From collecting Zakat and Sadaqah to fundraising during Ramadan, masjids have unique fundraising needs. And to meet these needs, they need an effective fundraising strategy that includes the right tools and the awareness of the best times to raise money with them. This ultimate guide will provide you with various ways to accept online and in-person donations, tools to use, and how Donorbox can help - along with inspiring examples!
There are millions of mosques worldwide and over 3,000 in the United States alone. In order to secure the funds they need to fulfill their mission of connecting people with Allah, these mosques or masjids rely on fundraising.
But without the right tools and strategy, mosques and Islamic charities might not be fundraising as effectively as possible.
If you’re interested in learning more about mosque fundraising, this article is for you! We’ll cover the ins and outs, including when to fundraise, some must-have tools, and how Donorbox helps.
Let’s first look at the significance of mosque fundraising.
From collecting Zakat and Sadaqah to fundraising during Ramadan, masjids have unique fundraising needs.
Often, a strong fundraising strategy helps determine the future of your mosque. Without a regular stream of donations, it can be difficult to grow your masjid and reach more members of the faith.
Fundraising also helps mosques provide grants, scholarships, and community education.
The perfect fundraising strategy for your masjid starts with choosing the right fundraising platform! Donorbox has comprehensive tools to help with every step of mosque fundraising. With attractive donation forms you can embed on your website or host on Donorbox, streamlined ways to collect in-person donations in a cashless world, and tools like Crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer to broaden your network, Donorbox helps mosques raise more money faster.
Check out how Qalam uses Donorbox to collect zakat for their seminary student sponsorships –
Fundraise for Your Mosque with Donorbox!
There are several times when it makes sense to accept mosque donations, both throughout the year and with specific guidance from the Quran. Here are the best times to ask for a masjid donation:
Those who are eligible to give Zakat are compelled to do so once a lunar year. This means that once a year, members of your mosque who meet the Nisab amount pay their dues to help the poor and needy in your community.
You should allow donors to give Zakat both online and in person so there is a handy option that works for them.
For in-person donations, you can use a donation kiosk that can be easily set up with the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app, a tablet device, and a card reader device to collect Zakat quickly via credit or debit cards or digital wallets.
Collecting Zakat online is easy with Donorbox, too. You can collect it as a one-time payment, or give donors the option of making recurring donations throughout the year.
With Recurring Donations on Donorbox donation forms, you can select up to four donation intervals that make sense for your mosque. Then you can select the default choice and even mark your preferred interval with a heart icon like this mosque did –
Pro tip: Offer a Zakat calculator on your donation page or your website to help your donors figure out what they owe. Check out how the Muslim American Community Association did it on its dedicated Zakat page on the website.
Unlike the obligatory Zakat, the Sadaqah is entirely voluntary. Each Sadaqah given brings glory to Allah and can help the giver erase their sins.
In this way, it is a love offering to Allah and your mosque. You should offer as many different ways to collect this gift since the giver is going out of their way to share their generosity.
Muslim American Community Association has different Donorbox donation forms on their website for different kinds of giving. These forms pop up when the potential donor clicks on the respective buttons. This helps donors clarify where their gift should go – and makes giving Sadaqah super easy!
Add a Popup Donation Form to Accept Sadaqah
Friday services and prayer are an important part of the week for Muslims. This obligatory service is a time to reflect on the week and feel closer to Allah.
That’s why it’s also a great time to ask for donations. Note that it is not appropriate to ask for donations during prayer, so be sure to ask before or after.
As people come to visit your mosque, make it easy for them to locate a donation kiosk – either at the entrance or a more suitable place. You can use the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app to easily turn an Android or iOS tablet into a donation kiosk and pair it with a card reader device to start accepting cashless donations at your mosque. Supporters can just tap, dip, or swipe their credit/debit cards or use their digital wallets to make a donation.
Donorbox Live™ Kiosk - Learn More!
You can also collect donations at your Jumah services through Text-to-Give or simply by sharing a QR code linked to your donation form.
Ramadan is an exciting time in the Islamic calendar. It’s a time of fasting, reflection, and worship. And being grateful for all that Allah has given us throughout the year!
It’s also a time when good deeds come back multiplied, so it’s the perfect time for your members to make a mosque donation.
A great time to ask for donations is during Iftar if your masjid hosts regular meals. This is a time to come together and celebrate breaking your daily fast. Celebrating with a donation should be encouraged – especially if you need to fundraise to support hosting Iftar meals. Take inspiration from this Islamic organization that created the below Donorbox donation form to accept sponsorships for Iftar meals.
Not everyone is able to fast for the entirety of Ramadan – or at all. Medical issues might prevent someone from partaking in the daily fast. Or someone might just slip up and accidentally break their fast. That’s where making the Fidyah and Kaffarah offerings comes in!
Fidyah and Kaffarah offerings are a great way for mosques to fundraise. During Ramadan, there should be multiple ways for people to make these donations so they can stay on top of their offerings if they miss a fast.
You can create donation forms for each type of giving or simply include a drop-down on your donation form so someone can select the type of gift they want to make.
The Muslim Community of Knoxville includes a clear drop-down (donation designation) and pricing schedule for Fidyah on their Donorbox donation form.
Build a Customized Donation Form!
The celebration at the end of Ramadan is an important time for the community to come together and feel closer to God. A month of reflection and fasting means people are ready to party – and grateful for the experience!
That’s why your Eid Al-Fitr celebration is a great time to fundraise. You can collect in-person cashless donations with a donation kiosk, Text-to-Give, or QR codes linked to your donation form.
