they build bridges of understanding and connection.”
At our 25th anniversary celebration, President Isaac Herzog's video blessing played on the big screen. In 2022 he presented IEA with the President's Award for Volunteering.
From a first Encounter in Nazareth to a frisbee group in Jerusalem.
September 7, 2026
September 7, 2026, at the Jerusalem International YMCA: conversation circles on carpets in the courtyard, Arabic calligraphy, music, and dinner together.
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2022 President's Award for Volunteering, from President Isaac Herzog 
2015 IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East 
2007 Tanenbaum Center award 
2024 Studied at Harvard Divinity School (Yanqing Cao) 
Recognized by UNESCO 
Studied at Bar-Ilan University (Mollov et al.) 
2011 Studied at DePaul University (Prof. Frida Kerner Furman) Read the Harvard Divinity School study (Yanqing Cao, 2024) 
See our transparency profile on Candid (GuideStar)
Yes. Gifts through PayPal or by check go to Friends of Interfaith Encounter Association, a US nonprofit (EIN 20-4018144), and are tax-deductible in the US.
Yes – choose the monthly option when you donate through PayPal.
Make the check payable to Friends of Interfaith Encounter Association and mail it to 6949 Conservation Dr, Springfield, VA 22153, USA. In Israel: Interfaith Encounter Association, P.O.B. 3814, Jerusalem 9103701, Israel.
Yes. Write to us at office@interfaith-encounter.org and we'll send you the details, including tax-deductible options in Switzerland and the UK.
A regular gathering of a small, steady group of people from different faiths and communities – neighbors, students, women, religious leaders – who get to know each other and talk about what matters to them. Over 25 years IEA has founded 138 groups and held more than 6,000 Encounters.
No. Encounter is open to everyone, whatever their political views. As our founder puts it, ordinary people can make a real contribution to peaceful relations between communities without having to adopt any particular political view.
Yes. Our first group of settlers and Palestinians, from Ma'ale Adumim and Abu Dis/Sawahra, was founded in 2008 and is still active today. Groups are also active in the Hebron and Nablus areas.
Independent researchers have studied IEA's model, including Yanqing Cao at Harvard Divinity School (2024), studies at Bar-Ilan University (Mollov et al.) and Prof. Frida Kerner Furman at DePaul University (2011). IEA has received the President's Award for Volunteering (2022), the IIE Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East (2015), the Tanenbaum Center Peacemakers award (2007) and the Prize for Humanity (2006).
IEA's US friends organization has a transparency profile on Candid (GuideStar): https://app.candid.org/profile/8563116
IEA was founded in 2001 by Dr. Yehuda Stolov.
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Gifts through PayPal or by US check are tax-deductible in the United States.
Or give onlinePayable to Friends of Interfaith Encounter Association, 6949 Conservation Dr, Springfield, VA 22153, USA
20-4018144, Friends of Interfaith Encounter Association
Payable to Interfaith Encounter Association, P.O.B. 3814, Jerusalem 9103701, Israel. Israeli nonprofit (amuta) no. 580379493
Write to us for the details: office@interfaith-encounter.org
