Halima Leak Francis


Halima Leak Francis is an advocate for charitable giving and volunteerism. She has spent 15 years involved in the field as a fundraising professional, educator and scholar. Halima currently serves as the Chief Philanthropy Officer for the Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation (TMWF), a culturally diverse agency that seeks to empower women and strengthen families through education, youth leadership development, and social services. In achieving this mission, TMWF focuses much of its efforts on providing shelter and critical services for victims of domestic violence particularly those from the Muslim and immigrant communities. Halima has also worked to engage supporters and lead community programming at institutions and agencies including New York University, Barnard College of Columbia University, the CUNY School of Professional Studies, New York University School of Law, Communities in Schools of Wake County (North Carolina), and the NC / Triangle affiliate of INROADS.

Halima serves as a guest lecturer for New York University's George H. Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising discussing topics related to diversity and charitable giving and is an instructor in the Dallas County Community College District's Nonprofit Management Certification program.

Halima has authored scholarly works on philanthropy, and expresses the importance of purposeful giving and volunteerism through her “Write to Bear Alms” initiative. This initiative includes her blog and weekly radio show on Radio Azad in addition to a segment on "The Eddie Francis Podcast Show".

After receiving her bachelor's degree in English from Hampton University, Halima earned her master's in Educational Sociology from the New York University Steinhardt School of Education. There, her thesis was on "Alumni Giving and Historically Black Colleges and Universities". She is a Ph.D. candidate at the NYU Steinhardt School of Education where her research focuses on organizational capacity building and fundraising.