Frequently Asked Questions

A NIAF membership covers 365 days from the day you sign-up.

The Ambassador magazines are available in physical copy to Sustaining members and above.

NIAF offers a discounted Sustaining membership rate for students and teachers.

The simplest method is found by going to https://www.niaf.org/forms/join-us/.

You can also call 202-939-3109.

Memberships range from $25 to $2,500

For students, the magazine comes in four seasonal online editions.

For members above the student rate, the printed magazine will be available four times a year and access will also be possible online.

Yes, NIAF keeps members’ information private and can assure its safety as we have data security.

No, NIAF offices do not retain any credit/debit card data.

You can pay with all major credit card and debit cards, cash (via post), check, money order, and cashier’s check.

Please email membership@niaf.org and a NIAF Membership Associate will get back to you.

Please email membership@niaf.org and a NIAF Membership Associate will make the change for you.

Please send to the NIAF membership coordinator  at membership@niaf.org.

Our scholarship program is extremely competitive and all applications undergo a rigorous evaluation process. The odds of being awarded a scholarship depend heavily upon the number of applications received. The NIAF receives between 1,500 – 3,000 scholarship applications each year and depending on available funds, awards between 50 and 100 scholarships.

Your NIAF Membership ID is the number that was administered to you when you signed up for NIAF Membership. Please check your email and your spam folder for the confirming email.  You will be asked for the member’s name exactly how it appears on your membership, the zip code on the membership and your NIAF member ID. If you cannot find this information, please call NIAF at 202-387-0600 or email membership@niaf.org.

All new applicants must create a Community Force account to start your application by pressing the grey, “Create New Account” button on NIAF’s Community Force page. If you applied to a NIAF Scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year, you may use the same login as you used last year.  Please note that the application login is different from your NIAF membership login. You cannot access the scholarship application from the NIAF membership portal.

If you are still having trouble accessing the application after creating your Community Force log-in credentials, please click the “Forgot Password?” link on the login page. It will send you an e-mail from admin@communityforce.com with a link to reset your password. If you do not receive it within 30 minutes, please check your spam folder.

All applicants will be notified via email if they have received or not received a scholarship on Monday May 5, 2025 by 5:00 pm (EST). We do not post an exhaustive list of scholarship recipients on our website. The email will be sent to the email address that you register your application with on Community Force. To ensure that you receive your notification, please make sure that you register your application with your most frequently used e-mail address. If you do not receive an e-mail, please check your spam folder. E-mails generated from the NIAF Scholarship application come from admin@communityforce.com and may be directed to your spam.

No, NIAF scholarship applications are only available online. We no longer offer paper applications and will not accept paper copies of application documents. Additionally, an email address is required when completing a scholarship application.

No, NIAF scholarship awards can only be used for tuition and university provided room and board during the academic year (Fall 2025 and Spring 2026).

The scholarship funds awarded by the NIAF are only eligible to be used for tuition payment or on housing accommodations billed through your student account. You cannot use the funds for books or supplies.

Yes.

Any high school senior, undergraduate, graduate student or doctoral student may apply for a NIAF Scholarship. This includes students attending medical or law school. For any questions on the application that do not apply to you, please leave them blank unless stated as a required field. If you receive a NIAF Scholarship, you will be asked to show proof of full-time enrollment for Fall 2025 in a US-based, accredited higher education institution in before the scholarship monies can be paid.

To be considered “Italian American” for the NIAF scholarship program, the student must have at least one ancestor who has emigrated from Italy (any region). We do not require verification of your Italian heritage.

Yes; you must be a member of NIAF or have a parent, guardian or grandparent who is a dues paying member of NIAF. Do you need to sign up for membership or renew your membership? You may sign up for any level of membership or renew your membership at www.niaf.org/join.

NIAF does not offer scholarships for private high school education. Only students entering or planning to enter a U.S. based accredited college or university on a full-time basis in the Fall 2025 are eligible (usually high school seniors or above). Applicants must be enrolled in or have been accepted to a U.S.-based accredited college or university for Fall 2025.

There is no minimum or maximum age limit to be considered eligible for a NIAF scholarship. Birth date is not a consideration in evaluating applications, but students must be at least high school seniors to apply. Students that attend a university later than the traditional age are also eligible to apply.

Yes; previous scholarship winners can and are encouraged to reapply. Previously awarded scholarship winners are not guaranteed an automatic scholarship renewal. Please note, however, that some scholarships require that eligible applicants must not have previously received the scholarship.

Yes. The NIAF welcomes students of all types to apply for its scholarship funds. If you are attending school after a significant absence, please provide your most recent transcript (e.g. high school, undergraduate) even if a significant amount of time has passed. If you are unable to procure a transcript, please contact the NIAF at scholarships@niaf.org.  You can also ask a coworker or supervisor to submit a recommendation in lieu of a teacher or professor.

