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2024 Impact:19 countries | 5,285 orphans sponsored | 26,425 beneficiaries
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How Your Orphan Sponsorship Changes a Child's Life

$50 can be a week's worth of coffee - or an orphaned child's new means of food, shelter, education, healthcare, and clothing. For just $50 a month, you can sponsor an orphan with us and be the reason their lives become filled with safety and love. Watch to see all the wonderful ways your sponsorship can make a difference.


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How Does it All Work?

We consider an orphan to be any child without a parent or a child who is utterly vulnerable and defenseless, with incapacitated or missing parents. 

We work with trust partners in each country to reach the most vulnerable, ensuring your support helps children not just survive, but thrive

  • Supporting our General Orphan Care extends your gift to siblings and family members and provides comprehensive assistance to orphans in greatest need. This fund also supports groups of transient, displaced or fully orphaned children.

  • When you Sponsor a Child, you can choose by country, age, and gender or select "where most needed" to help those waiting longest.

Sponsor an Orphan

3 Ways You Can Help Orphans



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From Lost to Loved: The Stories You Helped Write

osp page case study 1 berty

Bamboi, Ghana

After losing her father, Berty’s world was filled with uncertainty. Her mother struggled to provide even the basics, let alone cover school fees, uniforms, or meals. Berty was on the brink of dropping out, her dream of becoming a nurse slipping away. 

That changed when Berty was enrolled in our Orphan Care program. With monthly support, her mother can now afford her education, books, school meals, and essential hygiene items. Berty has a stable routine, a clean bed, and the confidence to succeed in school. 

Today, she’s thriving academically, especially in math, and looks forward to a future she once thought was out of reach. 

Because of a sponsor, Berty has hope, dignity, and the tools to achieve her dreams. 

osp page case study 2 mohammed

Hubli, India

Despite daily hardships, Mohammed dared to dream after the tragic loss of his father. His family plunged into a financial crisis while his mother, Anisa Banu, struggled to raise four children through small home-based tailoring jobs. An education seemed out of reach for Mohammed. 

Through our Orphan Care Program, Mohammed was given the chance to pursue his dreams. Today, he proudly celebrates passing 12th grade with honors and is now enrolling in a BBA degree, determined to build a better future. 

A passionate student, runner, and artist, Mohammed balances academics, faith, and family responsibilities with unwavering discipline. He is deeply grateful to the generous donors for eight years of continuous support that made his academic journey possible. 

Farida empowers herself with farming her land

Busia, Kenya

At just 8 years old, Farida lost her father and soon after, her mother disappeared, leaving her and her siblings to survive alone. They wandered for days before reaching their uncle’s home. 

At age 9, Farida joined our Orphan Care Program. She was enrolled in school, received clothing, supplies, and a monthly stipend. With your support, Farida began to thrive, growing stronger, excelling in class, and even starting a small farm. Over the years, she was able to secure goats, and eventually a cow, building a sustainable future. 

Now at 17, Farida has completed secondary school and dreams of becoming a leader in her community. 

Sponsorships can help another child like Farida rise from despair to dignity. 

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What If We Chose With Love?

In 2022, Zakat Foundation decided to restructure our program under the banner Choose with Love. Many children would await a sponsor for long periods of time, especially older children. We decided to remove photos, allowing every child equal opportunity at being sponsored and eliminating unintentional bias. Photos are then provided after a sponsor is matched. We choose to lead with love for EVERY child.


A Glimpse of Our Work

Captured Moments

Stories of Our Work


FAQs

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 23 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, Morocco, Libya and Sudan

  • 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.


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