The World Affairs Council of Seattle is a non-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, non-partisan

Non-partisan democracy

Nonpartisan democracy is a system of representative government or organization such that universal and periodic elections take place without reference to political parties.-Overview:...

 international affairs

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 organization based in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. Founded in 1951, it is one of four World Affairs Councils in Washington State and a member of the World Affairs Councils of America

World Affairs Councils of America

The World Affairs Councils of America represents and supports the largest national non-partisan network of local councils that are dedicated to educating, inspiring and engaging Americans in international affairs and the critical global issues of our times. The network consists of 94 councils in 40...

. Ian Moncaster, president and CEO since 2001, joined the Council in the middle of a career working with CARE

CARE (relief)

CARE is a broad-spectrum secular relief, humanitarian, and development non-governmental organization fighting global poverty. It is non-political, non-sectarian and operates annually in more than 70 countries across the globe.One of the organization’s primary focuses in its fight to eradicate...

 and the Canadian government

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

.

Programs

The Council presents over 140 Community Programs each year, featuring leaders in politics, business, academics, and the arts. These events consist of lectures, discussion fora, and symposia aimed at strengthening the links between the greater Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 area and the global community.

In addition to bringing speakers closer to the Seattle public, the World Affairs Council of Seattle runs an International Visitors Program which develops programs for emerging leaders from foreign countries selected by the United States Department of State

United States Department of State

The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

.

The Seattle World Affairs Council also conducts a program aimed at educators called Global Classroom which develops more than 20 programs annually for teachers to better incorporate international understanding into the classrooms of high schools and junior highs throughout the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 region.

Notable speakers

Notable speakers at World Affairs Council events include:

• John McCain
  John McCain
  John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
  
  
• Joseph Stiglitz
• Prince Turki Al Faisal
• Hans Blix
  Hans Blix
  is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs . Blix was also the head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from March 2000 to June 2003, when he was succeeded by Dimitris Perrikos...
  
  
• Condoleezza Rice
  Condoleezza Rice
  Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
  
  
• Bono
  Bono
  Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
  
  
• Dianne Feinstein
  Dianne Feinstein
  Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....
  
  
• George Soros
  George Soros
  George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
  
  
• Robert Gates
  Robert Gates
  Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
  
  
• Naomi Klein
  Naomi Klein
  Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.-Family:...