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Our History
The Marshall Christensen Foundation traces its origin
back to a relationship between InterVarsity-USA and the Kazakh-American
Free University in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. In 1996, InterVarsity-USA
asked Dr. Marshall Christensen to assume responsibility for the American
partnership that was serving this university in Kazakhstan.
In 1997, Dr. Christensen visited the Kazakh-American Free
University along with three business representatives from
Oregon. As a result of their visit, they decided to create a
foundation that would support international higher education - at the
university in Ust-Kamenogorsk and around the world. The Marshall Christensen
Foundation was formally registered as a non-profit foundation later that year
in the State of Oregon.
The MCF Today
Today, the mission of the MCF is to foster quality education
and servant leadership at places of learning around the globe. The
MCF carries out this mission by serving universities in developing countries through
two key programs: 1) servant leadership programs that help students and faculty develop
as servant leaders, and 2) university partnerships that bring mutually beneficial exchanges and friendships
to universities around the world.
The MCF carries out its programs with the help of a small
staff team, an actively involved Board of Directors, and the important help of many
volunteers. The MCF highly values the participation of educators and professionals as key contributors to MCF programs as mentors, trainers, and teachers.
The MCF funds its programs entirely through the generous financial
contributions of individual and corporate donors.
Our Core Values
The mission and activities of the MCF are a product of the MCF's core values:
Educational Focus: The MCF values formal
and informal sharing of knowledge with a love for the university and its people.
International Understanding: The MCF values programs
that bring countries and cultures together in dialogue, friendship and partnership.
Volunteers: The MCF values
the participation of qualified volunteers in effective programs.
Stewardship: The MCF values the delivery of programs
that provide maximum impact at the lowest possible cost.
Inspirational: The MCF values opportunities that
inspire hope in people by exposing them to true models of servant leadership.
Serving through Community: The
MCF values working in partnership with other organizations, thus
empowering communities to accomplish in synergy what few could accomplish alone.
Servant Leadership: The MCF values servant
leadership training and development as the central focus of all of its programs.
Transformational: The MCF
values affecting and transforming cultures by modeling
and teaching leadership, helping individuals and communities to become healthier, freer, wiser and more productive.
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