MLFA’s 1st Annual

Nonprofit Governance Forum

Nonprofit Resilience: Governance, Fiduciary Oversight & Defending Civil Society

Saturday, May 2 | 9:00 AM | Catholic Theological Union (CTU) Chicago

Tickets

This forum is an intensive, practice-driven convening designed to equip nonprofit leaders with the governance, fiduciary oversight, and compliance strategies necessary to protect organizational integrity and defend civil society in an era of heightened scrutiny.

strengthen board and executive oversight

advanced governance practices

gain insight into IRS and state investigative authorities

how to implement sound financial and investment practices

Led by MLFA’s Nonprofit Governance Department, this convening draws on years of frontline experience defending Muslim institutions facing investigations, enforcement actions, and public pressure. We do not approach this work theoretically. We do it in courtrooms, in boardrooms, and in moments of real risk. That perspective is exactly why this forum exists.

You will leave with concrete tools, clear legal awareness, and actionable strategies to build institutions that are resilient, credible, and prepared for today’s regulatory realities.

Hours & Location

Saturday, May 2, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM CST

Catholic Theological Union (CTU) | 5416 South Cornell Avenue Chicago, IL 60615

Join leaders who are serious about protecting their mission, stewarding their amanah responsibly, and defending civil society with clarity and confidence.

Keynote

Arwa Damon

Renowned journalist, former CNN Senior International Correspondent, and founder of the humanitarian organization INARA

Forum Program

Opening Remarks by Sana Saleem & Huma Khan

Sana Saleem

Nonprofit Department Program Manager & Staff Attorney

Huma Khan

Nonprofit Senior Staff Attorney

Breakout Session 1

Choose one session

Beyond Basic Governance: From Compliance to Effective Oversight

This session goes beyond basic nonprofit governance to show how high-functioning boards exercise fiduciary responsibility, strategic leadership, and effective oversight.

Speaker

Josh Abel, Executive Vice President of Indiana University Foundation

Moderator

Sana Saleem, MLFA Nonprofit Department Program Manager & Senior Staff Attorney

Inside the Regulator’s Toolkit: IRS and State Enforcement Powers

This session offers nonprofit leaders a practical overview of IRS and state Attorney General investigative and enforcement powers.

Moderator

Antonio Glenn, MLFA Nonprofit Governance Department Director

Moderator

Huma Khan, MLFA Nonprofit Department Senior Staff Attorney

A Global Perspective on Philanthropy

A live virtual address from Afshan Paarlberg, offering a global perspective on philanthropy, social impact, and the role of faith-driven leadership. Drawing on her international experience, she will explore how philanthropy shapes communities around the world and what Muslims in the United States can and should be doing to strengthen institutions, advance justice, and create meaningful, lasting impact.

Speaker

Afshan Paarlberg, Lawyer and Scholar

Lunch + Networking + Prayer

Breakout Session 2

Choose one session

Building an Effective Board: Selection, Onboarding, and the Power of Diversity

This session explores how nonprofits can intentionally build effective, mission-aligned boards by recruiting and onboarding the right members, providing ongoing training, and leveraging cognitive and experiential diversity.

Speaker

Ellen Farwell, Associate Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law

Moderator

Sana Saleem, MLFA Nonprofit Department Program Manager & Senior Staff Attorney

Financial Stewardship: Fiscal Oversight & Growth Management

This session explores the boards and officers’ financial stewardship responsibilities, combining strong oversight and fraud prevention practices with a forward-looking approach to financial sustainability.

Speaker

Eaman Shebley,  MLFA | Fractional CFO | Advocate for Social Justice

Speaker

Irshad Rasheed, Stearns Bank | President of the Islamic Banking Division

Moderator

Huma Khan, MLFA Nonprofit Department Senior Staff Attorney

Governance Workshop

Mastering Governance: From Theory to Practice
Governance Workshop

Step into a dynamic, hands-on workshop that brings nonprofit governance to life. Move beyond theory and engage directly with real-world scenarios that boards and leaders face every day. Through guided conversation and collaborative problem-solving, you’ll gain practical tools, fresh insight, and the confidence to lead with clarity and accountability.

Expert Panel Discussion

When the Landscape Shifts: Nonprofits in an Era of Heightened Government Scrutiny

This closing panel examines current legal and policy developments— including NSPM-7, the Bondi memorandum, evolving enforcement priorities, and shifting definitions of domestic terrorism— and what they mean for nonprofit governance, compliance, and advocacy in an era of heightened scrutiny.

