Who We Are
Multifaith Alliance (MFA) is a humanitarian organization delivering aid and essential services in crisis settings. Our work is carried out by trusted teams rooted in the communities we serve, ensuring support is responsive, accountable, and grounded in lived experience.
Mission
To meet urgent humanitarian needs while supporting recovery over time. MFA manages aid delivery from start to finish, sourcing supplies, coordinating access, and delivering support directly to communities. We work alongside trusted local leaders and a broad network of faith-based, secular, civic, and private allies to ensure assistance is targeted, responsible, and responsive to real needs.
Vision
We envision a world where diverse communities work together to support people displaced by conflict. A world where individuals and families can rebuild their lives with trust, resilience, and hope, grounded in local leadership, shared responsibility, and dignity.
Our Approach
- Filling critical gaps in humanitarian response, from healthcare and clean water to food, shelter, and innovative community-based solutions in hard-to-reach areas
- Working through trust-based partnerships with local actors who understand their communities best, enabling rapid and adaptive responses as conditions change
- Raising awareness of urgent humanitarian needs and advocating for inclusive, evidence-based policies
- Mobilizing diverse faith-based and civic partners to take meaningful action in support of refugees and displaced communities
Our History
- 2013
MFA Founded
Dr. Georgette Bennett, daughter of Holocaust survivors and champion of interfaith cooperation, established Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees as the nation’s first interfaith response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Syria. MFA began with advocacy efforts alongside faith communities, civil society organizations, and partners to raise awareness of the facts, needs, and opportunities to support displaced Syrians.
- 2016
Expansion into Humanitarian Relief
MFA expanded its capacity to deliver humanitarian assistance to hard-to-reach displaced Syrian communities. Leveraging the Golan Heights corridor under Israel’s Good Neighbor policy, MFA delivered aid to besieged communities in southern Quneitra, supporting civilians for two years and helping establish a bread factory producing 15,000 pitas daily and a maternity hospital.
- 2017
"Three Great Fears" Published
MFA released the Three Great Fears report to address concerns about Syrian refugees coming to America—economic displacement, terrorism, and Islamophobia—using evidence-based research to counter misinformation.
- 2018
Expansion of Aid Deliveries
As conflict dynamics shifted and the Golan Heights corridor closed, MFA rerouted shipments and expanded aid delivery across northern Syria, northern Iraq, Lebanon, and Türkiye. Its partner-driven approach enabled the sourcing and distribution of aid, the implementation of humanitarian projects, and grassroots engagement.
- 2018
Fund A Container Launches
MFA launched the Fund A Container program, allowing donors to sponsor shipments of life-saving aid to displaced communities.
Our Founder
Dr. Georgette Bennett
Founder and Chairperson
TED speaker Dr. Georgette Bennett is an award-winning sociologist, widely published author, popular lecturer, and former broadcast journalist. An innovative and entrepreneurial leader, she is an active philanthropist whose work focuses on conflict resolution and intergroup relations.
In 2013, Dr. Bennett founded the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees—now Multifaith Alliance (MFA)—and currently serves as its Board Chair. In 1992, she founded the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, a leading organization dedicated to combating religious prejudice.
"We are united by our shared humanity and our commitment to help those in need."
Dr. Bennett is also a co-founder of the Global Covenant of Religions / Global Covenant Partners, which works to delegitimize the use of religion to justify violence and extremism. In support of this mission, she served on the U.S. State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy working group on conflict mitigation, developing recommendations for countering religion-based violence.
She is Immediate Past Chair of the Jewish Funders Network and serves on the Board of Third Way. In addition, she is an Advisory Board member of the International Rescue Committee and the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Board of Directors
Our Team
Shadi Martini
Chief Executive Officer
The Syrian war transformed businessman Shadi Martini into a refugee, an activist, and a leading advocate for greater cooperation across faith and cultural lines in support of the Syrian people. In March 2011, as the Assad regime cracked down on those providing aid to anyone suspected of opposition ties, Shadi, then the General Manager of a hospital in Aleppo, and his colleagues worked covertly to deliver medical care to wounded and ill civilians.
After being forced to flee Syria in 2012, Shadi became a refugee in Turkey, where he continued his humanitarian work by establishing networks to provide medical care and humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees. His firsthand experience of displacement, combined with his deep understanding of the region’s complexities, uniquely qualifies him to lead MFA’s humanitarian efforts.
"Every life we touch, every family we help, brings us closer to a world where no one has to flee their home in search of safety."
As CEO of Multifaith Alliance, Shadi oversees all aspects of the organization’s work, from humanitarian aid delivery to advocacy and partnership-building. His leadership has been instrumental in expanding MFA’s reach to serve refugees and displaced communities across multiple regions, including Syria, Ukraine, Gaza, and beyond.
Shadi’s personal journey from successful businessman to refugee to humanitarian leader embodies the resilience and determination that MFA seeks to foster in the communities it serves. His story is a powerful reminder of the human cost of conflict and the critical importance of international cooperation in responding to humanitarian crises.
Marlene Adler
Head of Operations
Marlene Adler closed her eight-year career as Vice President of Marketing at Bear Stearns by joining Walter Cronkite to ...
Betsy Dribben
Head of Advocacy
Betsy Dribben, Head of Advocacy for Multifaith Alliance, is an attorney with decades of international political and poli...
Ahed Festuk
Logistics Manager
Ahed Festuk has worked as Multifaith Alliance's Logistics Manager since 2019, overseeing MFA's humanitarian aid shipment...
Elana Banin
Senior Partnership Advisor
Elana Banin is a Senior Partnership Advisor to the Multifaith Alliance, where she supports strategic partnerships, donor...
Leontia D'Silva
Communications & Digital Engagement Manager
Leontia D'Silva joined MFA in the summer of 2023, bringing nearly 7 years of experience in marketing and communications....