Founded in 1985, the IFCS is a federation of national, regional, and linguistically-based classification societies. It is a non-profit, non-political scientific organization, whose aims are to further classification research. Amongst other activities, the IFCS organises a biennial conference, publishes a newsletter, and supports the Journal of Classification (JoC) and the Journal Advances in Data Analysis and Classification (ADAC).
Hans-Hermann Bock has written a history of the IFCS, available at this link (PDF file, approx. 9 megabytes). Further information about the activities of the federation can be obtained in its governance documents, or by contacting the IFCS Secretary.