Moderator

Huma Khan, Nonprofit Senior Staff Attorney

Speaker

Jinan Chehade, Civil Litigation Junior Staff Attorney

Speaker

Sufia Khalid, NSCDC Senior Staff Attorney

Speaker

Hina Shamsi, Director of the ACLU National Security Project

Closing Remarks

Arshia Ali-Khan

MLFA CEO

Tickets

Secure your ticket before it’s gone. Early bird ends April 15
Get Tickets
  • Early Bird Ticket – $75
  • Early Bird Student/Young Professional Ticket – $50
  • Standard Ticket – $100
  • Student/Young Professional Ticket – $75

Sponsorship Packages

Become a sponsor! Support the future of nonprofit leadership while elevating your organization’s impact.
PLEASE NOTE: All sponsors receive access to pro bono nonprofit legal screening.

*Only One Available

Recognition & Branding
  • Premier recognition as Title Sponsor of the event
  • Verbal recognition as lead sponsor during program
  • Top-tier logo placement on all event signage, programs, and invitations
  • Featured placement on event website (homepage + registration page)
  • Recognition in all printed materials
Digital & Social Media
  • 4 dedicated social media posts highlighting your organization
  • Featured inclusion in all promotional campaigns
  • Priority logo placement across all digital marketing
Tickets & Access
  • 6 VIP tickets with priority seating
  • Priority meet & greet with speakers
Post-Event Visibility
  • Featured recognition in post-event recap and thank-you campaign
  • Inclusion in impact report or follow-up communications
Exclusive Benefits
  • Featured spotlight moment during the event (optional 30-second video or stage acknowledgment)
  • Priority access to pro bono nonprofit legal screening
  • Opportunity to provide branded materials at event
Become a Sponsor
Recognition & Branding
  • Prominent logo placement on event signage, programs, and invitations
  • Verbal recognition during event
  • Recognition on event website and printed materials
Digital & Social Media
  • 3 dedicated social media posts tagging your organization
  • Logo placement on sponsor and registration pages
  • Priority logo placement (second tier after Title Sponsor)
Tickets & Access
  • 4 VIP tickets with priority seating
  • Speaker meet & greet access
Post-Event Visibility
  • Recognition in post-event recap and thank-you outreach
Exclusive Benefits
  • Highlighted sponsor recognition during program segment
Become a Sponsor
Recognition & Branding
  • Logo on event signage, programs, and invitations
  • Verbal recognition during event
  • Recognition on event website
Digital & Social Media
  • 2 dedicated social media posts tagging your organization
Tickets & Access
  • 3 General Admission tickets with speaker meet & greet access
Post-Event Visibility
  • Recognition in post-event recap and thank-you outreach
Become a Sponsor
Recognition & Branding
  • Logo on event signage and printed program
  • Verbal recognition during event
  • Recognition on event website
Digital & Social Media
  • One (1) dedicated social media post tagging your organization
Tickets & Access
  • 2 General Admission ticket
  • Speaker meet & greet access
Post-Event Visibility
  • Recognition in post-event recap and thank-you outreach
Become a Sponsor
Recognition & Branding
  • Recognition on event website and select printed materials
  • Verbal acknowledgment during event
Tickets & Access
  • One (1) General Admission ticket
  • Speaker meet & greet access
Post-Event Visibility
  • Recognition in post-event recap and thank-you outreach
Become a Sponsor

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Title Sponsor

Baitulmaal

Partners

Zakat Foundation of America

Islamic Relief

Arwa Damon
Renowned journalist, former CNN Senior International Correspondent, and founder of the humanitarian organization INARA

Arwa Damon is a five-time Emmy winning former CNN Senior International Correspondent. While her career has taken her across the globe, she is best known for her coverage of the Middle East, especially out of Iraq and Syria, and for the human stories she brings into her reporting. She is also the recipient of numerous Peabody Awards, the Investigative Reporters and Editors award for her coverage of the 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, and the prestigious “Courage in Journalism” award by the International Women’s Media Foundations.

In 2015 Arwa founded her charity, the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance, INARA, that provides comprehensive holistic medical and mental health care for children impacted by war and natural disasters who otherwise would not be receiving treatment.

In 2022 Arwa parted ways with CNN to direct and produce the award-winning documentary “Seize the Summit” and focus on growing and expanding INARA. She is also a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council.

Sana Saleem
Nonprofit Department Program Manager & Staff Attorney

Sana Saleem joined MLFA in 2023 as the Nonprofit Department program manager and staff attorney. She was previously a visiting assistant clinical professor with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Sana has experience working with Muslim nonprofit organizations, as she was previously a staff attorney with the Muslim Civil Liberties Union where she advised clients, filed an EEOC charge of discrimination, and pursued post-litigation torts against a federal prison. After passing the Texas bar exam, Sana practiced with Durkin & Graham, in the areas of civil litigation and workers’ compensation. Sana is licensed in both Texas and Indiana, and practices in the area of nonprofit law.

