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Give wisely in Pakistan
Charity in Pakistan does a great deal with a little, and it attracts fraud too. Here is a short check before you give, where zakat differs from sadaqah, and the official pages of organisations that have worked in the open for years. Nothing here is a paid placement.
Before you give
Give only through the official site or app, or the account numbers printed there. Never through an account number sent in a message, however familiar the name.
Check that the organisation is registered and audited: an annual report on its site, and for many, certification by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy.
Be wary of urgent appeals forwarded on WhatsApp and social media with a personal account number. If a case moves you, give through an organisation that verifies cases.
Ask for a receipt. Registered organisations issue one, and donations to approved organisations can be claimed in your tax return.
Give regularly and small rather than once and large: the deed most beloved to Allah is the consistent one.
Start close: a relative in need whom you are not already supporting, a neighbour, a student in your street. The hadith puts them first.
Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy
Certifies non-profit organisations in Pakistan for governance and transparency; its certified list is a first check.
Official site
Zakat or sadaqah
Zakat has fixed recipients, the eight named in the Qur’an (9:60), and must reach them as their own property. Sadaqah can go to anything good: a mosque, a well, a school building. Before giving zakat to an organisation, read its own zakat page: whether it accepts zakat, keeps it separate and spends it on eligible people.
The zakat worksheetOrganisations that work in the open
In alphabetical order. Each link is the organisation’s own site, and what they do is summarised from their own words.
Akhuwat
Interest-free loansInterest-free loans for small businesses, education and housing, given from mosques and churches and repaid by most borrowers; donations fund the revolving pool.
Official siteAl-Khidmat Foundation
ReliefRelief, health, education, orphan care and clean water across Pakistan, with a large disaster-response network.
Official siteEdhi Foundation
ReliefAmbulances, shelters, orphanages and the burial of the unclaimed, run on public donations for decades and still the country’s largest ambulance service.
Official siteIndus Hospital & Health Network
HealthFree hospital care, from emergencies to surgery and cancer treatment, at its own hospitals and the public hospitals it runs, with no billing counter.
Official siteLRBT (Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust)
HealthFree eye care and eye surgery across Pakistan through its hospitals and eye camps, so that no one goes blind for want of money.
Official siteSaylani Welfare
WelfareDaily meals, medical help, and free IT and skills training for young people through its mass IT training programme.
Official siteShaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital
HealthCancer treatment for patients who cannot pay, at its hospitals, funded largely by donations and zakat.
Official siteSIUT (Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation)
HealthFree kidney care, dialysis and transplants, and much else, for anyone who walks in, with no bill at the end.
Official siteThe Citizens Foundation
EducationPurpose-built schools in the poorest neighbourhoods with trained teachers, where a donation sponsors a child’s education.
Official site