We provide tools for success to help disadvantaged children build a better future

Our mission is to fund professionally guided programs dealing with health, education and the prevention of abuse. The use of the funds donated by FAAFC is always earmarked for specific projects and closely monitored. 

The Board of Directors selects beneficiary institutions by evaluating their programs in light of the guidelines & criteria set forth by FAAFC’s mission. After selection, the Board closely monitors the project through annual reviews of the charity, its grants and financial statements. It is the recipients’ responsibility to distribute the donated funds in accordance to FAAFC guidelines. 

Additionally, FAAFC makes one-time donations to similarly selected disaster relief organizations that benefit children. We distribute 100% of our proceeds every year. The funds are raised through special events, membership dues and occasional donations. Our main event is an annual benefit – the Bal des Berceaux - produced and coordinated by a committee of volunteers. Its tradition goes back to a wartime fundraiser organized in 1942 by the Junior Committee with the purpose of sending financial aid to Les Berceaux de Rouen, a French orphanage founded by the American philanthropist Seymour Houghton. (The name derives from the nurturing image of infants in their cradles).  The Bal des Berceaux is an internationally renown debutante ball: in 2007, six debutantes and their escorts were presented to a distinguished audience who attended the event at Cipriani in New York.

Eminent guests and Masters of Ceremonies have included personalities from the arts and the entertainment industry, notably in recent years John Sexton, Felicia Taylor,  I.M. Pei, Frederic Fekkai, Arman, Mary McFadden, Robin Leach, Raquel Welch, Margaux Hemingway, Edward Herrmann and Roger Moore, as well as the regular attendance by leaders in the worlds of diplomacy, finance and business.

This year’s benefit will take place on Friday, May 2, 2008 at the newly renovated Plaza Hotel in New York City. It is placed under eminent diplomatic patronage and will feature a Live Auction of extraordinary lots and a Raffle. Also a successful Holiday shopping event was held on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at the Residence of the HE Jean-Maurice Ripert, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations.