Register for the 2020 ILI

Join us virtually this year for a 1 day ILI experience! Registration is open through August 27.

Reduced Registration Fee

This year in particular, we don’t want cost to be prohibitive, so we’ve significantly reduced the registration fee to $25. There is no need to pay to attend the ILI if you or your campus is unable. Read more below.

Who is the ILI for? 

Any undergraduate student, graduate student, or educator at an undergraduate college or university within the United States is eligible to attend the ILI. Learn more about what we offer undergraduate students, campus staff, and faculty by reviewing this year's offerings.

Thursday, September 17, 2020

  • 10:00am - 10:30am: Orientation
  • 10:30am - 10:45am: Talk Better Together
  • 10:45am - 11:30am: Opening Plenary with Eboo Patel
  • 11:30am - 12:00pm: Break
  • 12:00pm - 1:15pm: Deep Dive Sessions
  • 1:15pm - 2:00pm: Unconference
  • 2:00pm - 2:15pm: Break
  • 2:15pm - 3:00pm: Closing Plenary

Eboo Patel, IFYC Founder and President

Student Deep Dives

We are offering a session for students who are new or beginning interfaith work and one for those students who have more experience in the area. The choices are below:

Foundations of Interfaith Leadership

For students new to interfaith work, this session will offer a new virtual training experience highlighting fundamental concepts of interfaith leadership.

Advanced Interfaith Leadership

Designed for experienced interfaith leaders, this session will focus on deepening the actionable interfaith skills needed for students to respond to this unprecedented time.



Educator Deep Dives

For this year’s ILI experience, we are offering a session for those educators who need an introduction to interfaith concepts and approaches. And for educators with more experience in interfaith cooperation, we will hold a train-the-trainer session focused on an exciting new virtual tool for promoting interfaith action.

Foundations of Interfaith Cooperation

Giving an overview of the core concepts of interfaith cooperation, this session connects interfaith work with your goals on campus.

Interfaith Action Online

With so much being done virtually, how do educators equip students to take action? This session will introduce a new training series that educators can use to foster reflection and action during this “new normal” time on campus.

ILI Stories

"I think it was important
for all of us in that room
to sit down and discuss the problems we all faced on our campuses and to help one another overcome them. Campus leaders tend to feel pretty isolated and it was great to come together for a common cause and to realize that we are not alone and that we are all in this fight together."
- Mandy Tu
Student, Sewanee: University of the South
"The five training sessions
taken together were
of both conceptual and practical use to me. They helped me learn a new vocabulary for expressing interfaith cooperation and they did help me develop at least the beginning of an action plan for our campus activities this year."
- Brian DuSell
Educator, University of San Francisco
"After ILI, I identified
the need for a safe
space to conduct dialogues, and I plan to collaborate with the convocation office (religious office) at my school to organize events where discussions can be had with people to monitor the progress of these dialogues."
- Carolina Borjas
Student, Pepperdine University
twitter logoBaylor MA@BaylorMA
This past weekend four @Baylor civic interfaith student leaders went to Chicago to attend #ifycILI. They are excited about the initiatives they will be bringing back to campus this fall. "You belong. You're a neighbor. You are needed." #bettertogetherbu @ifyc @BUSpiritualLife
twitter logoCaleb J. Keith@DrCalebJKeith
I have appreciated #ifycILI 2019 for several reasons. Primarily, however, it has been a place to dream AND identify action steps to make dream become reality. #ifycILI
twitter logoEllie Thompson@AndersEllie
Listening to students talk about there take always from #ifycILI There is no limit to the #Interfaith applications on campus, realizing we have great support and assets on our campus, desire to learn much more about #Islam

