Are charitable organizations in the West leveraging Zakat?
Walk through any high-street fundraiser in London or scroll a U.S. appeal page during Ramadan, and you won’t be wrong in concluding that Zakat is a fairly well-known and leveraged option in the West.
The real answer to whether this is surface-level branding or whether mainstream charities in the West have retooled their fundraising, governance, and programs to unlock Zakat at scale is a bit more nuanced.
Even as a growing cohort of major humanitarian organizations has established credible Zakat channels and governance, the broader Western charity sector still under-utilizes this market. Taking the example of Muslims in the UK and the U.S., the result shows that the gap isn’t demand; in fact, Muslim donors are generous and consistent with Jahangir Mohammed, founder and director, Ayaan Institute, pointing out that Muslim donations in the UK for international humanitarian charities stand at £1.5 billion with upto 40% of that amount comprising Zakat donations.
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Muhammad Ali Bandial