International Rescue Committee

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) was one of C.V. Starr’s earliest philanthropic priorities.

From a small effort to help WWII refugees, the IRC today is a global humanitarian powerhouse, providing critical aid to the world’s most vulnerable populations in more than 40 countries. Since 1961, The Starr Foundation has awarded the IRC nearly $27.5 million to support its work in health care, education, crisis intervention, refugee support, and to prevent human trafficking and gender-based violence.

Conflict Zones, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

The Starr Foundation has provided unrestricted operating support to bolster the IRC’s work in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Ethiopia’s Tigray region, as well as its efforts to assist asylum seekers entering the United States and other host countries around the world. The Foundation provided $5 million to aid the IRC’s efforts in Ukraine after the 2022 Russian invasion. In-country programs have included assistance with health care and basic needs such as electricity and transportation, the delivery of critical medicines and medical supplies, and the provision of psychosocial support to children. Working hand in hand with local organizations in Poland, the IRC connects refugees in Poland to employment and counseling resources and helps to promote the inclusion of Ukrainian children in Polish schools. All of the IRC’s programs, including antitrafficking efforts, have a focus on the unique needs of women and children as they are frequently at risk of victimization in conflict zones.

Public Health Crises

The Starr Foundation’s unrestricted support has also aided the IRC’s work to address international public health crises, from outbreaks of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo to outbreaks of cholera in Yemen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the IRC mobilized a COVID-19 response by launching coronavirus preparedness programs in over 40 countries, sharing crucial information, training health-care workers, and bolstering health-care systems already weakened by regional conflict.

Natural Disasters

The Starr Foundation awarded $1.5 million for the IRC’s relief efforts in Indonesia in the wake of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, and across the U.S. Gulf states in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2020, when the worst locust outbreak in generations threatened to devastate the food supply and destabilize communities in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, particularly in Somalia, The Starr Foundation’s general support aided the IRC’s response to the double emergency of food shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic.