Shanti Foundation was a thought for a long time until it came to light as a fully funded 501(c)(3) private foundation late in 2010. It is grounded in the experiences of the founders, who came from Germany and India to live in the United States and learned to practice intercultural understanding in a marriage for more than forty years. This has required openness, curiosity and respect for the other culture(s) and religions on a daily basis. The couple learned over the years that prejudices are often just a lack of knowledge of the other and that through education an understanding can be achieved.

While the founders have dealt with cultures on the large scale of different countries, continents and religions they recognize that intercultural understanding may be needed on a much smaller scale of regions or even neighborhoods. Some of these differences may be small fissures or gaps, others large canyons or rivers. Both need bridges of varying sizes. Shanti Foundation would like to help build some of these bridges.