Struggling to Get Along

Foundations move cautiously to promote better relations between the Middle East and West

When M. Zuhdi Jasser talks about Islam, he also talks about Western political values. The nonprofit group

he heads, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, in Phoenix, was formed three years ago to examine ways to reconcile ideas in the Koran with the principles of representative democracy.

“We were founded on the idea that Muslims can practice Islam better in the United States than anywhere else because of the freedom of religion here,” says Dr. Jasser, an internist who runs the 500-member organization from his medical office. “We want to counter political Islam, which says that your religion is your politics — like Al Qaeda does.”

Dr. Jasser hopes that his fledgling think tank’s research and advocacy efforts will lead to the creation of more organizations that promote Islam as a religion with a modern, moderate face, while increasing Americans’ understanding of the religion and its followers.

His cause might seem to be tailor-made for support from the nation’s big foundations. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many grant makers said they would seek to deter terrorism by promoting better understanding between people of Middle Eastern descent and people who live in the West.

But the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, like several other organizations that represent Muslims or work to promote cross-cultural understanding, has made little headway with grant makers. It relies on about $15,000 in donations from its board members each year.

“We’ve contacted foundations, but they really don’t respond,” Dr. Jasser says. “Most of them that do say, ‘This is a Muslim group, Muslims should support it.’ The problem is that we have a minority opinion within Islam. We could really use help from Western secular organizations to grow and get our message out.”

‘Disgraceful’ Approach

Other organizations say they are frustrated by the difficulty of getting foundation aid to promote relations between Arabs and the West.

“This is one of the most pressing issues facing the planet right now,” says John Marks, founder and president of Search for Common Ground, a 24-year-old international organization in Washington that works to resolve conflicts and promote peace in several regions of the world. “The lack of attention it’s getting from foundations borders on the disgraceful. There’s a lot of talk about what to do but little response from philanthropy on this.”

Judy Barsalou, vice president for grants and fellowships at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a grant maker that is supported by the federal government, says “foundations were flummoxed by what happened on 9/11, and you have to wonder whether they have ever recovered from it. The American public remains largely ignorant of what happens in Muslim countries. More foundation money would help our country understand the forces that are operating in the world.”

Top officials of the nation’s biggest private foundations counter that efforts are being made, but that creating new relationships among grant makers, charities, and leaders in countries where few had previously existed is slow, hard work.

Making grants to organizations in other countries has become harder, they say, because of concerns since September 11 that terrorists could use charitable dollars to bankroll violent acts. As a result, the bulk of grant making to promote cultural understanding has been done in the United States.

What’s more, a high-profile controversy in which members of Congress raised questions about the Middle East grant making of the Ford Foundation, in New York, has made some grant makers nervous, say foundation leaders.

$5-Million Fund

To be sure, a handful of private foundations have spent millions of dollars since 2001 to support programs that seek to teach American children about the region and about Islam, promote conferences and the work of Middle Eastern scholars, support organizations that work toward peace in the region, protect the civil rights of Arab-Americans, and encourage the news media to explain life in the Middle East.

For example, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, created a $5- million fund in late 2001 to support groups and institutions that protect the civil rights of Arabs who live in the United States, provide research on Islamic countries, and work to understand the causes of terrorism.

Since then, MacArthur has regularly made grants to translate literature on Western public policy into Arabic for use on the Internet. It has also made grants to organizations such as National Public Radio, in Washington, to support news reports and other broadcasts that highlight life in Arab countries.

Three years ago, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, in New York, decided to finance programs that attempt to educate Americans about the Middle East, discussions between people who follow different religions, an Iranian-scholar fellowship, and advocacy campaigns to help shape the U.S. government’s foreign policy in the Islamic world.

“During a board retreat in October 2001, while we were still in a bit of shock, we decided we should eventually focus on America’s relationship with the world and how best to promote understanding and respect between the Islamic countries and the United States,” says Stephen Heintz, president of Rockefeller Brothers.

Since 2003, the foundation has awarded between $750,000 and $950,000 a year in grants for those purposes.

“We see this as a long-term issue for us and hope we can garner more foundation partners in the future,” Mr. Heintz says.

Town-Hall Meetings

Many of the foundations that had set down roots in the Middle East before September 11 — such as Ford, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Open Society Institute, in New York — have given significant support to programs that involve promoting good will between East and West.

The Open Society Institute has spent nearly $1.8-million to back groups that promote global engagement by the United States, as well as town-hall-style meetings that explore U.S.-Arab relations in addition to other topics. It also makes grants in Afghanistan to support the democratically elected government there.

Since 2003, Carnegie has made more than $8-million in grants to Islamic scholars who are studying or who teach in the United States.

“Our idea is to create experts on the region, then have them on television news shows, where they’re interviewed,” says Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie. “We’re promoting the development of knowledge, which is important to understanding.”

But even foundations like MacArthur and Carnegie say many challenges have kept grant makers from doing more.

One impediment, foundation leaders say, are guidelines the Treasury Department enacted following September 11 that require foundations to investigate potential grantees to make sure they have no ties to terrorist organizations.

The guidelines are especially difficult for small or new foundations to follow, but all foundations have struggled to follow the government’s recommendations, Mr. Heintz says.

“Even if you make a bad grant by accident,” he says, “you could still be in big trouble.”

