FAQs
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Most frequent questions and answers. If you still have any questions, please email us.
About Charity Week
Charity Week takes place towards the end of October.
For most of the world, it will take place between 21st October and 27th October.
The two exceptions are as follows: In Qatar it will take place between 20th Oct and 26th Oct. In South Africa, it will take place between 30th Sep and 6th Oct.
If you have any questions, please contact us at info@charityweek.com
As this is a week where anyone and everyone can get involved, it’s happening wherever you are! You choose where you would like to hold your event – your local park, your neighbourhood, your gym, your school, your university, your home… anywhere in the country.
No, anyone can take part! Click here and register to get your own fundraising page setup!
The goal of Charity Week isn’t to be the best at fundraising, rather the goal is to unite as many people from your community as possible! The fundraising goal for your Charity Week event(s) is however much you feel you can raise! The more support you can gather, the more united we can be in raising more money to aid orphans and children in need around the world.
Yes. We have a fundraising toolkit with lots of fun resources that you can download to help you in your fundraising! The toolkit will be available closer to Charity Week. You can also get in touch with your local Islamic Relief fundraiser who may be able to provide more fundraising tools such as buckets and t-shirts.
Yes! Please share your news and successes on your favourite social media site by using the hashtag #CharityWeek & #CW2024 so we can also share your efforts! You’ll be able to see how the other supporters are doing too. You can also visit our Charity Week Facebook/Twitter/Instagram & TikTok page.
Yes! We have plenty of videos explaining what CW is, the projects, the annual finales, and more over on our YouTube page.
Since 2003, people from around the world coming together and uniting has allowed us all to raise £17,537,165.55 to aid orphans and children in need around the world.
YOUR DONATIONS
Each country has it’s own policy for managing donations and more information can be found on your country’s Islamic Relief website. Please see our annual reports to find out more about how your money is spent in Charity Week.
It is important to remember that it costs money to deliver aid and to do it well, ensuring the people who need it most receive the best possible support and that money is not going to the wrong places.
Admin costs can cover governance costs (e.g. audits), monitoring and evaluation (to ensure the projects are delivered and had the planned impact), rent for buildings, insurance, appropriate staff salaries, volunteer expenses, equipment (e.g. laptops, phones) etc.
Charity Week is a volunteer-led organisation of Islamic Relief and does not directly employ any staff members.
The majority of staff at Islamic Relief work on a full-time basis to ensure that donor’s money is spent in the most effective and impactful way. They are professionals who bring specialist skills and knowledge in order for us to deliver our work to high standards. This is how we can ensure that more people affected by conflict and natural disasters as well as those living in poverty can get the best help they need and deserve.
Islamic Relief is also working to help communities build their future with long-term projects and this can take a huge amount of work, commitment and time for staff.
Staff would not be able to do this voluntarily on a full-time basis without a salary as they themselves need to support themselves and their families. Without staff, the work could not continue.
Admin fees have been aligned with local IR admin fees as per their annual reports since inception, except Charity Week UK, where this was aligned in 2023.
We believe that the payment of Admin fees for the running of a charity project is an important thing to do from Islamic, ethical and practical perspective. Not paying admin fees means that the true cost of running the project is hidden, creating a lack of transparency.
The payment of a portion of Zakat to those who administer it is mentioned in the Qur’an (9:60) & was the practice of the Prophet (SAW) and the companions – according to some scholarly opinions.
Admin costs include paying for debit/ credit card fees on online platforms, covering cost of the project, budgeting for resources, paying staff involved in delivering the project overseas and locally. On average, these come to ~4%
Fundraising costs are used to help raise more funds for this and future projects. The aim is to raise between 5 and 10 times more than is invested in fundraising. On average, these costs come to ~ 9% (varies per country).
For more information, please check out the annual reports for your local Islamic Relief office to see how every penny is accounted for and the admin fees are spent. Please note that the IR Admin fees policy has been in effect for CW’s lifetime, except the UK where this was aligned in 2023.
In short, you do! Before Charity Week begins, our teams work hard to ensure that we have a selection of of different projects that can potentially be funded by Charity Week. Usually, there will be different categories of projects ranging from emergency aid, education, and healthcare.
During Charity Week itself, we will release the Project Survey where all Charity Week participants can choose which projects they would want funded! The projects with the most votes will be funded, but if we unite and raise enough funds, we may be able to fund all projects!
To see all of the projects funded in previous years, please see our Annual Reports.
Islamic Relief remains guided by the timeless values and teachings of the Qur’an and the prophetic example (Sunnah).
We know that not only are we accountable to you our donors, the charity regulators and all our partners, but also to Allah (SWT).
We understand that your donations are a huge amanah (trust).
We take this trust seriously and we ensure that your Zakat donations are only spent on projects that meet the Zakat criteria outlined in our Zakat guidelines and policy, which have been developed in consultation with a panel of experts and scholars.
Every day we strive to embody our five key values:
- Sincerity (Ikhlas) – Our efforts are driven by sincerity to God and the need to fulfil our obligations to humanity
- Excellence (Ihsan) – Our actions are marked by excellence in our operations and the conduct through which we help the deserving people we serve
- Compassion (Rahma) – We believe the protection and well-being of every life is of paramount importance and we join with other humanitarian actors to act as one in responding to suffering brought on by disasters, poverty and injustice
- Social Justice (Adl) – Our work is founded on enabling people and institutions to fulfil the rights of the poor and vulnerable. We work to empower the dispossessed towards realising their God-given human potential and develop their capabilities and resources.
- Custodianship (Amanah) – We uphold our duty of custodianship over Earth and its resources, and the trust people place in us as a humanitarian and development practitioner to be transparent and accountable.
Islamic Relief is one of only 20 organisations in the world that meets the Core Humanitarian Standards, the highest standard in the sector.
In the UK, Islamic Relief is the only Muslim charity to be a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a coalition of the UK’s leading humanitarian agencies.
Islamic Relief is transparent in all its communications regarding finances, which is evident in the Annual Reports which can be found on the respective Islamic Relief country websites.
We’re signatory to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements and NGOs in Disaster Relief, meaning that our work commits to global standards of non-discrimination, human rights law and global ethics.