The National Foreign Trade Council Foundation was incorporated in 1979 as the nonprofit, educational affiliate of the National Foreign Trade Council, created to advance public understanding of international trade and investment.
The NFTC itself has a history stretching back to 1914, when it was founded at the first National Foreign Trade Convention in Washington, DC. Established by a group of American companies committed to an open world trading system, the Council has spent more than a century advocating for the rules, norms and institutions that enable American businesses to compete and succeed in the global economy.
Over the decades the NFTC Foundation has hosted seminars, conferences and roundtables bringing together business leaders, policymakers and academics to advance understanding of international commerce. Its signature activities include the annual World Trade Dinner, which has honored cabinet secretaries, Members of Congress, heads of state, and leaders of the United Nations and World Trade Organization, and the International Tax Conference, a premier gathering for international tax professionals.
In 2009, the Foundation launched the Global Innovation Forum, a unique effort to connect small businesses, entrepreneurs, universities and policymakers to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace. Since its founding, GIF has elevated the voices of thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs to policymakers in the United States and globally.
Today, the NFTC Foundation continues to build on more than four decades of educational work, expanding its research and engagement program to address the defining trade and investment policy questions of our time.