Founded 1917
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Quaker-based international relief and peace-and-justice organization

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a humanitarian service organization committed to social justice and peace. The AFSC was founded in 1917 by Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends; see box “Who Are the Quakers?”

) and today is led and staffed by people of various faiths. According to the AFSC Web site, the group’s work “is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.”

The AFSC’s mission has remained essentially the same throughout the decades: to provide humanitarian relief in war-torn areas around the world, to advocate peaceful solutions to international disputes, and to support struggles for economic independence and civil rights in the United States. The AFSC...