ILI Stories

"For those who are just
starting in interfaith
it provides a good, basic foundation to begin with. This way anyone can feel welcome to come and learn based on their skill levels."
- Natalie Nabass
Student, Pacific Lutheran University
"This was an incredibly
diverse group
in representation across positional power, robust interfaith programs, teaching and research experience, and other content knowledge."
- Liane Ortis
Educator, University of Northern Colorado
"The panel was great
and helped show
some amazing things that an interfaith leader might do."
- Marion Larson
Educator, Bethel University
twitter logoFrank Shushok, Jr.@fshushok
I’m always grateful when I land in spaces like #ifycILI where people of goodwill seek to find common ground. #ifycILI #interfaithleadership
twitter logoAbdillahi Dirie@MOStateSBP
In Chicago for the weekend attending the Interfaith Leadership Institute with @SchroederEthan and @tara_orr77! Learning about how people with different faiths, worldviews, and traditions can bridge divides and find a common ground. Thanks to Ekklesia for inviting us! #ifycILI
twitter logoMatt Hartley@rmatthartley
“If everyone brings the same thing, potlucks are boring.” Interfaith Youth Core @ifyc founder Eboo Patel in the house! #ifycILI
"I felt like I was learning substantive things
that were also very applicable… It got the mix of theory and practice just right, and was fun, to boot. I'm excited to bring some of the exercises back to my campus."
- Matisse Peppet
Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"The track I was in
was so practical
and so easily applicable. Because we were asked to come in with a particular program or initiative in mind that we were hoping to start, I spent the whole weekend being able to immediately apply the things I was learning to my actual work, rather than in a vague, hypothetical sense..."
- Katherine Grooms
Educator, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
"The opportunity to
create an action plan
for a project that can be implemented on my campus was beneficial."
- Tondaleya Jackson
Educator, Benedict College
twitter logoVivian Taylor MSW 2020@TayloredLooks
We understood the POWER of our work TOGETHER!
A whole word!
#ifycILI #conference #solidarityacrossreligions
twitter logoUNFInterfaithCenter@Unfinterfaith
Florida in the house! Great weekend at @ifyc Leadership Institute and meeting our new interfaith friends and neighbors at @EmbryRiddle @stetsonu @UofTampa @bethunecookman #ifycILI #BetterTogether
twitter logoUNFInterfaithCenter@Unfinterfaith
‏ @UofNorthFlorida #BetterTogether leaders Hannah and Rachel and Associate Director Matt are Interfaithing this weekend at @ifyc Interfaith Leadership Institute. Also always repping the #SWOOP #Ospreys #ifycILI

Who can attend the ILI?

Any undergraduate student, graduate student, or educator at a college or university is eligible to attend. The registration process for the ILI will help route folks to the deep dive best suited to their needs. While educators are welcome to attend without their students, IFYC recommends that campuses bring multiple students and educators to the ILI so you have a network already established to implement the skills gained. For this reason, there is no cap on how many participants from one campus can attend. We recommend a mixed group of students and educators from various faiths and traditions, majors, and levels of involvement with interfaith cooperation. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions and want to talk to an IFYC staff member.

Reduced Registration Fee

Given the financial constraints campuses and individuals are navigating, we have significantly reduced the registration fee to $25. If your campus has the funds to cover the registration fee, that’s great, but there is no need to pay to attend the ILI if you or your campus is unable. There will be a question in the registration process where you can indicate if you are able to pay the registration fee. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have any questions and want to talk to a member of our staff.

ILI Discounts

Due to the shift to an all virtual ILI this year and the financial constraints campuses are experiencing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are pausing our discounts and will save all discounts campuses are eligible for this year to be available in 2021. This means if your campus is new to the ILI this year, you can attend this year’s virtual ILI and the new campus discount of 2 free registrations will be held for your campus to use for the 2021 ILI. We have significantly reduced the registration fee to $25 in light of the many financial constraints campuses and individuals are dealing with so we’ll hang on to those discounts for you until next year when we hope we can all be in person together. Please email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have any questions about this change and want to talk to a member of our staff.

ILI FAQs

Who should attend the ILI from my campus? 

IFYC recommends that campuses have multiple students and educators attend the ILI so that you have a network already established to implement the skills gained. For this reason, there is no cap on delegation size. We recommend a diversity of students and educators attend from various faiths and traditions, majors, and level of involvement with interfaith cooperation.

The deep dive experiences are designed for both participants new to interfaith work and for those looking for advanced skills. Please be in touch with your IFYC contact directly or email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org if you have questions about this and strategies regarding who you should attend the ILI from your campus.

What are some strategies for building a delegation to bring to the ILI? 

Our deep dive sessions are designed for new and advanced leaders. We encourage representatives from a variety of student organizations and academic pursuits. For educators, we recommend a mixture of staff, faculty, and administrators to ensure that multiple perspectives are brought from your campus to engage in interfaith leadership. You can read more about the deep dive sessions here.

Will IFYC provide for my accessibility needs at the ILI?

We are always looking for ways to make the ILI more welcoming, accommodating, and inclusive for our attendees. Here are some of the ways we try to create that environment (virtually this year!) but if there is anything else we can do, please don’t hesitate to email leadershipinstitute@ifyc.org and ask.

  • Registration: Registration for the ILI asks for information regarding accessibility needs. If you indicate that you have accessibility needs when registering, an IFYC staff member will contact you to follow up closer to the ILI to ensure those needs are met.
  • Audio and Visual Needs: Since this year’s ILI will be all virtual, live captioning will be available for the entire ILI. All videos shown in our sessions will have closed captioning. Additionally, all presentations and downloadable resources are available for Braille programs upon request within registration.