The idea for URI came to Episcopal Bishop William Swing in 1993, after an invitation by the United Nations to host a large interfaith service in San Francisco, marking the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. He asked himself, “If the nations of the world are working together for peace through the UN, then where are the world’s religions?”
Interfaith Cooperation Circles (CCs) are the heart of URI. Independently organized, self-governing and self-funding, they build cooperation among people of all faiths and traditions to address the most pressing issues facing their collective communities, including poverty, religiously motivated violence, environmental degradation and more.Some examples of CC work include: 

• Winning full citizenship for poor and disenfranchised brick workers in Pakistan
• Rescuing “child soldiers” in the Ugandan civil war
• Brokering a truce between factions of the Christian church in Kerala, India
• Working with government officials, teachers and police to increase social cohesion and stem violence before it starts in urban areas of Catalonia
• Urban reforestation in New Delhi, India
• Helping religious and cultural minorities in the conflict-prone province of Mindanao, Philippines have their voices heard by government officials in Manila

Cooperation Circles range in size from a minimum of seven members to tens of thousands, representing at least three faiths or traditions, including the non-religious, and subscribe to the shared vision outlined in URI’s Charter. They are connected to one another and the global URI network through eight regional anchor points, where regional coordinators help CCs build capacity, organize regional gatherings and trainings, and seed new CCs. URI’s global office in San Francisco provides support for regional leaders, maintains a global communications network, organizes conferences to bring CCs together from all over the globe, and supports three global initiatives, the Traveling Peace Academy, the Young Leaders Program and the Environmental Satellite.