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Non-profit

Namati Inc.

Website:

namati.org/
Location:

Washington, DC
Tax ID:

45-2796201
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2020):

Revenue: $10,192,230
Expenses: $6,380,370
Assets: $8,172,723
Formation:

2011
Type:

Legal Advocacy
CEO:

Vivek Maru

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Namati Inc. Is a left-of-center legal advocacy nonprofit. It is the host of the Legal Empowerment Network, a group of over 3,000 international advocacy organizations.  Part of Namati’s work also consists in training paralegals to work locally in the six nations where it operates, including Mozambique, where it founded the Center for Training of Paralegals Focused on the Right to Health. 1

Namati receives support from government agencies including the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) the U.S. Department of State, as well as grantmaking foundations such as Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Open Society Foundations. It was also a recipient of funds from the second round of grant money pledged by MacKenzie Scott Bezos. 2

Although Namati is its hub and organizational center, the Legal Empowerment Network is a separate entity from Namati itself. The Network provides financial and networking support to its members, access to an online library featuring a broad array of training resources, as well as hosting webinars and an annual “leadership empowerment course.” 3

In 2018, Legal Empowerment Network launched the #JusticeforAll campaign, which encompasses a wide spectrum of left-leaning issue areas including police violence, domestic abuse, and LGBT rights in African nations such as Uganda. This campaign also promoted the Rome Civil Society Declaration on SDG16+, which decries the slow progress made globally towards the implementation of broad societal changes known the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The document also touches on other issue areas such as regulation of “disinformation” and hate speech. 4

Among other members included in the Legal Empowerment Network is the abortion advocacy litigation group Center for Reproductive Rights. Founded in 1992, this group works globally to push legislation that would expand global abortion access, as well as overturn pro-life legislation. Also included is the Jessica Laura Foundation, which supports LGBT communities, sex workers, and “drug injectors and users” with access to legal services and abortions in Kenya. 5

In September 2021, Namati announced the launch of the Legal Empowerment Fund, a joint project with the Fund for Global Human Rights, the William and Flora Hewitt Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Namati committed $5 million from its MacKenzie Scott Bezos grant as a gift-matching challenge towards this project, which has an initial $100 million fundraising goal. 6

Healthcare Advocacy

As part of its legal advocacy in Mozambique, Namati was able to bring about a tightening of local healthcare policy. Due to a reported laxity of oversight, a local custom arose of having to bribe midwives to receive assistance during birth; women who refused were neglected. Because of this and other poor hospital conditions, many women were reportedly choosing to give birth at home. Namati helped craft a “National Strategy for the Improvement of Quality and Humanization of Health Care” implemented by the Mozambique government, as well as designing an assessment strategy for hospitals that is now used across that nation. Namati also published a manual containing its assessment guidelines and is pushing for a “patient’s rights office” to be housed at every healthcare facility in Mozambique. 7

In 2020, Namati partnered with Fund for Global Human Rights, the Ford Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to form the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund. This fund purportedly has the aim of filling in the gap of resources experienced by nonprofits due to complications stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The fund has donated over $1 million to more than 60 organizations including Familias Diversas (AFDA), an Argentinian LGBT rights group which used the funds to launch an online Community Legal Center. Another recipient, Braveheart Foundation, is based in Myanmar and engages in the local political discourse and highlights human rights abuses to push for what it called the  democratization of that country. 8

Leadership

Vivek Maru is founder and CEO of Namati. He is also the founder and former director of the community paralegal group Timap for Justice, and co-director of the Fourah Bay Human Rights Clinic, a legal education workshop in Sierra Leone. Prior to the founding of Namati, he worked for the World Bank, briefly as a consultant, then as senior counsel for its Justice Reform project. 9

In a 2021 op-ed published in Law360, Maru criticized President Joe Biden for “acting inconsistently” with regard to climate change issues, especially the reduction in fossil fuel manufacturing. 10

References

  1. “Our Work.” Namati. Accessed October 10, 2022. https://namati.org/ourwork/health/
  2. “MacKenzie Scott’s Gift: You Made it Possible.” Namati. June 17, 2021. Accessed October 17, 2022.  https://namati.org/news-stories/mackenzie-scotts-gift-you-made-it-possible/
  3. “Legal Empowerment Network.” Namati. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://namati.org/network/
  4. “Justice For All.” Namati. Accessed October 17, 2022.  https://community.namati.org/c/advocacy/justiceforall/93
  5. Namati. Accessed October 17, 2022.  https://namati.org/network/organization/jessica-laura-foundation/
  6. “New Legal Empowerment Fund to mobilize $100 million for grassroots justice groups.” Namati, Accessed October 27, 2022. https://namati.org/news-stories/legal-empowerment-fund-100-million-grassroots-justice/#:~:text=On%20September%2025%2C%20from%20the%20Global%20Citizen%20Live,new%20initiative%20to%20close%20the%20global%20justice%20gap.
  7. “Realizing the Right to Health.” Namati. Accessed October 17, 2022.  https://namati.org/ourwork/health/
  8. NYUCIC. “Global Justice Through Small Grants: What the COVID-19 Grassroots Justice Fund Did Right.” Medium. December 2, 2021. Accessed October 17, 2022. https://medium.com/sdg16plus/global-justice-through-small-grants-what-the-covid-19-grassroots-justice-fund-did-right-ec8b866aac35
  9. “Vivek Maru.” Linkedin. Accessed October17, 2022.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivek-maru-25941b43/
  10. Maru, Vivek. “Attorneys: Fight for Environmental Justice with Both Law and Protest.” Law360. October 17, 2021. Accessed October 17, 2022.   https://www.law360.com/articles/1431729/attorneys-fight-for-enviro-justice-with-both-law-and-protest
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: January 1, 2013

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2020 Dec Form 990 $10,192,230 $6,380,370 $8,172,723 $358,851 N $10,190,531 $0 $0 $472,873
    2019 Dec Form 990 $8,344,206 $6,252,586 $4,268,035 $266,023 N $8,344,206 $0 $0 $439,490 PDF
    2018 Dec Form 990 $4,979,964 $5,439,785 $2,186,974 $276,580 Y $4,964,955 $0 $15,009 $437,743 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $4,247,100 $5,142,841 $2,575,155 $199,110 N $4,224,492 $0 $22,608 $427,162 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $6,227,245 $4,114,598 $3,447,951 $170,510 N $6,187,919 $0 $22,430 $410,506
    2015 Dec Form 990 $2,858,373 $4,048,705 $1,289,472 $137,741 N $2,799,251 $12,250 $21,243 $296,869 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $2,563,078 $3,211,130 $2,514,394 $149,475 N $2,514,355 $0 $21,556 $317,608 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $3,901,143 $3,470,652 $3,580,508 $552,861 N $3,889,673 $0 $2,095 $248,299 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $4,565,150 $1,967,994 $3,120,716 $523,560 N $4,543,775 $17,777 $0 $229,833 PDF

    Namati Inc.


    Washington, DC