Arab Foundations Forum

The Arab Foundations Forum was founded in 2006 as an Arab-issue oriented membership organization to facilitate networking between Arab-issues activists and organizations, and support aligned philanthropic initiatives. In April 2021, the forum was registered as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Hollis, New York under the name Arab Foundations Forum USA. ¹ As of October 2022, the Forum claims to include members in a dozen countries. ²

Activities

The Arab Foundations Forum proposed conducting three research projects in 2022: the AFF/Dalberg Regional Survey, a survey focusing on regional data conducted with regard to 150 participating organizations in the Middle East; the GCC Survey, a qualitative and quantitative survey that will be undertaken as a joint project with investment bank UBS; and the Enabling Environment Data Project, which is funded by a grant from the European Union that was awarded to the Forum via WINGS. This latter project will focus on Jordan, Egypt, the Palestinian territories, and Lebanon, reporting on metrics related to environmentalist philanthropic activity. ³

In 2026, the Arab Foundations Forum, in partnership with the global climate philanthropy network WINGS, released a report titled MENA Climate Philanthropy Ecosystem Pre-Mapping, examining the state of climate philanthropy across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The report described the region’s climate funding landscape as “highly uneven,” citing challenges including fragmented donor coordination, limited knowledge infrastructure, and policy environments that discourage sustained climate advocacy. The study mapped 19 philanthropic organizations operating across countries including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Palestine, and the United Arab Emirates. According to the report, Lebanon and Morocco had the highest concentration of climate-focused philanthropic organizations, while Algeria, Libya, and Somalia had the fewest mapped organizations. ⁴

Members

Nonprofits that are members of the Arab Foundations Forum include the King Khalid Foundation, Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, Taawon, Alfanar, SOS Children’s Villages, the Saleh-Abdullah-Kamel-Humanitarian-Foundation, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, The Asfari Foundation, The End Fund, Alquds Fund and Endowment, Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, King Hussein Foundation, Jordan River Foundation, Culture Funding Watch, Iftiin foundation, the John D. Gerhart Center AUC, Red Noses International, and Ruwwad. ⁵

Though most members of the Arab Foundations Forum are organizations, the Forum has a small number of aligned individual members, including Elie Abouaoun, the director of Middle East and North Africa Studies at the United States Institute for Peace. ^{6 7}

Partners

Partner organizations of the Arab Foundations Forum include Alliance, a philanthropic magazine; the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, a center within the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School focused on global philanthropy in growth markets; Dalberg, an advisory group; Innovety, a regional boutique management consulting firm active in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Oman; Social Value International, a networking organization oriented around developing metrics and standards for social projects and initiatives; the Resource Alliance, a collaborative network focused on developing best practices standards; and WINGS, a philanthropic members organization. ⁸

People

Naila Farouky has been the CEO and executive director of the Arab Foundations Forum since 2014. Previously, Farouky was an employee of the Children’s Television Workshop, engaged in producing local adaptations of the “Sesame Street” children’s show. ⁹

Walid Nagi is the network and relationships director of the Arab Foundations Forum. Previously, Nagi worked in brand marketing. Later, he managed corporate affairs at the Mansour Group, focusing on the group’s corporate social responsibility strategy. In 2010, Nagi was hired by the United Nations Global Compact Office in New York as a regional network manager and in 2013 was promoted to chief of the local networks, managing the global operations of the office. As of 2014, he additionally took on the roles of New York executive for the UN’s Global Compact Cities Program and senior advisor on partnerships. Nagi has also worked as an occasional consultant to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian non-governmental organization based in New York City. ⁹

Heba Abou Shnief is the senior research and data director of the Arab Foundations Forum. Additionally, Shnief has been, since 2014, a City University of New York Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society Senior International fellow and Arab region representative for Alliance, a global philanthropy data organization. Previously, Shnief has worked either directly or in an advisory capacity with organizations including MENA’s Economic Research Forum, Canada’s International Development and Research Centre, the United Nations, the Government of Egypt, the Ford Foundation, and Kuwait’s Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. ⁹