Zakat Foundation of America has invited “big tech” partners to embrace and create direct avenues for Muslims to support causes they care about this holy month. Fundraising platform GoFundMe has become the third such partner to join us in celebrating seasonal giving this Ramadan, making Muslim faith-based giving easier.
Compared to their counterparts (10%), a significantly higher percentage (17%) of American Muslims report being motivated by their sense of religious duty to donate, according to a 2019 Institute for Social Policy and Understanding study. American Muslims are just as likely to spend outside their faith community (52%) as they are to spend within their community (53%), the study found.
“The more avenues people have to give, the more goodness can come,” said Amna Mirza, Zakat Foundation of America’s Chief Marketing Officer. “We want giving in Ramadan to be just as normal and widespread in the United States as giving in November and December.”
Qasim Arif, a popular Muslim calligraphy and typography artist who designed Zakat Foundation of America’s “Hubb” (Arabic word for “Love”) shirts, was commissioned to do the artwork for GoFundMe’s campaign — 100% of the “Hubb” shirt’s proceeds go toward the nonprofit’s charitable work. Arif’s new design features the phrase “Power of Giving,” playing off the “Night of Power” (Laylatul Qadr in Arabic) in Islam. The Night of Power is said to fall in Ramadan’s last 10 nights and reward each good deed to the equivalent of doing that deed for 1,000 consecutive months.
Support in the tech world goes a long way toward demystifying “zakat,” which means “charity.” GoFundMe is featuring Zakat Foundation of America, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Penny Appeal USA as its three Muslim humanitarian organizations to support during the last 10 days of Ramadan.
Zakat Foundation of America has been facilitating Ramadan food distributions throughout the month in partnership with DoorDash in a campaign called Feel the Hunger to Do Good, and Facebook has named Zakat Foundation a top Muslim charity for its #MonthOfGood campaign.