Washington, DC – On June 26, the Executive Committee of the Hungarian American Coalition (Coalition) voted to join the Friends of Hungary Foundation as a partner organization.

Friends of Hungary Foundation (FoH) was established in Budapest in 2011 to provide value-based, non-partisan information to the public on events and successes concerning Hungary and Hungarians around the world. The Foundation collects and disseminates information about the social, cultural, economic and scientific activities of Hungarians, strengthening the ties between Hungarians living in their homeland and in the Diaspora. FoH works to create a more complete and accurate public image of Hungary and Hungarians, and to act as a bridge between academic figures and those involved in public service.

The Foundation, headed by E. Sylvester Vizi, former Chairman of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, currently has 17 partner organizations. Its 400 individual members are people living abroad who are either of Hungarian ancestry or have a passion for Hungary, and who are opinion leaders within their own communities and countries of residence. Coalition members of FoH  include Max Teleki, Edith Lauer, Zsolt Szekeres, Andrea Lauer, Aniko Gaal Schott, Prof. Andras Ludanyi, Dr. Judith Nemethy and others. Each year in early May the FoH membership is invited to Hungary for a two-day program to meet Hungarian government leaders, get acquainted with each other and share ideas about how to best communicate information of Hungarian achievements.

The FoH website, friendsofhungary.hu, offers registered members up-to-date information on Hungarian-related activities and the Foundation’s programs. Members of FoH also regularly receive the Hungarian-language Friends of Hungary magazine, while hungarytoday.hu, a news portal published by the FoH, provides information on current affairs in Hungary to the broader English-speaking public. Their German-language blogsite, Ungarn Heute, was launched in 2017.