Check out the link for the Community Assistance Program. This is intended to be a resource for any Muslim community leader, particularly masjid leader, that wants to use Zakat to help the local community and assist Muslims who want to donate their zakat with ehsan do so within their Masjid. This is an alternative to the Masjid writing a zakat check to an over-head heavy charity or worse, using the money for the Masjid’s next construction project.
When you pay your zakat to such a program, none of it goes to overhead for the Masjid, for staff, or even stamps or paper. You should find a way to donate to places like Palestine, but local zakat distribution should be just as important to Muslim communities as burial and marriage services. This local zakat infrastructure does not exist in many Muslim communities in the United States, but the good news is that setting this up is easy.
Mohy Abdelgany, who leads this program in two Islamic Centers in the Southern California region with several dedicated volunteers1, made himself available to assist Muslim leaders in any community with setting up such a program. If you want to reach out to him, you can do so here.
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Disclosure: I have a family member who is a volunteer board member at one of these Masajid but has no direct involvement in the program.
How Masjid-Based Zakat Works with No Expenses