Sana obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law where she was the Candidacy Editor for the Denver University Law Review. She also participated in the Civil Litigation Clinic where she helped represent a client bringing a Title VII race discrimination case against a national retailer, and she completed internships with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Sana has a B.S. in Public Relations from The University of Texas at Austin with minors in Business and Spanish.

Huma Khan
Nonprofit Senior Staff Attorney

Huma Khan is a not-for-profit and family-based immigration attorney, and one of the founders of The Law Office of Tajuddin & Khan PC located in the Chicagoland area. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and received her undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with Honors. She went on to attend The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and received her law degree in 2008. She has lived and worked in the Chicagoland community since 2009, and her goal has always been to be of service to her community. She values helping organizations and individuals navigate the legal issues they face, and takes the time to connect to her clients and provide honest and practical legal advice.

Josh Abel
Executive Vice President of Indiana University Foundation

Josh Abel is the executive vice president, general counsel and board secretary at the Indiana University Foundation. He is responsible for leading the IU Foundation on all legal matters including tax-exempt law, governance issues, gifts, contracts, real estate, and compliance.  An alumnus of the IU Maurer School of Law, Josh began his legal career at a nonprofit legal aid clinic, where he established what became Indiana’s largest expungement program for ex-offenders, and he eventually led the organization. He later practiced at a major law firm, advising nonprofit organizations, before transitioning to the philanthropic sector.

Antonio M. Glenn
MLFA Nonprofit Governance Department Director

Antonio M. Glenn, Esq., is the MLFA Nonprofit Governance Department Director, and an experienced estate planning and asset protection attorney dedicated to serving families, businesses, and the broader community across Texas and Maryland. A graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law, Antonio is licensed in Maryland, Texas, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United States Tax Court. He is currently scheduled to take the Virginia Bar exam and is in the process of waiving into Michigan.

As founder and principal of AMG Counsel, Antonio helps clients protect and grow their wealth through comprehensive estate planning, business formations, asset protection,and business succession planning. His counsel extends to entrepreneurs as well as families looking to secure their legacies and ensure seamless business transitions to the next generation.

Deeply dedicated to public service, Antonio regularly provides pro bono estate planning and probate services to first responders and families in need through Wills for Heroes and the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program. He serves on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations and holds active leadership roles in the legal community, including as Vice Chair of the State Bar of Texas Corporate Counsel Committee and as a member of the Collin County Bar Association. He is also pursuing certification as a Texas Estate and Probate specialist.
 
Outside the office, Antonio enjoys scuba diving, playing flag football, training for sprint triathlons, and preparing for Spartan races.

Afshan Paarlberg
Lawyer and Scholar

Afshan Paarlberg is an internationally recognized lawyer and scholar with nearly two decades of leadership, general counsel, and research experience with philanthropy, law, and justice. She is ongoingly involved in access-to-justice initiatives, supporting nonprofit governance, emergence, and social impact across complex regulatory environments. She is a proud board member of The Appellate Project—a U.S. nonprofit that supports emerging leaders as they work to build a more inclusive and representative appellate field.

Ellen Farwell
Associate Professor of Law, Roger Williams University School of Law

Professor Ellen Farwell joined Roger Williams University School of Law faculty in 2023 after teaching at New England Law | Boston, Northeastern University School of Law and Brandeis University.  She previously served as Associate General Counsel at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Professor Farwell represented the hospital in the negotiation of regional and international healthcare collaborations, advised on executive compensation, employee benefits, and the organization’s nonprofit, tax-exempt status. In addition, she served as counsel to the Ethics Advisory Committee and the Compensation and Conflicts of Interest Committees of the Board of Trustees. Before working in-house, Professor Farwell gained experience as a tax associate at Nutter, McClennen & Fish and an intern at the US Department of Commerce. Her work experience has inspired her to explore the ways in which federal tax impacts the accomplishment of charitable goals, and the intersection of corporate fiduciary duties and efforts to increase.

Jinan Chehade
MLFA Civil Litigation Junior Staff Attorney

Jinan Chehade graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2023, building her experience in civil litigation and advocacy along the way. Jinan worked at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Special Litigation Division while attending Georgetown Law, and strategically analyzed cases on the intersection of policy and litigation. Jinan also represented refugees seeking asylum through the Center for Applied Legal Studies, where she successfully litigated and achieved asylum for her client. As a legal intern at the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jinan honed her litigation skills on issues of religious freedom in the workplace and in schools. Jinan also worked as an intern at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), assisting on landmark cases of government accountability, free speech, and criminal justice reform.

