The initial money for the center came from the
U.S. government,
Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, and
Oman; shortly afterwards,
Libya donated $750,000 for to endow a chair that went to historian
Hisham Sharabai, a close associate of
Yasser Arafat. In total, the CCAS received more than $4 million from Arab governments in the first five years of its existence. The center is funded by the university, by grants, and by private donors including the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Libya, as well as corporations with business interests in the Middle East; more than two-thirds of the center's money comes from Arab governments. Since 1997, CCAS has served as the core of Georgetown University's National Resource Center on the Middle East and North Africa, funded by a Title VI grant from the US Department of Education. In addition, the center hosts endowed chairs from
Oman,
Kuwait, and the
United Arab Emirates, along with a chair in Human Development. In 2019, Congressman
Denver Riggleman wrote to the
Department of Education seeking a review of federal funding for the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies; he also raised questions about the possible conflicts of interests arising from the presence of officials of foreign governments on its board of advisors. Its board of advisors includes representatives of the governments of
Egypt,
Jordan,
Qatar,
Oman,
Saudi Arabia, and the
UAE. == Programs and leadership ==