How a School Club Became an International Nonprofit Organization

Miami, FL, March 7, 2024 — This March is Best Buddies Month, where we celebrate the Best Buddies’ mission of inclusion and our friends with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). While this is also the 35th anniversary of Best Buddies, where it was officially founded by Anthony K. Shriver in 1989, the first iteration of Best Buddies was actually created by Shriver in 1987, in a program he created called “Big Buddies.”

Click here to read an article, published in The Hoya, the Georgetown University student newspaper, in 1987, to learn more about the program that would later become the world’s largest international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing friendship, employment, leadership and inclusive living opportunities to people with IDD.

About Best Buddies
Best Buddies^® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, inclusive living, and family support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to nearly 3,000 middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies’ 12 formal programs — Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies®, Jobs, Ambassadors, Promoters, Transitions, Inclusive Living and Eunie’s Buddies— engage participants in each of the 50 states and in 45 countries, positively impacting the lives of nearly one million people with and without disabilities around the world. In many cases, as a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live on their own, become inspirational leaders, and make lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit bestbuddies.org or connect with us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.