Global Best Practices for CSO, NGO, and Other Nonprofit Boards

CHAPTER 8Middle East and North Africa

Tariq Cheema and Naila Farouky

Wealth creation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is driving a generation of actors to commit their resources to the greater public welfare (Cheema 2013). Institutionalized philanthropy is rapidly growing, and in some countries in the region there is an amplified shift in government recognition towards the vast potential of civic participation, a deeper interest in philanthropic giving by large corporate institutions,¹and financially well-resourced individual actors with strong ties to the community willing to commit to nonprofit organizations. In this chapter, Tariq Cheema, founder of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, and Naila Farouky, CEO of the Arab Foundations Forum, discuss some of the exciting opportunities and challenges for the sector in this dynamic environment. The authors offer their thoughts on building a self-actualized board and discuss some of the issues—stewardship, accountability and transparency, culture—related to governance in the region. Because of the historic opportunity presented by the potential impact of the MENA's grant-making foundations, two case studies of foundations that have implemented good governance practices are presented.

THE PHILANTHROPIC LANDSCAPE—A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY

The philanthropic sector in the MENA region has a historic opportunity to design and establish a more sustainable, professionalized, and formal ecosystem of giving without ...