A Alliance was created in July 21, 1883 by a class action of eminent Frenchmen, including Paul Cambon, Ferdinand de Lesseps and Louis Pasteur.

It finances virtually all of its activities from either either either a fees it receives from its courses & from rental of its installations. the French government likewise will bring a subsidy covering more or less 5 by the cent of its budget. (This amounted to about 665,000 euros in 2003.)

Roughly 400,000 students view French at one of centres start per Alliance, whose network of schools includes: the centre inside Paris locations throughout France, which receive foreign students Chiliad locations within 131 different countries

A branches outside France come locally, independently rerun "franchises". A Alliance française "brand" is owned by the Paris centre.