NEW YORK – On Monday, October 15th, 2018, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) received the Humanitarian Award for International Cooperation from the Institute of International Education (IIE) at their annual gala in New York City.

The IIE Humanitarian Award recognizes organizations that promote global understanding and demonstrate a commitment to causes that advance the vision that launched IIE: a peaceful, equitable world enriched by the international exchange of ideas and greater understanding between people and cultures.

More than 300 distinguished members of the business, philanthropic, diplomatic, and higher education communities gathered at IIE’s gala to celebrate the work of the SNF, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs (ECA) and Dr. Jill Biden, former Second Lady of the United States, Honorary Co-Chair of the Biden Foundation and a lifelong educator.

Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the SNF, accepted the award on the Foundation’s behalf. In his remarks, Mr. Dracopoulos, referring to the wide range of educational initiatives and programs that the SNF has consistently supported, noted that “Education is one of the SNF’s four pillars of giving. This stems from an understanding that education is the only thing a person can receive that no one else can take away […] The power that education can have in helping develop character and change an individual’s life simply cannot be measured. We try our best to support as wide a range of people in as many parts of the world as we can—from students here in New York writing college admission essays to children in refugee camps learning to play musical instruments. We have supported Greek professionals continuing their training in fields that span journalism, orthopedics, diplomacy, and the arts. In addition, of course we have supported academics through fellowships like the IIE Greek Diaspora program. While we value and support education at every level, we recognize the special role of higher education and academia. In its purest form, it represents the pinnacle of human striving for knowledge, truth, and goodness.”

The SNF supported IIE’s launch of the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program (GDFP), a fellowship program designed to help avert Greece’s brain drain and develop long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between universities in Greece and the United States and Canada.

“One of the most common and important denominators of a successful grant for us has always been the answer to the question of whether or not the grantee shares our overall values and vision, a common mission to do good and try to make the world, our world, a better place for all. Strong, efficient, and ethical leadership always leads to impactful collaborations. We view our grantees as partners, and we could not be happier being partners with the Institute of International Education (IIE)”, Mr. Dracopoulos also noted during the event.

Source: SNF