What is IANDS?

About IANDS

As an educational nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) focuses most of its resources into providing the highest quality information available about NDE-related subjects. It is the only such membership group in the world.  

In addition to maintaining this information-rich website, IANDS publishes a peer-reviewed scholarly journal and a member magazine, sponsors conferences and other programs, works with the media, and encourages the formation of regional discussion and support groups.

We invite you to join today to become a part of this mission and keep up to date on what is known about this fascinating subject.

IANDS’ purpose is to promote responsible, multi-disciplinary exploration of near-death and similar experiences, their effects on people’s lives, and their implications for beliefs about life, death, and human purpose. Where scholarship does not indicate a reasonably clear position on the origin or interpretation of these experiences, we remain impartial and open to the presentation of varying points of view; however, while all personal beliefs will be respected, IANDS is under no obligation to consider them all equally supportable. Whatever the viewpoint, IANDS never supports proselytizing.

IANDS serves a broad range of people:

  • Experiencers: People who have had a near-death or similar experience
  • Researchers: People who are interested in the objective academic or clinical study of near-death experiences and/or near-death-like experiences
  • Health care professionals: People who care for experiencers’ physical and/or mental health
  • People close to experiencers: Family and friends of persons who have had an NDE.
  • Educators: People who teach about near-death and near-death-like experiences
  • Interested other people: People with terminal illness, those in grief, and the general public.

IANDS Programs and Activities

  • IANDS provides reliable information to caregivers, experiencers, and the public by publication of the approximately quarterly magazine Vital Signs; maintaining this active and growing website; working with media around the world; sponsoring periodic North American conferences, continuing education programs, and other programs; offering a speaker's bureau; and producing a wide variety of educational materials.
  • IANDS facilitates support. Near-death and similar experiences can raise deeply troubling questions for many experiencers. Aftereffects of the NDE can be disturbing to the experiencers as well as to their families, friends, and caregivers. To meet these needs, support and interest groups have developed across North America and around the world.

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Dorothy Johnston Library

Giving to IANDS
IANDS is supported financially by membership dues, contributions, and program income. If you believe our work is important, we invite you to share what you can. 
Light the Way

Light the WayHelp Light the Way!

Envisioning a future in which near-death and related experiences have become part of the common wisdom, enriching the human search for meaning and inspiring a better world.

Wherever in the world knowledge from NDE research reaches, and wherever compassionate people educated by that information are able to offer understanding and support to their community - that is IANDS in action.

For over thirty years, IANDS has been educating the world about near-death and similar experiences, offering reliable information, education,and supportive understanding to the public and to experiencers and their families. It has helped change the public perception of what it is like to die; it has deepened our understanding of how best to live.

Now we ask you to help us move the IANDS mission forward!

This is the beginning of a new era for IANDS, crowded with plans and ongoing ventures.

  • The new IANDS office location in Durham, North Carolina offers exciting prospects for interdisciplinary programs, outreach, and collaboration.
  • We're developing a major outreach to hospices and palliative care units, reaching out to the many thousands who work or volunteer with the dying, to teach them about NDEs and make them aware of IANDS.
  • We're organizing a new series of multimedia programs to provide the kind of information you've asked for, from old voices and new, about the meaning and integration of NDEs and related experiences.
  • We're building a new online program for nurses and another for clergy, incorporating the best of what we know about helping new experiencers.
  • We want to make twenty years' worth of articles from the Journal of Near-Death Studies available as downloadable files on our web site, building support for new research, and creating an unparalleled resource for potentially millions of readers who want to learn as much as possible about NDEs and similar experiences. 

We need you to help keep the IANDS mission moving forward!

Light the Way is a recurring donation program to support existing programs and defray the expenses associated with new outreach initiatives. Your gift will enable us to share new levels of understanding while reaching out to thousands of new people. We have the energy, the plans, and the passion. What we need are the funds to make it possible. Please give generously to help make this happen!

You can pledge an amount to contribute monthly or quarterly until you choose to stop, or you can make one or more contributions throughout the year. All donations are tax deductible.
 

To make an on-going monthly pledge, please use the link below to print out a donation form and mail or fax it to the address on the form.

pdf Light The Way On-going Pledge Form

Or you can call the IANDS office in the United States during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Eastern time). Click here for address and phone number.

To make a convenient, one-time online donation to IANDS, click on this link to help us Light the Way!

 


Below are just a few of the many reasons our Light the Way donors are contributing.

Membership

Your IANDS membership to help us build global understanding of near-death and near-death-like experiences through research, education and support. Our vision is to unlock the mysteries of the NDE --what it reveals about the nature of human consciousness and the ultimate meaning of life--in order to increase tolerance and love for one another, to build bridges between religions and cultures, and to create a world of greater harmony and peace.

We need the support of members like you to accomplish these goals. All of our work is done by volunteers, with the help of a small office support staff.

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