Welcome to International Pen Friends (IPF) - Head Office
International Pen Friends (IPF) is very proud to be celebrating its
57th Anniversary in 2024. Since 1967, IPF has provided over 2 million people aged from 8-80+ with pen friends. Our solid membership base, commitment and service has led to us being largely recognised as the world's leading pen friend - pen pal - snail mail - club.
Our service is personalised and controlled; it is designed to provide value for money and the best possible opportunity of gaining many current, enthusiastic and genuine pen friends in a secure environment.
We do not offer a pen friend service to prisoners. We are also not associated in any way with a pen friend club based in Chelan, WA U.S.A.
For added safety and security, our membership database is specifically not connected to the internet.
Pen Friend - Pen Pal - Letter Writing Fun!
Letter writing provides a way to communicate with words and thoughts that will last for generations. It's also a lot of fun to write and receive letters in the mail and is an activity that can be enjoyed at any time.
IPF's objective is to keep the art of letter writing alive and to use that form of communication to promote worldwide peace and friendship.
We always look forward to welcoming both new and previous members and hope that the pen friend experience will help people gain and maintain friendships and bring a special kind of happiness to each day.
We also encourage members to combine email and other forms of communication with their letter writing, so they can experience the many different dimensions of the pen friend experience in this technological era.
Despite the many ways people can communicate, our members frequently tell us how much they enjoy receiving letters in the mail.
There's 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 and family history.
It's also a lot more fun to receive letters in the mail rather than junk mail and bills!
How to Join
IPF's pen friend services are available for individuals and school classes. You can join by completing the online application form or the printable application form. The school class application form is available for teachers and group leaders. Our magazine and letter writing booklet are highly recommended and can also be ordered on the application forms.
IPF's Pen Friend - Pen Pal - Services
Our membership database is specifically not connected to the internet.
While the internet provides opportunities for people to login to global friendship databases, some are poorly controlled, or uncontrolled. This can result in names and/or photos being freely available for anyone, anywhere to view; names and/or photos being circulated for an unlimited period of time; non-current members and a number of safety and security issues, including hacking, unauthorised access and photos and details of members being circulated on the internet and social media for the general public to see. Our service has been designed differently, for the benefit and protection of all our members.
We provide each of our members with an individually matched list of pen friends that has been generated from our current membership database. Members are matched according to their age group, hobbies and interests.
Each member's name is also given to other members of the club in their age group during their 12 month membership (between 10-14 other members, depending on the service joined). This system enables members to commence their pen friend experience by writing introductory letters to the people on their pen friend list, and to receive surprise introductory letters from other members.
The 12 month membership period does not affect how long members can write to one another. Members can write to one another for as long as they choose. However, if members would like to gain a new list of pen friends and make more friends when their membership expires, they will need to renew their membership.
Some of our members renew their membership each time their membership expires, making new friends year after year; others join and then renew their membership many years later; others join once and only write to the people from their first and only IPF membership.
Feedback from our members constantly highlights that their most active, genuine and long-lasting pen friends have been gained through IPF.
Writing to pen friends can certainly be an adventure, in many ways. We have members who joined IPF years ago, their children then joined and now their grandchildren are joining!
We invite you to explore our website and hope to welcome you as a member so you too can start your 'IPF adventure'. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Best wishes and happy pen friend - pen pal - letter writing!
Julie Delbridge
President
International Pen Friends (IPF)
admin@ipf.net.au