It depends. If you are studying during the academic year (i.e. not the summer) and with a U.S.-based, accredited institution (e.g. NYU, University of California – Berkeley), then you would be considered eligible for a scholarship from the NIAF. If, however, you are studying during the summer or through a non-U.S.-based, accredited institution (e.g. University of Bologna, University for Foreigners at Perugia), you will not be considered eligible for a scholarship from the NIAF.

As an example, if you attend Fordham University (a U.S.-based, accredited institution) and will be studying abroad in Rome during the fall semester and you will still be enrolled as a student at Fordham (but just studying abroad), then you would be considered eligible for a scholarship. If, however, you are taking an academic leave of absence from Fordham and enrolling at the University of Bologna, you would not be eligible.

To be eligible for a scholarship, you must be a citizen of the United States of America or a permanent resident alien. If you are a dual citizen of another country and the US, you are considered eligible.

Only one of your GPAs must be at least 3.5 to be considered eligible to apply. If you are applying based on your Major GPA, make sure that you include it on your application.

The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

To submit your transcript, please upload it in PDF form in the section dedicated to uploading documents.

If your teacher only wants to submit a paper copy of your recommendation, you can invite your teacher to copy and paste the recommendation directly on the application website. The directions for submitting a recommendation on the application can be found in the e-mail that your teacher receives when you submit your request for a recommendation on Community Force. If they have trouble finding the e-mail, we recommend that they check their junk folder. All letters of recommendation will be kept private and will not be shared with the applicant.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your teacher has submitted your recommendation by the March 1, 2025, deadline at 11:59 pm EST. The NIAF recommends that you provide your teacher with as much time as possible to complete the recommendation. As the deadline approaches, please contact your teacher to remind them of the upcoming deadline. The NIAF does not make exceptions for teacher recommendations submitted after the deadline. If your teacher recommendation is not submitted by the deadline, your application will not be considered complete and you will not be eligible for a NIAF scholarship. Remember, they must upload the recommendation via the drop box Community Force website.

We would like you to use a teacher as your evaluator if possible. However, if you feel that your recommendation would be better served by another person because you have been out of school for some time or for another reason, you may have a professional (e.g. a coworker or superior) fill out your form.

Having a current professor or coach fill out the recommendation would be preferable, as that person would have the best knowledge of your current performance as a student. However, if you feel that a current professor would not be able to provide you a recommendation that accurately reflects your qualifications for this scholarship, we will accept a former teacher or coach’s recommendation.

If the deadline has passed, you will not be eligible for a NIAF scholarship this year. NIAF’s next scholarship application will open on December 1, 2025 and close on March 1, 2026. If you have missed the deadline and are looking for other scholarships, the NIAF recommends www.fastweb.com and www.zinch.com/scholarships/ to help students in the scholarship search process.

A small percentage of the total number of scholarships the NIAF grants each year take the financial need of an applicant into account along with academic merit as criteria for selection.

If you are claiming financial need on your NIAF Scholarship Application, the NIAF requires that you upload a pdf copy of your Student Aid Report (SAR) or FAFSA form.

Information on completing a FAFSA form through the federal government can be found on their website www.fafsa.ed.gov

If you claim financial need, you will still be considered for all scholarships you are eligible, whether they take financial need into consideration or not. For those scholarships based on academic merit, your financial need will have no bearing on your evaluation.

The NIAF is not responsible for technical issues with your SAR report. To troubleshoot your FAFSA or SAR report, please contact FAFSA through their website www.fafsa.ed.gov.

The FAFSA Financial Aid Form is the Free Federal Application for Student Aid sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The NIAF uses this information to make its determinations about the applicants’ financial need relative to other students who are applying. If you do not have a FAFSA Financial Aid Form registered with the Dept. of Education, visit their website:  www.fafsa.ed.gov for more information on how to submit a FAFSA.

You can prepare a FAFSA, which will generate your SAR, based on your previous year’s tax return. If your financial situation has changed dramatically, please note that in your application.

If you still have questions about the on-line application, please contact scholarships@niaf.org or for an immediate response, call Julia Streisfeld Kennedy, NIAF Director of Scholarships, Grants and Youth Engagement at (202) 939-3114.

Unfortunately, no. You will have to re-apply next year.

We would encourage you to apply and the reviewing committee will take this into consideration.

No. You must be a current college student in the Spring semester proceeding the trip.

No.  You must be a college student in the Spring semester proceeding the trip.

No, you must depart with together with the group from the US departure city (usually New York or Washington, D.C.)

Yes, of course.

