The team behind the vision, delivering the mission.
Our board members, staff, and volunteers work hard to operate our national, grassroots community foundation.
Staff
Sarah Alfaham, Executive Director
Sarah graduated from the University of Toledo with her Bachelors in History and Communication with the intention of working as a journalist. She then decided instead of telling others’ stories, she wanted to be a part of the story.
Sarah completed her Master of Social Work at the University of Michigan studying Management of Human services within Children Youth and Families.
Back in Toledo she worked as a social worker at a Head Start program focused on high need families. As part of her position, she provided parenting workshops focusing on the achievement gap, and creating family programming that values peer support. Sarah also worked at a recovery center coordinating youth group-support therapy.
Sarah got married and moved to the Twin Cities in 2018. She began working as the Fiscal Sponsorship Manager at Propel Nonprofits where she supports new organizations and communities to start nonprofits through resources and best practices.
Sarah brings her passion of putting together strategic systems for the Muslim community to AMCF. This includes constantly learning about how to be anti-racist and implementing anti-racist practices in her daily life, working to uplift marginalized groups particularly from a macro lens. Sarah believes in taking up space in her most authentic self and values mental health wellness. She also appreciates art, photography, soccer and boxing.
Muhi Khwaja Co-Founder, Director of Development & Philanthropy
Earning a Bachelor’s in History and Psychology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2009, Muhi Khwaja didn’t know what to do until the summer before graduating. The Development Summer Internship Program at the University of Michigan sparked an interest in fundraising (development) as a career. After working with several nonprofit organizations, he earned his Master’s in Public Administration in 2013, from U-M, specializing in nonprofit management. Muhi has over a decade of experience as a development professional with several nonprofits including: University of Michigan, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Council for American-Islamic Relations – 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 which all led to his founding the American Muslim Community Foundation.
In 2016 he became a Certified Fund Raising Executive from the Association of Fundraising Professionals and in 2017 earned a Certificate of Fund Raising Management from Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy where he is also Adjunct Faculty. Muhi is also pursuing his Graduate Certificate in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and is expected to complete it in 2022.
Muhi served as the Director of Development & Philanthropy at AMCF from 2019 to 2021 and worked with donors to connect them with nonprofits creating impact, helping families distribute more than $6 million. AMCF serves as a the only national nonprofit organization focused on creating Donor Advised Funds, Giving Circles, distributing grants, partnering on fiscal sponsorships, & building endowments for the American Muslim community. He also hosts the #MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast.
Muhi went on to become the Chief Development Officer at The MAVEN Project in 2021, stepping into a part time role with AMCF focusing on their strategic plan, institutional fundraising, and external partnerships. Later in 2022 he focused his time consulting on nonprofit management, fundraising, and executive coaching.
Muhi enjoys traveling, photography, riding his motorcycle, and hiking.
Ola Mohamed, Nonprofit Engagement Manager
As AMCF’s Nonprofits Engagement Manager, Ola’s mission is to support our community’s countless amazing causes. She is passionate about connecting with nonprofit leaders and providing programming and resources to uplift their visions for change and institutional sustainability. Before her current role, Ola was the AMCF Nonprofits & Social Impact Fellow.
Prior to joining AMCF, Ola was an immigration attorney with the New York-based firm Aljijakli, Kosseff & Prendergast, LLC. Her work focused on asylum, family unification and humanitarian-based cases. Her asylum clients’ harrowing stories of persecution, along with their resilience, strength, and hope for a better future, inspired Ola to volunteer at various refugee organizations, write about refugee rights and advocate for holistic, human-centered support for displaced persons. Her pro bono efforts and legal training included work with the Karam Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Cairo, the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project (Proyecto Dilley) and the International Rescue Committee.
Ola lives in the Washington D.C. metro area with her husband and their three kids. She loves exploring nature with her kids (when it is warm!), shopping Muslim-owned businesses and sharing Arabic Montessori- and Waldorf-inspired ideas for young children on social media. Ola also co-leads the Muslim Moms Collaborative, a Muslim moms’ support group and halaqa.
Nora Moorefield, Donor Engagement Manager
Born and raised in the city of bridges (Pittsburgh, PA), Nora knows a few things about the vital role bridges play in connecting people and communities. Her goals for the American Muslim Community Foundation revolve around establishing bridges between individuals inside and outside of the organization.
Nora graduated from Chatham University in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. She went on to work in corporate finance as an account analyst. Her prior employment experiences prepared her for a role working with fund representatives and developing client portfolios. But with current events deserving the world’s attention, she has been looking for more ways to appoint her skills to enable her own community.
