Representatives of 17 leading philanthropic institutions and charitable organizations from the Arab world participated in the eighth meeting of the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF), hosted by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 21 March 2009, and chaired by Dr. Atallah Kuttab, Director General of Welfare Association. 

The purpose of the AFF gathering was to plan the first set of projects jointly sponsored by Arab foundations across the region.  Themes of national and international priority were "Children's Well-being and Education," "Youth Development and Employment," and "Climate Change and Environmental Protection."  The representatives also discussed the state of philanthropy in the Arab countries and how to promote best practices for the management and provision of grants applied in these countries.

The participants discussed the overall developments of the AFF since its inception in 2006, and reviewed a number of activities carried out by member institutions in order to expand its membership, develop its resources, and promote its mission. 

In the meeting, the participants approved the bylaws, and elected the first Board of Directors for the AFF as follows:  Dr. Marwan Awartani (Chairman), Ms. Dima Bibi (Vice Chairman), Mr. Hammam Zare (Treasurer), Ms. Sallama Namani (Secretary), Dr. Atallah Kuttab, and Ms. Mona Al-Bahar.  In addition five committees were formed including the Executive Committee, Nomination Committee, Audit and Finance Committee, , Program committee, and Resource Development committee.

Aside from the Emirates Foundation, other participants included the Welfare Association (Palestine and Lebanon), Society of Majid Bin Abdulaziz for Development and Social Services (Saudi Arabia), Jordan River Foundation, INJAZ (Jordan), Al-Alfi Foundation for Human and Social Development (Egypt), Universal Education Foundation (Palestine), Makhzoumi Foundation (Lebanon), King Hussein Cancer Foundation (Jordan), Alfanar Foundation (Egypt), , Alwaleed bin Talal Foundation (Saudi Arabia), Hani Qaddumi Scholarship Foundation (Jordan), AM Qattan Foundation (Palestine), Save the Children (Jordan),  Arab Human Rights Fund (Lebanon), Dalia Foundation (Palestine) and the Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement (Egypt).The Forum seeks to expand the list of member institutions to include all bodies and institutions wishing to promote philanthropy work, cooperation and joint action.

The meeting was in conjunction with the Conference of the second World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists (WCMP)  in Abu Dhabi. This enabled most of the participants to attend the AFF meeting sponsored by Emirates Foundation.  The gathering came as an opportunity to connect with experts in the philanthropy field.