The Tibet Fund was founded in 1981 at a time when the international community had seemingly forgotten the plight of the Tibetan people.  In the early years of exile after 1959, the survival of Tibetan refugees was heavily reliant on the benevolence of the governments of India, Nepal, Bhutan, the UN High Commission for Refugees, foreign donor agencies, and the faith and resilience of the refugees themselves.

As the 1970s saw a decline in humanitarian aid, a group of U.S. citizens and Tibetan Americans established The Tibet Fund to support the refugee community in India and Nepal.

A turning point came in 1989 when the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize, drawing global attention to Tibet’s struggle. The Tibet Fund rapidly expanded, forming partnerships with foundations, government agencies, and individuals committed to helping Tibetans.

With U.S. Government support in 1988 The Tibet Fund established the Tibetan Scholarship Program, which has brought more than 480 Tibetans to the U.S. for graduate studies to date. In 1991 Congress mandated funding for humanitarian assistance that continues to rehabilitate new arrivals from Tibet and serve the most vulnerable refugees in India and Nepal. Since 2012 The Tibet Fund has received USAID funding to strengthen the self-reliance of the exile community through education, health, livelihoods, and culture preservation initiatives.

For the past 43 years, The Tibet Fund has collaborated with the Central Tibetan Administration to address the Tibetan community’s most pressing needs, thanks to these grants and generous donations from many family foundations and individuals.