American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF)

AMCF has partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on promoting “hate-free” philanthropy campaigns against organizations they accused of being hate groups while discouraging other donor-advised funds from issuing grants to said groups. ³ AMCF has also supported community advocacy organizations such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. ⁴

Activities

Philanthropy

Since its founding in 2016 as the American Muslim Fund (AMF), the American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF) has launched hundreds of donor advised funds, giving circles, endowments, and fiscal sponsorships within the American Muslim community. As of 2024, AMCF has distributed over $24 million to more than 900 nonprofits. ¹

In 2023, AMCF partnered with MuslimARC to distribute $5,500 grants to ten organizations including the Islamic Center of Maui and the American Red Cross of Hawaii. In 2020, AMCF gave the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Los Angeles a $5,000 grant. In 2021, AMCF issued a $5,000 grant to the Muslim Network.  ⁵

During the COVID-19 pandemic, AMCF issued grants to several Muslim-led organizations including $4,000 to the Al-Haqq Foundation and $7,000 to the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Chicago chapter. In 2020, AMCF also issued grants to CAIR Philadelphia, CAIR Minnesota, and the Museum of the Palestinian People. ⁵

Advocacy

The American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF) has expressed its support for several left-of-center political initiatives including the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement. AMCF joined over 100 Muslim organizations expressing its support for BLM and for defunding American police departments in favor of community-based policing efforts. ⁴

In March 2020, while operating under its then-name the American Muslim Fund (AMF), the group worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to publish a whitepaper arguing that nonprofits should withhold funding to organizations the authoring groups considered to be “hate groups” in order to prevent “hate-funding” by philanthropies. The article also advocated for donor-advised funds and private sectors to push for stricter “anti-hate policies.”  ^{6  3}

In 2024, AMCF joined more than 40 other Muslim advocacy groups in signing a letter to CNN presidential debate moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, calling on the network to ask presidential candidates specific questions about what it called the “Gaza genocide,” hate crimes, and student free speech. ⁷

Leadership

Muhi Khwaja is a co-founder and chief development officer at the American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF). He previously worked for the University of Michigan, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan, Islamic Relief USA, Institute for Social Policy & Understanding, Ta’leef Collective, Islamic Scholarship Fund, Indian Muslim Relief & Charities, Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership, Our Three Winners Foundation, Notable Music & Arts Organization, the American Red Cross, and Environmental Data & Governance Initiative. Khwaja joined AMCF as the director of development and philanthropy from 2019 to 2021 before becoming the chief development officer at the MAVEN Project.  ⁸ Khwaja previously spoke at the 2024 Islamic Finance Conference at Harvard University where Yasir Qadhi also spoke. ⁹

Omar Hassan is the president of the board of directors at AMCF. He also works as the CFO for private-equity firm Cloverlay.  ^{8  10}

Finances

In 2023, the American Muslim Community Foundation (AMCF) reported $9,419,786 in total revenue, $3,901,537 in total expenses, and $10,420,920 in total assets. ¹¹