Founded in 2000, the National Iranian American Council is an association of Iranian-Americans, especially professionals, involved in networking Iranian-American individuals and organizations and promotion of Iranian culture. NIAC is designated as a 501(C3) non-partisan, non-political, non-sectarian, and non-profit organization and is dedicated to promoting Iranian-American participation in American civic life. The council is headquartered in Washington DC. The National Iranian American Council was established for the purpose of serving as a catalyst for information sharing and collaboration among Iranian-American organizations and providing an organized framework for effective networking and civic education for Iranian-Americans. The organization is recognized within the Iranian-American community for its work protecting Iranian-Americans and Persian heritiage including issues with Monster.com, National Geographic (Persian Gulf), Don Imus among others. In 2006 the organization's membership voted to take a stance and to publicly oppose US military intervention in Iran. Instead its membership encourages diplomatic engagements as the means to resolving the issue surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions. NIAC is transparent in its funding and receives funds from organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy and the Tides foundation among many others. It receives no funding from the governments of the US or Iran. Trita Parsi is the President and a co-founder of the NIAC.
