Leadership

The Alavi Foundation is governed by a board of Directors. The directors set policies on the management and distribution of funds, investments, professional standards and geographic focus. The Foundation and the activities of its directors and staff members are governed by a Director Code of Ethics which can be seen below:

The Alavi Foundation has adopted the following standards to guide the board of directors in their philanthropic undertakings and all other foundation business.

• Serving the public interest shall guide the foundation’s work, and shall be the basis for board decision making at all levels of the organization.

• Everyone will be expected to bring objective thinking, critical analysis, and a discerning, empathetic heart to the foundation’s deliberations.

• Everyone will be tolerant of the ideas and positions of others, and all matters will be approached with an open mind.

• Decisions and judgments will be based on the most complete and accurate information that is available, and each director will be expected to familiarize himself/herself as thoroughly as possible with any information that is disseminated for a meeting.

• No director will use his or her position with the foundation in a manner that will be advantageous financially to his or her benefit.

• Decisions of the foundation’s board of directors will be made, whenever possible, through a process of consensus. Appropriate discretion is important when discussing the board’s deliberations outside of the confines of meetings. Care should be taken to not damage the reputation of grantees, or to comment on the foundation’s grant making process in outside discussions, so as not to stifle the candor and open discussion that the foundation strives for in its decision-making processes.

• To avoid the appearance or potential of any conflict of interest, board members shall disclose any material facts as to his or her relationship with any firm, association or other entity that seeks to enter into any other kind of business relationship with the foundation.

• Board of directors will not accept any gifts, payments, or loans from vendors or suppliers of goods or services to the foundation, or from organizations which have applied to the foundation for a grant, are current grantees, or may likely to be applying to the foundation for a grant in the future.