The Middle East Institute is a registered U.S. 501(c)(3) organization. It depends on contributions from a diversity of donors to advance its mission to promote peace, prosperity, and partnership between the people of the United States and the Middle East through its Policy, Education, and Arts and Culture Centers. MEI accepts financial contributions only under the following conditions:
Financial Transparency and Diversity
The Middle East Institute is committed to financial transparency and discloses a complete list of its donors on a quarterly basis on its website, as well as through its annual reports. MEI also believes that financial diversity is critical to its financial well-being and solicits contributions from a wide range of sources including from U.S. and foreign corporations, foundations, governments, and individuals, provided the contributions are consistent with MEI’s mission.
Research Independence
The Middle East Institute and its scholars are deeply committed to the independence and integrity of their research and related activities. MEI policies do not allow for outside parties or donors to influence the independence of scholars’ research or policy recommendations.
Read more about MEI’s Intellectual Independence policies.
Foreign Funding
MEI and its staff and scholars generate their own ideas and programming, consistent with the Institute’s mission. Scholars retain complete research independence. MEI’s policies safeguard this independence and do not allow for outside parties or donors to influence their research or policy recommendations.
Foreign funders are required to acknowledge and agree to MEI’s intellectual independence principles, including its policy that bars the institution or its personnel from engaging in activities that would require registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Conflict of Interest and Disclosures
MEI requires all staff, scholars, and non-resident scholars to abide by its conflict of interest policies. These policies provide guidelines for disclosing, addressing, and resolving any real or potential conflicts of interest.
Read more about MEI’s conflict of interest policy.
MEI accepts multiple types of contributions, among them: one-time donations, recurring gifts, stock donations, in-kind donations, grants, etc. All contributions are classified as unrestricted, temporarily restricted, or permanently restricted. Restricted contributions are accepted only if the proposed program or project is in line with MEI’s core mission and guiding principles. In all cases, MEI retains full intellectual independence for itself and its scholars as relates to the content of its work.
For more information about the Middle East Institute's funding, visit our Public Disclosures and Funding page for past annual reports and yearly financial disclosure forms and list of contributors.