A Brief History of The Forgotten International
BEFORE THE BEGINNING It can be said that even before The Forgotten International was legally incorporated, much was going on that would set the stage for its beginnings. For example, Tom Nazario, who was then teaching at the University of San Francisco School of Law, like most academics, was required to publish. 
His expertise at the time was the field of Children’s Rights, and so in 1988, his book, In Defense of Children, was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York. The book allowed him to travel around the country to speak about the rights and problems of children in America, and as he gained prominence, he was asked by the United Nations to travel the world and examine how children were being treated in countries which had recently ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
One such mission he was asked to do led him to work with the Dalai Lama and later write a report on the treatment of Tibetan children by the Chinese government. During this period, he and the Dalai Lama became friends, and it was through their friendship that Tom realized he had to do more to help women and children around the world. In fact, over the course of several conversations Tom had with the Dalai Lama, he learned that the highest level of compassion is when people decide to help those who they have never met and probably will never meet and do so without any need of reward or even acknowledgement. It was what Tom believed he had to do.
So, it was on a returning flight from India where Tom decided to name the organization that he hoped to start, The Forgotten International, for by then he had seen and visited with many people throughout the world that had simply been forgotten, and it was those who often needed the most help.
THE BIRTH OF TFI It was in the year 2008 when TFI was legally in corporated and could, from that point on, take donations from friends and others who realized that they had more money than they needed and wished to use the resources they had to help those who had so little and suffered so much. In fact, we believe that those who have helped TFI since its incorporation all have done so with that in mind.
At that time, and in order to help us get our start, the Dalai Lama did a fundraiser for us at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in San Francisco called The Joy of Giving (pictured above). In doing so, he raised enough money for us to get our feet on the ground and actually start making grants to begin the work that we hoped to do.
Over those first couple of years our grants were small, but often made a huge difference for those we helped. In those days, we concentrated our giving in India, Thailand, Nepal, and Vietnam, but since then, we have worked in many other countries. What was extremely beneficial to us was not only the friendship and guidance of the Dalai Lama but also the many friends he brought to us through the various events we later did with him. The truth is that but for his help, it is doubtful that we would have ever been able to develop the network of friends we have today.
STAYING ALIVE Of course, without an endowment, the trick for non-profits like ours is to develop a growing network of friends and donors that will help us help others for years to come. This is sometimes very difficult because often people like to help for a while and then go on to do other things. So, we often need to create ways to engage new funders and friends in order to replace those who have gone. Luckily, through our association with the Dalai Lama, we met a gentleman who funded a project that made it possible for us to travel to ten countries on four continents to spend time with some of the world’s poor, and in the process, write a book, called Living on a Dollar a Day. It was published by W.W. Norton and Co. in 2014.
The book garnered much publicity throughout the United States, and brought a whole new circle of friends who wished to help us in our mission. With new friends and new funds, we began to reach out to more countries in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa, and by 2016, were working in 12 different countries and helping tens of thousands of people each year. To the left, Tom is speaking at the World Affairs Council about his book.
LIVING ON A DOLLAR A DAY, THE DOCUMENTARY In order to continue our work with a larger group of friends and donors, we decided to take advantage of the work that went into the making of our book and use the videos and photos that were captured by those who traveled the world to create our documentary, Living on a Dollar a Day. As luck would have it, our documentary did well at film festivals all over the world including winning some 26 awards and a Best Documentary prize in London, England. By the end of a two-year run, TFI had once again made many new friends, which made it possible to continue and expand the work we do today. So, TFI has certainly been blessed with good friends, good fortune, and many good people who we try to help each year. All in all, a great start to a cause in need of much attention, helping women and children worldwide.
NEW INITIATIVES As a result of some good friends, TFI has grown over these last several years, and with that growth some of our funding priorities have changed. For example, during the pandemic, if not before, we discovered that one of the most important things to do for the world’s extreme poor was to simply keep them alive. Therefore, during the pandemic, we spent a considerable amount of our funds providing packages of food to women, children, and families who had little or no access to food. The medical clinics that we have been funding and building recently have also
helped people stay alive, for as you may know, approximately 350,000 people die each year worldwide, simply due to the distance between them and the nearest doctor.
Most recently, we discovered that funding capital improvement projects goes a long way in keeping communities engaged and providing services to those in need. 
For when they have a building as a center of operation they can call home, which will be there for years to come, rather than commodities that may be here today and gone tomorrow, it gives them much more hope. So with that in mind, we have now built schools, teachers’ residences, factories where women can work and learn new skills, and dormitories for orphans to live and learn at schools. All this has been done over the years for many that we will never know or even meet but are truly in need of help in order to better participate in what this world has to offer. Thanks to all who have made this possible.
CONCLUSION So, in conclusion, and certainly as a result of the kindness of others over the years, TFI has been blessed to be able to do the work it has done. In short, we have been able to assist some 70 NGOs around the world, who work so hard every day to improve the lives of many thousands of impoverished families, by funding schools, skills training centers, clinics, supplemental food programs, scholarships, housing facilities, clean water projects, and other programs that have given so many an opportunity to leave poverty in twelve different countries. To accomplish this, TFI created nine different initiatives that serve this critical need: an international and domestic grant making program, a medical assistance fund, a domestic education effort which encourages youth to recognize the need for kindness in the world, a fellowship program that sends volunteers around the world to help those in need, as well as three donor directed funds, including one that works to save exemplary programs that are experiencing temporary financial challenges.
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to TFI
so we can continue serving impoverished women
and children in 2026!
The Forgotten International
P.O. Box 192066, San Francisco, CA 94119 • 415-517-6942
The Forgotten International is 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Tax ID 26-1484826.
All donations are deductible to the fullest extent of the law.