IPF - International Pen Friends

Another penfriend organization is IPF - International Pen Friends. Since 1967, International Pen Friends (IPF) has provided more than 1.5 million people aged from 8-80+ with penfriends, according to the IPF site, and offers services in six different languages. On the contrary to IYS - International Youth Service, IPF has been an active organization for the last fourty-three years. IPF's success was achieved long before the Internet became popular and has continued in this technologically advanced society. For the IPF's team this is a reflection of the never-ending motivation and determination behind IPF, and for the high quality service provided.

International Pen Friends (IPF) was founded by Neil O'Donnell in Dublin (Ireland) in 1967. Inspired by his experiences as a young child growing up during World War II, his vision was to give people in all age groups, from every country, the opportunity to gain penfriends and promote world peace and understanding through sincere correspondence.
After O'Donnell retired in 2001, and since his deepest wish was for IPF to continue, Julie Delbridge took over the role of President and relocated IPF's Head Office to her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Since 2008 IPF's Head Office has been moved to Paynesville, located on the beautiful Gippsland Lakes in Victoria, Australia.

IPF's service is personalised and controlled. It has been designed to provide value for money and the best possible opportunity of gaining many current, enthusiastic and genuine penfriends in a secure environment.
Nowadays, as in the past, IPF looks forward to providing an ever-increasing number of people worldwide with the opportunity to enhance their life through the countless dimensions of the penfriend hobby.

IPF's objective is to keep the art of letter writing alive and to use that form of communication to promote worldwide friendship. Furthermore, IPF encourages their members to combine e-mail and other forms of communication with their letter writing, so they can experience the many different dimensions of the penfriend experience in this technological era.
IPF remarks that there is an exciting anticipation in waiting for letters to arrive: the stamps, fancy writing paper, postcards, photos, different handwriting styles, the time and care people have taken to write the letters, then sitting quietly and reading the letters time and time again, possibly keeping them for many years as part of personal history. It's also a lot more fun to receive letters in the mail rather than junk mail and bills!

In IPF, penfriend services are available for individuals and school classes. It is possible to join by completing the online application form or the printable application form. The school class application form is available for teachers and group leaders. IPF's magazine and letter writing booklet can also be ordered on the application forms.
Note that joining IPF and obtaining penfriends through this organization is not a free service. To get information about their fees, please, consult their website.

If you are interested in learning more about IPF - International Pen Friends, you can visit their website:

[Most information in this entry has been taken from International Pen Friends (IPF)]