In her spare time, Nora enjoys doing henna, traveling, and thrifting! She is also a mentor at her local masjid where she offers a supportive space for young muslim girls to prosper Islamically and socially while developing leadership skills and world-readiness.
Board of Directors
Omar is a financial leader who believes that the way forward for philanthropy and the Muslim community is to build a sustainable framework for funding initiatives that can be both self-preserving and adaptable. Omar is also currently an active member at his local masjid where he volunteered as a teacher at their Sunday school. Omar has mainly focused his professional career in the asset management sector where he currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Cloverlay, a special situations private equity firm. Prior to joining Cloverlay, Omar worked at various other global alternative asset managers. Omar is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of NY. Omar enjoys traveling, experiencing other cultures, sports, and cooking. His most important role in this world is being a husband to his wife and a father to his three young children.
Marwah Maasarani is a Monitoring & Evaluation professional whose life’s purpose is to serve and uplift the underprivileged. She’s currently leading M&E at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where she is helping measure and optimize the organization’s refugee programs.
Growing up in an immigrant community taught Marwah the importance of maximizing the reach of limited resources to make an impact. Before joining the IRC, Marwah served as a Senior Program Analyst at Charity Navigator, the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator.
When she’s not chairing AMCF’s strategic planning and nonprofit programs committees, Marwah spends time chasing after her three little ones, serves as a nonprofit consultant, looks for ways to earn stamps on her passport, and tries her best not to overdose on chocolate ice cream.
She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Middle Eastern Studies from Wellesley College and a diploma in Monitoring & Evaluation from New York University.
Mehdi is a passionate community activist. He has been serving his local community in a variety of social justice, religious, civic, and professional settings. He currently serves on the boards of Shia Muslim Council, UMMA Community Clinic, Muslim Burial Organization of Los Angeles and previously served boards of CAIR’ PAC and the PADRE Foundation.
Professionally, Mehdi is an accomplished executive with over 20 years of experience in a variety of management and leadership roles. He currently is the Vice President of Strategy Management Office at Bio-Rad Laboratories, a diagnostic and life science company. MehdiReza graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Fullerton in Accounting and Finance. He is licensed CPA.
Mehdi’s work is inspired by the selfless giving exemplified by Ali ibn Abu Talib. He strives to emulate Ali ibn Abu Talib’s teaching of equity, A person is either your brother in faith, or your equal in humanity.
Omar believes in the empowering the Muslim community through financial literacy and tools that enable each individual to maximize their local and global impact. Omar is a technology leader, and leads edge machine learning at AWS. Prior to AWS, Omar held a variety of roles at Amazon Lab126, where he led numerous teams and programs across Fire Tablets, FireTV, Alexa, Kindle, and Echo. Prior to Amazon, Omar worked in the biomedical field, supporting engineering projects across healthcare companies such as Baxter and hospitals such as St. Jude.
Dahlia’s journey in empowering and cultivating community started after she earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois.
Her work experiences in two vastly different parts of the world as a Muslim American woman has created an inextricable connection to the global community and has equipped her with deep social, cultural, and emotional intelligence.
9/11 served as a pivotal moment for her personal and professional journeys. She felt called to action to not only protect her community from Islamophobia, but to also to play a proactive role in elevating the narrative of Muslim Americans. Since then, she has worked closely with educators, elected officials, law enforcement agents, the interfaith community, and allies on civil rights issues to build bridges and grow mutual understanding across communities. Also, she was appointed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to address House members as well as being featured in Bassem Yousef’s TV series, “America in Arabic” for her role as a community mobilizer for the Arab-American Democratic Party.
In 2021, she completed her Certificate in Fund Raising Management (CFRM) with Indiana University Lily Family School of Philanthropy, creating a new pathway to intersect her passion with her profession. As a board member, she will leverage her platform to empower the community by creating networks, sparking new connections, strengthening relationships and creating collective spaces.
Her work with the American Muslim Community Foundation will continue to build relationships within the Muslim community, and also to extend allyship across racial, ethnic, cultural, and faith-based groups.
Advisory Committee
- Athar Siddiqee Strategic Planning & Development
- Ayat Elnoory Co-Founder, Human Resources/Co-Founder
- Basil Hashem Strategic Advisor
- Essma Bengabsia Investment Advisor
- Ghada Ahmad Strategic Planning & Development
- Joe Bradford Religious Finance Scholar
- Kinan Alhoch Marketing
- Michael Ramos-Lynch Legal
- Osman Arain Investment Advisor
- Safaa Ibrahim Co-Founder, Operations Management
- Shafath Syed Marketing/ Strategic Planning
- Shams Khan Fundraising/Philanthropy