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“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
This African proverb is an important reminder to individuals, institutions, communities and societies of the importance of collaboration. It is because of the differences among us that this guidance so important.
The cause of social good is furthered when not-for-profits and philanthropic institutions embrace these ideas to work together to further their collective mission. While the ideas of collective action and collaboration are easily embraced intellectually, they are hard to practice.
Muslim American not-for-profits, in particular, can benefit from embracing these ideas. According to the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding, there are 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, representing 1.1% of the population. However, Muslim Americans are highly diverse, with African Americans, Asians, Arabs and Latinos making up significant portions of this small population, but no one group holding a majority. Muslim Americans are dispersed across the United States, making collective action further challenging.
Due to this diversity and small size, Muslim American not-for-profits are similarly small. It is estimated by the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University that there are around 7,000 Muslim-led not-for-profits in the United States, of which nearly 2,700 are mosques, 300 are full-time Islamic schools, and 100 are international humanitarian organizations.
The remainder are focused on the religious, cultural and broader philanthropic ideals of their founders. All of these organizations, regardless of their specific mission, have to also combat prejudice due to high levels of Islamophobia, making them all civil-rights organizations.
Collaboration for these small organizations is very difficult. Due to their relatively small size and limited financial resources, interfaith collaborations lack equity and meaningful partnerships. However, these partnerships provide legitimacy through a critical race theory concept known as “white adjacency.” In essence, if I can be seen with someone of a higher racial or legitimate status, I become more acceptable.
Intra-faith collaborations are more difficult because of the diversity among these organizations; the scarcity mindset makes these organizations more competitive and Islamophobic tropes hinder Muslim collective action. All of this is compounded by these organizations’ lacking trust and needed resources to make collaboration successful.
It is due to these challenges that, in 2020, the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative partnered with the Waraich Family Fund on a three-year, community-based participatory action research project called the Community Collaboration Initiative. CCI brings together 24 Muslim American organizations in five small groups to foster collaboration by building social capital and trust. Each group is assigned a trained facilitator and administrative support to further their ability to collaborate.
No organization received financial support to participate in the project. They used their own resources to engage in collaboration.
The initial findings are incredible—organizations have sought to encourage their donors to fund partner organizations when needed; in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, congregations undertook collective anti-racism training for their boards, organizations applied for grants, and funds were then distributed among partner organizations.
Not-for-profit collaborations are difficult and require operational resources. If we seek to see more collective action, philanthropists must find ways to fund collaboration and operational costs in addition to specific programs.•
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Siddiqui is assistant professor and director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, senior fellow at the Center for Global Politics and founder of the Center on Muslim Philanthropy. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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