Charity Association International has honored humanitarian service since 1979.

Initially, CAI was organized as a response to the Cambodian famine of the late 1970s. When entertainer Pat Boone and presidential historian Doug Wead met one evening for dinner at the home of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, it quickly became apparent they shared a common passion - fighting world hunger head-on.

The dire situation in Southeast Asia demanded action, so Boone, Wead, and later, Dan O'Neill, founded CAI and the Charity Awards as a way to honor great charity work and to raise money to fight famine. Out of that first event Mercy Corps was born, which has donated $1.5 billion of food and medicine around the world.

The first Charity Awards, hosted by First Lady Rosalynn Carter at the White House, raised over $300,000 to fight Cambodian famine. Since then, hundreds of celebrities, presidents, and other leaders have helped the work of CAI and the cause of the Charity Awards, bringing greater awareness to issues of need and raising more support for worthy charities year after year.