We are deeply saddened to announce that after a year's battle against cancer, our founder, Tarek Ben Halim, passed away on Friday the 11th of December, exactly one week after his 54th birthday. Tarek was a remarkable man, and we will all miss him terribly. But while we are all deeply saddened, we take comfort in the fact that although he left us far too soon, his legacy lives on. And Alfanar shall remain an important part of that legacy.

During his illness, Tarek would work on Alfanar matters whenever possible. His inspiration and dedication spurred all involved with Alfanar to ensure that its activities continued throughout his illness. And it did continue; just last week a new funding commitment was made in Egypt. Over the next year we will continue the development work that Tarek began before he became ill. One of our immediate goals is to start up Alfanar in Lebanon, and then expand into other Arab countries.

Tarek made his vision clear to us - that Alfanar become a beacon of hope that over time would shine throughout the Arab world, backing new social ventures that secure the future, rather than handing out donations to meet short term needs. Having covered our core costs, our goal is to put together a development fund to secure Alfanar for the future. Many of our supporters wish to make a donation in Tarek's memory, so today we are establishing the TBH Memorial Fund to kick off our development campaign.

We are fortunate to have known Tarek and what he wanted us to achieve for Alfanar, and with your help we intend to make it happen.

Julia Middleton and Lubna Olayan

Alfanar is a non-governmental non-profit foundation and venture philanthropy fund set up to assist organisations in the Arab region that are improving the lives and opportunities of the communities they serve.

Established and run by Arabs who believe that there is positive change in the Arab region, Alfanar supports organisations, and the people within them, whose creative ideas address entrenched problems. Our partners, who may be start up or more established organisations, take enduring and entrepreneurial approaches to assisting the communities they serve to access rights and opportunities. They work on issues which include reducing poverty, improving the quality of education, widening access to health care, and assisting individuals to access their social, economic and human rights, and are committed to self-reliance and enterprise, finding diverse ways to generate income.

Building long-term partnerships on the ground, we provide them with a combination of financial support, advice and expertise to achieve their aims and to develop the confidence and skills needed to secure a wide range of funds.

Meaning "beacon"or "lighthouse" in Arabic, Alfanar’s mission and approach are unique in the Arab region. We believe passionately that there is positive change in the region, and that we can assist extraordinary organisations and individuals, whose work, often in adverse and difficult circumstances, is making a real, positive impact on the lives of those in their communities.

"By choosing to work in complex sectors with grassroots organisations and by providing both financial support and linkages between NGOs and the various skills and services it has access to, Alfanar is pursuing a creative and dynamic approach to social change. This sort of  philanthropy is rare in the Arab region and should be supported."

-- Nabil Qaddumi,
Board Member,
The Welfare Association

"Alfanar takes a distinctive approach to identifying and working with its partners, prioritizing the need for long term sustainability. This explicitly addresses one of the institutional weaknesses of civil society organizations in the Arab world and elsewhere, that of long term dependency on the international funding community which has tended to create a tier of organizations which are fundamentally unsustainable without expatriate funding.”

-- David French,
CEO,
Westminster Foundation for Democracy