Yes! Once you submit your online application, you will receive an individual Dropbox link sent to your email, within 72 hours of applying. Please check your spam folder. You must submit the following to your personal Dropbox folder for your application to be considered complete:

• Two different letters of recommendation by a professor or coach on letterhead, typed, PDF format
• Unofficial or official Transcript from college/university, PDF format
• Resume, PDF format
• Video Testimonial- Tell us about yourself and why you should be selected for the Voyage of Discovery (maximum: 5 minutes)

All the above must be submitted to your personal Dropbox folder by the deadline.

Unfortunately, no. At this time, the NIAF on Campus Program is only for schools that have an already established Italian club on their college campus. We hope to expand the program to include funding to help students establish Italian clubs at their schools.

To be eligible for the NIAF on Campus program, applicants must be Italian American.

No, to be eligible for the $1,500 in event funding and other NIAF on Campus benefits, you must reapply and be accepted to participate in the 2023-2024 program.

Currently, the NIAF on Campus Program is only for Italian club on college campuses. We hope to expand the program to include Italian clubs at high schools across the country. However, we are more than happy to send NIAF pamphlets and information about our programs to high school Italian clubs and Italian teachers if they are interested in learning more about the Foundation.

Unfortunately, no. At this time, the NIAF on Campus Program is only for schools that have an already established Italian club on their college campus. We hope to expand the program to include funding to help students establish Italian clubs at their schools.

In addition to receiving up to $1,500 in funding for educational events on your college campus and travel expenses to NIAF’s Anniversary Gala weekend in Washington D.C., your club will have the opportunity to host additional NIAF lectures and programming on your college campus, have access to free NIAF Student Memberships for interested club members and NIAF Teacher Memberships for faculty advisors of NIAF on Campus clubs, networking opportunities with other NIAF on Campus clubs and access to our guide book of college club best practices.

Thank you for your interest in the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Grant and Sponsorship Program!

Please note that our process for applying for funding from NIAF has recently changed and we now review all funding requests on a quarterly basis. To apply for NIAF funding, we ask that you please complete the following application form and return a typed copy to grants@niaf.org by 11:59 pm ET on the dates listed on the Grants and Sponsorship page. Decisions will be communicated to the applicant approximately 2-3 weeks after the deadline. To be eligible for funding, the applicant must be an active member of NIAF.

NIAF has partnered with the Italian American Citizenship Assistance Program that offers services to procure Italian vital records and research naturalization records. Please contact helpdesk@itamcap.com for more information.

NIAF defers defamation cases to the Italian American One Voice Coalition as the Coalition represents Italian American organizations around the country with the goal to “act as one united voice when dealing with defamation, discrimination and negative stereotyping of our culture and heritage.” Please see the Italian American One Voice Coalition’s contact information below:

E-mail: info@iaovc.org
Phone: 844-862-8623

Mail:
Andre’ DiMino
Communications Director
Italian American One Voice Colaition
PO Box 2333
Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003

NIAF concentrates on providing educational support to young professional Italian Americans. We advise people who bring us anti-defamation issues to contact the Italian American One Voice Coalition, Unico and OSIA who are groups that concentrate solely on these issues.

Please read NIAF’s statement on Christopher Columbus here.

According to Italian Law 91 of February 5, 1992, Italian citizenship is conferred by bloodline. In other words, the descendant of an Italian citizen is already an Italian citizen. The descendant need only have his/her Italian citizenship recognized by the Italian government. An individual seeking to have his/her Italian citizenship recognized need only to produce evidence that everyone in his/her direct line of ascendants uninterruptedly maintained their Italian citizenship. To learn more about the citizenship process and requirements, please visit: https://itamcap.com/dual-citizenship/jure-sanguinis/

NIAF works exclusively with a company called the Italian American Citizenship Assistance Program (ITAMCAP), a NIAF corporate sponsor. Active NIAF members receive a 5% discount on Full Executive Service or Judicial Package on Italian Citizenship at the Bronze, Silver and Gold Membership levels and 10% off the Contract Package for Platinum Family, Garibaldi Society and da Vinci Council Members. Please email helpdesk@itamcap.com for information.

NIAF does not offer internships at its Headquarters. Please consult our programs to see the other opportunities we offer to youth.

NIAF is not able to forward resume’s to Italian companies. NIAF encourages professionals to join NIAF events to network and build relationships with other likeminded individuals throughout the year.

Would you all like to honor him at the next NIAF gala? NIAF welcomes names and background information for nominations. NIAF will send the information to the Gala nomination committee for further review.  Please email your suggestions to gala@niaf.org.

NIAF welcomes organizations to collaborate by becoming a NIAF partner or corporate sponsor. Please consult our Become a Sponsor page.  If you have further questions, contact information@niaf.org.

NIAF is unable to share personal contact information to the public.

Please send all matching gift inquires to information@niaf.org

Please send all collaboration and partner requests to information@niaf.org