Fixing the Toxic Relationship Between Masjid and Islamic Charity

Keeping speaker fees for a Masjid lecture "off the books" so our donations to Gaza can cover them seems...wrong?

How do Muslim charities get into a masjid in Ramadan (or at other times)? A recent article by an anonymous “Muslim charity consultant” brought up the issue, and it is worth our attention.

What’s in it for the masjid?

Typically, a charity is going to reach out to whoever is in charge at the masjid and ask for the opportunity to fundraise, sometimes with a solicitation in the masjid. More likely these days, they just introduce the organization and tell people that there is a table somewhere on the property where they can provide more information and of course, collect donations.

The masjid typically wants something in return for this accommodation. That may be:

1. An event from a popular speaker or Quran reciter who can draw a crowd. The speaker is not going to talk about the charity at all. It might be an unrelated Islamic topic or about politics. After the speech, a different person representing the charity will acknowledge the sponsorship and introduce the organization.

2. Money.

Often, the charity will do a multi-city tour with a prominent speaker to get their foot in the door with the masjid community. These are expensive propositions but important to their marketing.

Of course, there are still masajid that will open the doors to any charity and ask for nothing in return. They may book nearly every night in Ramadan for a different US-based or foreign charity. That does not happen as much as it used to, at least where I live (Southern California).

How Do Masjid Leaders See Big Islamic Charities

Masjid leaders seem to understand that the big Islamic charities spend generously on donor acquisition costs. These charities tend to sponsor all sorts of events, like paying for doctors and lawyers to have meals with a speaker, securing massive spaces at conventions and conferences and covering enormous speaker honoraria and costs for entertainment and video production at their events, not to mention substantial salaries. Multiple Islamic charities follow, quite explicitly, the philosophy of the “overhead myth”- the idea that spending lavishly on growth is a positive good.

Touch Point

It is unfortunate that a certain cynicism has developed among Muslim leaders regarding these charities. That cynicism has been largely encouraged by the charities themselves. The sponsorship opportunities and the nature of the donor acquisition costs focus on the “multiple touch trust model.” They sponsor whatever they can, get their name out there, and people will start to trust them, even if they have not actually identified any reasons why anyone should, beyond gauzy photos of poor children. So, if you ask the question, why not just allow the charity to fundraise at the Masjid based on their merit as a place to donate? The chief merit of a charity is that they are a bag of money that will pay you for access to your audience.

So, if a charitable organization sponsors a dinner for lawyers, for example, it may be possible that no representative from the charity speaks at all. They just get their name on the program or swag and let everybody know that the organization sponsored the event.

Muslims, like everybody else, are susceptible to a constant barrage of advertising in their spaces. For Islamic charities, the masjid is just another place for advertising. Nothing more, nothing less.

But for a masjid, platforming a charity is part of the amanah that comes with leading a community. It is so much more than just another sponsor or local business advertiser.

Merit-Based vs. Benefit-Based Platforming

For the most part, masjid leaders may be implicitly aware of the inherent tension between “merit-based” or “benefit-based” platforming of charitable organizations. However, for the most part, they have decided to go with a benefit-based approach. That is rational based on the environment we are in; the only real merit sold to them is the benefit.

It is not headline news that charities work to out-spend each other, buy each other's names in Google advertising, and badmouth each other all the time. In the billion-dollar-plus Muslim charitable sector in the United States, these organizations have never been able to get together and develop standards for accounting, Zakat, ethics, or really anything else. The sector is both enormous and a complete mess. If you subscribe to this newsletter or read articles here, you will get an idea of how bad the problem is.

How Masajid Can Offer a Solution

The tension between religious institutions platforming charities based on “merit” or “benefit” is not exclusive to the Muslim community. Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and other faith communities have had the same tension regarding religious institutions platforming charities because the institution itself is getting a benefit from the charity, not because it is a good charity.

Here are solutions that masjid leaders should explore:

Develop a policy.

A masjid community should develop a written policy regarding minimum standards for a charity that they would accept. This is especially crucial when it comes to making sure money goes to people in need and that charities are not playing fast and loose with Zakat.

Have a Charity Committee.

Masajid should decouple the process of getting speakers and reciters from the decision of what charity to support. A designated committee should approve any charities that come to the masjid, and it should be based on merit alone. That is to say that the committee must evaluate the charity's financials, review the Zakat policy, and examine the accounting for Zakat. If it is inadequate or does not exist, then they should pass on platforming them. If the committee feels that the charity is worthy of platforming, they should platform them. To maintain fairness, they should create a standard reasonable fee for tabling or sponsorship, the masjid should have a policy that the charity must verify that the fee is not coming from Zakat funds. The fee should also be the same for all charities, large or small.

Develop a different process for notable speakers and reciters.

There are legitimate concerns that speaker honoraria have gone out of control. I have seen quotes for celebrity Shuyukh in the Muslim community from $5,000 to as high as $14,000 for a regular Friday night program. Honoraria inflation, especially from social media influencer types who draw larger crowds is a major reason masajid have been turning to charities to foot the bill.

As masajid are generally more accountable to the local community than Islamic charities, the masjid can keep the cost of the lavish honoraria, flights, and hotel costs “off the books.” This can all be borne by the donations we give for Gaza while not saying that part aloud. Nobody is the wiser. Perhaps masjid leaders can agree that it is time to put a stop to that.

Can We Cap Honoraria?

The masajid in local areas can agree to cap speaker honoraria to control their budgets, while at the same time paying reasonable sums for quality speakers. Unfortunately, this may be problematic since religious organizations are not exempt from antitrust law. The analysis for this question is beyond the scope of this article, but it is something Muslim organizations should consider with appropriate legal advice.

Another possibility is that Muslim organizations become transparent about what they pay in honoraria. Masajid can also develop pooling programs for speakers without specifying a formal cap. Transparency and collaboration in this area will likely help keep the costs down.

Do it with Ehsan

The relationship with charities should be “transactional” in the sense that we should understand that the people we seek to benefit from our donations are benefiting. Islamic giving is not about funding boondoggles.