NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL

The National Iranian American Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice of Iranian Americans through increased engagement in the U.S. civic process in order to advance the values and interests important to our community: peace and diplomacy; equitable immigration policies; and civil and human rights. NIAC's goals include:
1. Build civic power for Iranian Americans through community building, education and organized civic engagement
2. Advance peace and diplomacy, secure equitable immigration, and protect civil rights through direct advocacy and community organizing
3. Conduct research and education on the issues impacting Iranian Americans to provide thought leadership within government, civil society, policymaking and academic communities, the media, and the public

We accomplish our mission by engaging government and policymakers directly using expert research and analysis, providing civic and policy education to empower our community to become more active in civic life, and community building to strengthen the Iranian-American community and build ties with other communities to achieve shared goals.

NIAC has a 20-year track record of accomplishment and staff and leadership with a proven resume of success. We are headquartered in Washington, DC, but also have staff operating out of California - home to our largest constituency base. Our organization has volunteers in almost every single state, a donor base of over 10,000 Iranian Americans and allies, an email list of over 70,000, and support from major foundations. In addition, we have developed relationships with key policymakers, who are instrumental in ensuring representation of Iranian American interests and voices when it comes to creating policies that impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranian Americans.

NIAC has grown from a small, volunteer-led startup at its inception in 2002 into an institution for the Iranian-American community and our allies. NIAC has achieved major successes on policy issues and community building. Some of our notable accomplishments include:

Preventing War: NIAC helped secure the historic U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, which prevented war and nuclear proliferation.

Advancing Universal Human Rights: Championed the establishment of a United Nations human rights monitor on Iran to investigate human rights abuses and advanced the first targeted measures against Iranian government officials responsible for human rights abuses.

Lifting Broad Sanctions: Led the successful campaign to lift sanctions that blocked humanitarian organizations from providing disaster relief and other services to meet basic human needs of Iranians and that hampered Iranians’ access to communications technologies that enable Iranians to connect with each other and with the outside world.

Opposing Discrimination: Generated more than 100,000 messages to Congress urging the repeal of the restrictions against Iranian dual nationals imposed by Visa Waiver Program legislation.

Fair Immigration: Led the campaign to fix the U.S.’s single-entry visa policy and to allow Iranian students to receive multiple entry visas.

Protecting Iranian-American Rights: Worked with Venmo to resolve payment difficulties, specifically with the use of specific keywords in the payment message – such as “Persian” and “Iran.”

Promoting Our Heritage: Helped protect priceless artifacts from Persepolis held by American museums and universities from being seized as part of a court order.

Civic Life: Registered thousands of Iranian-American voters.