International Voluntary Services (IVS) was an American private nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that placed volunteers in humanitarian and development projects overseas. It operated from its founding in 1953 to its dissolution in 2002. It placed volunteers in 39 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with its largest and longest programs in South Vietnam, Laos, Algeria, and Bangladesh. Despite the organization's roots in Christian pacifism, it operated on a nonsectarian basis, accepting volunteers regardless of their religious beliefs. Over its lifetime, the IVS program evolved from placement of American volunteers to placement of internationally recruited volunteers and then to use of local and regional volunteers.