Grant makers that want to finance organizations in the Middle East must also make sure that groups in countries there are legally comparable to charities in the United States.

“It’s a headache for us and the grantee,” says Mr. Heintz.

But Ms. Barsalou says that foundations should not be scared off by government regulations, or use them as an excuse for not making grants.

‘The explanation of blaming the Patriot Act or Treasury Department guidelines only goes so far,” she says. “The laws involve organizations in the region. But there are plenty of research activities that don’t fit that profile that could be funded more often. There are licenses you can get from the Treasury Department to work in Muslim countries. You have to be willing to work to get them, though.”

Learning Curve

Aside from the legal concerns, Mr. Heintz says the diversity within Islam means a steep learning curve for foundations in Muslim countries.

“You have to know the subtleties to do good work in the field,” he says. “Ultimately, you need to have partners in the Muslim world in order to promote understanding. But we’ve seen we should do this humbly and very slowly. We realize we have a lot to learn on this subject.”

Another difficulty, foundation leaders say, is proving that they are not an arm of the federal government.

To avoid that perception, Carnegie has worked to create links in Arab countries with charity, community, and political leaders, says Mr. Gregorian.

“We try to make sure there’s some buy-in among leaders there, so people know us well enough to know we’re separate from the government,” he says.

But some Arab leaders say the U.S. foreign policy has already poisoned the waters for foundations wanting to ease the tensions that can create terrorism.

“I’ll be honest with you — I’m not sure there is a whole heckuva lot foundations can do to forestall terrorism,” says James J. Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, a group in Washington that encourages Arab-Americans to participate in U.S. civic life.

“Bitterness is so deep,” he says, “and hopes have been repeatedly dashed, as evidenced by what’s recently happened in Lebanon, with the U.S. government’s blessing.”

Among charities that have started since September 11, grants from private foundations play a minor role in their operations — if they play any role at all.

Terror Free Tomorrow, a group formed in Washington in 2004 to conduct research on the attitudes of people in the Middle East and to advocate for ways to end popular support for terrorists in some Muslim countries, has received support from a handful of family foundations and individuals. The organization’s annual budget is $100,000.

The charity needs more money to widen its research scope, says Ken Ballen, its president. Terror Free Tomorrow conducted surveys in Indonesia and Pakistan last year that show that after humanitarian efforts by Americans in those countries, many more people there held positive views of the United States.

Even though his group has big names on its advisory board, such as Sen. John McCain, Republican of Arizona, as well as the chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission — Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton — it has yet to reap major foundation support.

“We’ve met with a number of major foundations, and there is interest in what we do,” says Mr. Ballen. “But I think they’re still trying to figure out what they can do to fight terrorism.”

Donors Take Action

The Daniel Pearl Foundation, a charity in Encino, Calif., faces the same obstacle. Founded in 2002 in honor of the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan that year, the organization spends $385,000 annually to bring Middle Eastern and South Asian journalists to work in the United States.

It also organizes musical performances in more than 40 countries designed to help promote understanding, holds discussions between Jews and Muslims, and runs a Web site where high-school journalists from the Middle East, United States, and elsewhere can post articles.

The organization has received support from several family foundations, individuals, and newspaper-company foundations, but will have trouble expanding its programs without major foundation support.

“The foundation world is tough to crack,” says Jackie Gelfand, the organization’s executive director. “We don’t fit into a nice, neat category, so I think it’s harder for us.”

Some donors have decided to take money matters into their own hands and start organizations to bring aid from the West to the Middle East in hopes of aiding people there, as well as improving relations.

Ronald Bruder, a New York real-estate developer, donated $10-million four years ago to start the Education for Employment Foundation, an organization in Washington that attempts to breach the economic gap between the two regions by helping Muslim countries create jobs.

Although the organization’s leaders are careful not to tie terrorism to poor economic prospects, many observers believe that the huge number of unemployed men in Muslim countries — where 50 percent of people ages 15 to 24 are without work — helps foment dissent that can lead to terrorism.

The Education for Employment Foundation spends its $1-million annual budget building relationships with businesspeople, government leaders, philanthropists, and university leaders in predominantly Muslim countries, and convincing them of the need to invest in education to prepare people for vocations that are in demand. The organization then helps set up courses, as it has done so far in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian territories.

“We’ve spent a lot of time building infrastructure and getting to know people in each country,” says Jasmine Nahhas di Florio, the organization’s vice president. “We’ve helped governments and universities start foundations for the purpose of creating good jobs.”

So far, the group has helped put together a two-year education program in nursing in Egypt — where nurses are at a premium — accounting and engineering courses in Gaza, and a business-skills curriculum in Jordan.

“We’re trying to be the catalyst that brings together people to make this work,” says Michael Hager, the group’s president. “The challenge is in doing that, and in getting people to want to do this on their own, long-term.”

Ultimately, the Education for Employment Foundation would like to tap private foundations for help.

Already, it receives money from the United Nations Foundation, in New York, and the United States Agency for International Development.

In addition to helping people build lives and countries buttress their economies, the organization wants to help natives of the Middle East and Americans get to know one another.

“Part of our goal is to create linkages between the business cultures,” says Ms. Nahhas di Florio. “It’s a slow process, but it’s worth the investment.”