Breaking out

It came down to this: we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel,” says Khaled Juffali, a Saudi philanthropist and CEO of EA Juffali & Brothers Co, the conglomerate owned by his family. “I’ve always felt that collaboration with the right people gives you a better result than going it alone. And in this case, I really think it has.”

Juffali is outlining the thinking behind Shefa Fund, the Saudi Arabia-based giving circle he cofounded in 2013 with his wife, Olfat, backed by a cohort of close friends. Working hand-in-glove with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, its goal is to channel money so it has the greatest long-term impact on pressing global health issues. “Giving is easy,” explains Olfat Juffali, “but giving well is an art.”

In four short years, Shefa has parlayed its members’ financial clout – and the Gates Foundation’s expertise – into more than $9m worth of grants, helping fund the fight against diseases ranging from polio, to malaria and meningitis A.

Having exhausted its first tranche of funding, a second round of fundraising is planned for this year, with a target goal of $20m. “There are many people our age who want to give, but don’t know how or where to direct their money,” says Olfat. “They like the Shefa story, and they like what we’re doing – they’re keen to support it. Like us, they want to learn how best to give.”

Giving circles are not a new trend. Born in the US, they exist around the world, ranging in size from informal supper clubs to large-scale nonprofits with annual fees and minimum donation requirements. Givers chip in with money, swap ideas, strategies and successes, and determine together which nonprofits to support. But in the GCC, where philanthropy is still dominated by individual, often opaque, foundations, Shefa Fund represents a bold streak of innovation. 

The fund grew out of an off-the-cuff remark to Olfat, who was mulling the launch of her own charity, focusing on health and education. An advisor suggested she could instead fold her funding into the Gates Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropy, to deploy through its hive of programmes and partners.

It was an idea that led to a lunch with Bill Gates in Saudi Arabia – hosted by the Juffalis and attended by a handful of their friends – and one that ended with a clutch of pledges and a newly inked blueprint for giving. “We made the decision that day to put our hands with the Gates Foundation and go with them on this journey,” says Olfat. “We were impressed.”

Among its grants, Shefa Fund has given $3.3m to the global fight to eradicate polio, $2.5m towards eliminating meningitis A, a disease which – before the rollout of a cheap vaccine in 2011 – erupted in regular epidemics in Africa, and invested $2.4m in ending the ravages of neglected tropical diseases. Its grants have reached some 16 million people in 15 countries – “a phenomenal number,” says Olfat – ranging from the Central African Republic and Sudan, to neighbouring Arab states Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. 

In 2014, the group made its first award to a project in Saudi Arabia: a $1.2m push to sharpen the diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. A parasitic disease transmitted by tiny sandflies, leishmaniasis is not fatal, but its disfiguring lesions cause untold misery.

The condition stalks the Middle East, affecting thousands each year, but rarely makes it on to the radar of aid donors. Shefa Fund’s grant – funding research at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine – has now turbocharged the response.

The end goal is to wipe out leishmaniasis in Saudi Arabia. The tools developed can then be used to attack the disease in the wider region, where conflict and mass displacement has sped its spread. 

“Being able to eliminate leishmaniasis here; that would be something incredible. It would truly be an example of using money to the greatest effect,” says Olfat. 

In the GCC, Shefa Fund is an outlier. Its model blends the best of Islamic generosity with outside expertise, encouraging proactive – not impulsive – philanthropy. Members, by virtue of collective action, are constantly learning. Still, when pitched against more status-seeking ways of giving, it’s not always an easy sell. 

“In our part of the world, everyone wants to do his or her own thing: start an NGO or foundation. They want to put their name to something,” explains Khaled. “Shefa Fund is a change in the methodology of giving. But, as private philanthropists, we should be agile.”