Founded in 1982, the Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) was created by the German Marshall Fund of the United States to introduce a new generation of European leaders to America's institutions, politics, and people. In 1999, GMF launched a companion program to expose future U.S. leaders to a changing and expanding Europe. Over the past 28 years, the MMF program has attracted nearly 2,000 of the best and brightest from all sectors, including politics, media, business, and nongovernmental organizations.  GMF awards more than 100 Marshall Memorial Fellowships each year to leaders in politics, government, business, media, and the nonprofit sector committed to strengthening the transatlantic relationship.

Beginning with the four original countries - Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands - Fellows now come from across the United States and from 22 European countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, and Turkey). GMF works closely with partners in more than 50 cities on both sides of the Atlantic to make the MMF program possible.

The Marshall Memorial Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for emerging leaders from the United States and Europe to explore societies, institutions, and people on the other side of the Atlantic.  American and European Fellows each visit five cities during the 24-day program. They meet formally and informally with a range of policymakers and prominent members of the business, government, political, NGO, and media communities. GMF works closely with partner institutions and individual coordinators in each city, providing Fellows with an invaluable local perspective on the transatlantic and domestic issues on the agenda. Along the way, each Fellow has the opportunity to explore his or her own professional interests beyond the group programs, which focus on a range of domestic and international policy areas.