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About International Real Property Foundation

IRPF is a non-profit foundation created from the desire of the U.S. real estate professionals to share their expertise. At the grassroots, IRPF brings practitioners together to promote property rights globally, enabling people to own property, to own a home. IRPF believes having a home means having hope. IRPF delivers on the promise of hope by sharing American real estate know-how with the developing world.

The IRPF was established in 1992, as an independent, nonprofit organization designed to help in the transition from centrally planned to market driven economies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union. The mission of the IRPF is to help create free, efficient, honest and equitable real estate markets anchored to private property rights; to develop an ethical and trained real estate profession committed to protection of the public and organized into representative real estate associations; and to promote home ownership as a key element of free societies.

International Voluntary Service Activities

The strength of the Foundation is its ability to reach for skilled real estate professionals from, for example, the over 1,000,000 real estate professionals of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) and related organizations, such as the Appraisal Institute, engaged in all aspects of the real estate business. For the past twelve years, the program, with core funding from the US Agency for International Development, volunteered services from professional practitioners and support from NAR, has sought to apply American real estate experience and know-how to local conditions through a broad range of educational and training programs.

As a result of these efforts, IRPF has actively assisted and/or helped establish more than 65 real estate associations in twelve countries of the region with a combined total membership of over 50,000 real estate professionals. These efforts have had considerable success in developing the fields of real estate appraisal, management, brokerage and development and have prompted the organization and professional development of associations of real estate practitioners in those fields. IRPF utilizes 10-12 highly experienced real estate professionals as volunteers annually. Volunteers are generally mobilized in conjunction with paid consultants.

Volunteer for Prosperity Opportunities
Number of Opportunities	10-20
Geographic Regions	Africa, Asia, Central Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Russia, Fr. Soviet Union
Health & Prosperity Sectors	Economic Growth, Capacity Building, Competitiveness
Types of Opportunities	Management, Technical
Average Duration of Projects	14 days
Volunteer Profile Summary
IRPF plans to continue developing viable local, national and regional real estate organizations focused on fostering cooperation on cross-cutting issues of broad importance. It will also continue to bring cooperating countries into formal association with NAR's network of country affiliates and other international real estate organizations within industry so that people in these countries may benefit from the most advanced thinking and experience on real property matters and ethical practice. Volunteers are generally individuals with more than a decade of experience in real estate related specialties, including appraisal and legal infrastructure matters. IRPF recruits individuals who have made a distinguished career in the US, and who are willing to share their expertise with developing markets.