Jinan also developed her leadership skills while doing all the above. At Georgetown Law, she served as president of the Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA) and Program Chair of the National Muslims Law Students Association (NMLSA).

Prior to law school, Jinan studied Public Policy, Arabic, and Islamic World Studies at DePaul University. Born and raised in the Bridgeview area of Chicagoland, Jinan credits much of her drive for civil rights to the sense of purpose her community instilled in her at a young age. Jinan now has over eight years of experience organizing and working for civil rights in the community and on campuses. Jinan founded a national non-profit campaign that raised over $1,000,000 for humanitarian causes around the world, including Yemen, Rohingya, and also for asylum seekers

Since joining MLFA, Jinan works with the rest of the Civil Litigation department to defend individuals against unlawful targeting and free speech violations, as well as failures to accommodate reasonable religious beliefs and practices in institutions and in the employment context. Jinan continues to work on numerous cases for our clients, fighting for our clients as well as preservation of the broader Rule of Law, and equality for all as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Sufia Khalid
MLFA Criminal Defense Senior Staff Attorney

Sufia joined the criminal defense department in 2019 and works on federal criminal national security cases. Her work involves Muslim defendants investigated by the FBI´s counter-terrorism division (often cases of entrapment) and prosecuted by the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

Sufia works on cases in both trial and appellate federal courts across the country. She researches and writes motions challenging detention; evidentiary motions challenging unjust classified information procedures, prejudicial and irrelevant evidence, and other evidentiary issues; motions to dismiss on novel constitutional grounds; sentencing memorandums and objections challenging disproportionate sentencing guidelines reserved for Muslim defendants; and appellate arguments.

Sufia prepares cases for trial, co-writes cross examinations for government witnesses including FBI agents, undercovers,forensic experts, terrorism experts, psychiatrists etc. She also co-writes direct exams of defense witnesses, manages eDiscovery and selects trial exhibits, prepares trial outlines, manages and helps prepare defense witnesses. Sufia has participated in two national security jury trials while at CLCMA and has prepared for several others which the criminal department has resolved in extraordinary outcomes shortly before trial.

Sufia is a passionate advocate and anti-racist lawyer. In her work with the criminal department, they have uncovered significant and unconscionable FBI undercover operation tactics used against the most vulnerable in the Muslim community. They have successfully challenged government attempts to keep critical evidence secret, and have achieved exceptional outcomes in case resolution and sentencing for their clients.

Sufia went to law school in England at the University of Sussex before working at the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia and the United Nations Development Programmer Legal Support Office in NYC. She received her LLM at Cardozo Law School, during which she interned at the Legal Aid Society’s Manhattan Trial Office. Sufia also loves to travel (21 countries, and counting) and enjoys exploring the DFW halal foodie scene with her husband.

Arshia Ali-Khan
MLFA CEO

A visionary leader, with a professional career reflecting over two decades of creative, transformational leadership, in corporate and non-profit organizational development. From high-profile organizations to local individuals and entrepreneurs, Arshia serves as an experienced transformational organization development and human emergence leader and adviser. She has led organizations effectively with cross-functional & multi-cultural teams to transform and expand organizations throughout her career.

In August 2018, Arshia joined the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) as their first-ever Chief Development Officer (CDO) spearheading organizational development strategies, building development infrastructure, enhancing development activities, and planning and executing comprehensive development campaigns for MLFA. In June of 2020, she was appointed as the interim CEO, and in January of 2022 she was appointed by the board of directors as the CEO of MLFA. In her service as interim CEO she successfully led MLFA through the pandemic, and effectively established greater efficiency, transparency, accountability, and integrity within MLFA. In an effort to strengthen and protect the Muslim nonprofit community, Arshia envisioned and spearheaded a five-year partnership with Indiana University to launch the MLFA-funded Ihsan Standard, a legal and research project dedicated to leadership excellence among minority-led and Muslim American nonprofits. The program aims to encourage effective organizational decisions that benefit programs and clients, to support operations within legal parameters and reduce scrutiny, and promote community confidence in nonprofit organizations. To achieve these goals, The Ihsan Standard provides nonprofit legal screenings to assess the legal health of an organization.

As CEO, in order to build a strong foundation for MLFA Arshia, led and achieved a merger between MLFA and the MLFA-funded Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (CLCMA) in 2022. Under her leadership, MLFA will grow to become the National Security Hub for Muslims in the United States. In 2023, MLFA is positioned to grow and she holds a vision for expanding MLFA’s influence and effectiveness in service of setting precedent in national security rights on behalf of Muslim-Americans.