Orphan Care

At Zakat Foundation of America, we consider any child without a parent or a child who is utterly vulnerable and defenseless with incapacitated or missing parents to be an orphan. The definition of ‘orphan,’ in Arabic, yatîm, is a child who has lost its father. Typically, in the industrialized West, the word ‘orphan’ has meant a child who has lost both parents.

Zakat Foundation of America does not specialize in adoption. Adoption is when a family legally takes another family’s child into their home and raises that child as their own. If you are interested in adoption, please follow up with your state legislation regarding adopting a child living abroad.

Sponsoring an orphan is not a legal relationship. Sponsorship offers the holistic care of a child living abroad and allows them to stay with their living parent or extended family when possible. By sponsoring a child, you are able to provide that child with basic necessities, healthcare, and education for a brighter future.

When you sponsor an orphan, you are covering a child’s essential needs. With your gift, you will provide an orphan with nutritious food to grow, help an orphan go to school, give them hygiene essentials, and more. The best part is that you can sponsor a child for less than $2/day in need online here.

The cost of sponsoring an orphan can be as little as $50 a month or $600 a year. Keep in mind that 100% of your sponsorship goes directly to the orphan, Zakat Foundation of America will never use your donation for administration or operational use.

Zakat Foundation of America invites you to help us guard our orphans' privacy and encourage equal support for all children, as such we’ve removed all photos from the pre-sponsorship process. Upon completing your sponsorship, you will receive a photo and orphan bio allowing you to get to know your sponsored child. Our newly updated portal will allow you to choose the option “Where Most Needed” and our system will assign an orphan that is in most need, you can also select a gender and country on our portal if you so choose. Rest assured every orphan in our program is in dire need.

Due to American bylaws and the vetting system required, Zakat Foundation of America does not offer the option for one on one communication with an orphan. We focus on the betterment of communities as a whole. The same representatives managing our emergency relief and infrastructure programming are the same individuals monitoring the orphan sponsorship. We will provide an orphan bio upon sponsorship so you can get to know your sponsored child, and we will provide an annual update upon your one-year anniversary. If you would like an off-cycle update, our team will try its very best to honor your request.

We are proud to help care for orphans in 25 countries across the globe. Here is a list of where our program currently operates:

• Africa: Ghana, Mali, Kenya, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Chad, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea

• Asia: Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and The Philippines

• Middle East: Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey

Twice a year we do offer options to send Eid gifts ranging from $25-$30 to orphans, but we currently don’t offer gifting options to specific children. These gifts vary from region to region. Some children receive toys, some receive candy and sweets.

Once your orphan reaches the age of 18 they are no longer supported by our orphan care program. However, many generous donors offer to continue to care for their education. Some children merge into our vocational training programs, and other children are assisted through our field representatives in the marriage process. The progression varies from country to country. If your orphan reaches the age of 18 you will be auto-assigned a new orphan in our program, allowing your generosity to continue to save lives. If you prefer to stop your sponsorship, our team will be happy to assist you.

Your orphan sponsorship covers healthcare costs, provides an education, clothing, and gives the orphan food and shelter. Most importantly your sponsorship gives an orphan love, support, and prospects for a future, in some cases your sponsorship can save lives.

We ask donors to commit to one year, however there is no contractual agreement to keep a donor locked in. Sponsorship may be cancelled at any time. We offer the ability to pay $50 a month, or a one-time $600 a year payment via our secure portal.

Since our goal is to help as many orphans as possible, we do not give donors the same orphan to sponsor. Rest assured that your sponsorship is a one-to-one relationship.

Yes, your donation is sent out on a quarterly basis to cover the costs of your sponsored child. Our field officers and partners are on-the-ground in the 15 countries we operate our program monitoring and implementing our sponsorship program.

Within 7 days, in many cases sooner you’ll receive a bio of your sponsored orphan from one of our dedicated representatives in our online portal. You’ll be able to see their photo and learn about them a little more. You’ll also receive an annual update upon your one-year sponsorship anniversary. You can always request more frequent updates and our team will do it’s very best to accommodate your request.

Zakat Foundation of America has been helping people in need for the past 20 years. Since 2014, our orphan sponsorship program has benefited 12,689 poor and destitute children in 15 countries providing them with nutrition, health care, education fees and shelter. Our organization has taken steps to expand our orphan sponsorship program vastly this year, and with your continued support we can make a significant impact on the lives of these innocent children. We have a dedicated team who share the same passion of seeing all our children thrive and achieve their dreams.

Majority of our sponsored children are native to Muslim dominant regions. However, we are committed to sponsoring children from all walks of life and creed. Religion is never used as a criteria to select orphans for our program, we serve all of humanity. Unlike other non-profit organizations, we never use our sponsorship program to act as a missionary conversion program.

Our field officers are familiar with the local community and well aware of local families in need in countries across the globe. When dire situations arise our representatives vet the family to confirm, and submit the proposal to the headquarters for sponsorship.

Due to the same restrictions applied to communication with the child, a donor cannot send money directly to the sponsored orphan.

No. Zakat Foundation of America does not convert anyone. We respect and honor all religions and serve humanity above all. While other organizations strive to convert orphaned children to their religion, we believe that serving humanity regardless of color or creed is above all. Our field officers will never use religion as a parameter to provide orphan care.