You can also sell tickets to this event as a way to boost your fundraising! Donorbox Events makes it simple to set up an online event page and an event ticketing form to sell tickets online. You can easily manage events and ticketing data on Donorbox, and your attendees get automatically-generated tickets and receipts right in their inboxes!
Text-giving is super easy with Donorbox Text-to-Give – all donors have to do is text your unique campaign code or a custom keyword to the text-to-give number, where they’ll receive a link to your donation form.
You can also collect Zakat al-Fitr during these events via online or in-person methods.
Building a new mosque or purchasing land is a great time to boost your fundraising efforts. Having a clear goal in mind encourages more donations since your mosque members will be excited to be a part of a new project.
Crowdfunding is a great way to raise money for your mosque building or expansion. A goal thermometer helps show donors just how close you are to your goal. You can also leverage social proof with a donor wall, where donors can leave a message with their donations.
We love how this masjid is using Donorbox Crowdfunding to meet its goal of raising funds for a new masjid building. They have already raised £6,746.50 with just 47 donations to this campaign.
To help your mosque collect as many donations as possible, it’s important to have these 7 tools to make your fundraising strategy a success.
The days of people carrying cash are coming to an end. You can’t rely on cash donations to build up your mosque. That’s where online giving comes in.
Having a sleek, customized, accessible, and mobile-friendly online donation form is your first step. With Donorbox Donation Forms, you can –
And more! Salam Center does a great job of encouraging larger and recurring gifts with their customized Donorbox donation form.
Pro tip: Online fundraising thrives when you have a clear donation button on your website. Check out our guide to website donation buttons to make sure your masjid website follows best practices.
A modern way to accept in-person fundraising through credit cards or digital wallets, smartwatches, and smartphones is the key to maximizing your mosque fundraising strategy.
A portable and easy-to-use donation kiosk is a great way to secure more donations for your masjid because it makes it easy for donors to give in person – quickly and efficiently! As we mentioned earlier, with the Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app it’s a breeze! All you’ll need are a tablet device and a card reader device. Our app will swiftly turn your tablet into a donation kiosk and pair up with the card reader to give you the most efficient mosque donation kiosk.
Sign Up for Donorbox Live™ Kiosk
Check it out – we wrote a guide to masjid donation kiosks that explains the ins and outs of how they work.
More and more donors are interested in giving to your mosque with their smartphones. And that number is only going to keep growing! Having a way to accept donations via phone is the key to capturing more masjid donations.
Donorbox has you covered with several sleek ways to give on mobile –
We also have an ultimate guide to mobile giving to help you get started!
Crowdfunding or fundraising pages help you fundraise for a specific goal. They harness the power of the crowd to raise even more money for your mosque.
Having a go-to crowdfunding platform like Donorbox Crowdfunding ensures you’ll be ready to go when you need to launch a campaign. Your platform should make it easy to share on social media, too – so donors can share their donations with their network and encourage more people to give!
Check out our guide to building a great crowdfunding page to help you launch your next campaign.
Peer-to-Peer fundraising is just what it sounds like – your greatest supporters asking their peers for more donations.
Enabling peer-to-peer on your Donorbox campaigns (Donorbox Peer-to-Peer) allows you to invite supporters from the tool to fundraise on your behalf – or you can allow anyone to fundraise for you with a button on your fundraising page. It’s super easy to activate peer-to-peer on Donorbox. Learn more in our guide here.
See how International Aid Charity used Donorbox to raise over $250,000, $53,950 of which was raised with peer-to-peer fundraising. They included an “I want to fundraise for this” button so anyone could raise money for their important Ramadan campaign providing aid to those affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Selling tickets to events is a great way to boost your fundraised income – and introduce more people to your mosque!
Sign Up for Donorbox EventsWhether you’re hosting an Eid al-Fitr party or an event for kids, Donorbox Events can help you raise more money through ticket sales. Create unlimited ticket tiers with different pricing and have the powerful option for donors to make an additional donation. You can also choose from a list of 43 currencies to sell your tickets in! Isn’t that amazing? We have several such amazing and efficient features on this event ticketing tool. Get started with this guide.
Pro tip: Add additional fundraisers to your event to raise even more. Here’s a list of 7 fundraisers to raise even more money at your events.
Donor management is an important practice for mosques. It can help you steward existing donors and connect with new ones. With different giving methods in place, you should have a database that automatically stores your crucial donor and donation data.
Donorbox Donor Management makes it possible. It helps you track donations, keep records of donors including your communication notes with them, pull segmented lists for outreach, provides you with handy donor reporting templates, and more. You can also easily integrate with CRM tools such as Salesforce NPSP, HubSpot, Blackbaud RE NXT, etc. to more effectively utilize the donor and donation data.
Donorbox’s comprehensive, easy-to-use tools help masjids rocket-boost their fundraising to raise as much as possible. Thousands of mosques and Islamic charities trust Donorbox to help them reach their goals – and support their vital work in their communities.
Throughout the article, we’ve highlighted some of the mosques and Islamic organizations that have been using our various features for their fundraising. You’ve seen examples of how Donorbox Donation Forms or Pages, Crowdfunding, Peer-to-Peer, and other products have helped them raise thousands of money in donations.
If you want to elevate your mosque fundraising just like them, get started with Donorbox in just four simple steps! Check out our step-by-step guide or watch this short video –
Without fundraising, most mosques wouldn’t be able to do their important work of serving and educating the community. The proper tools and timing are a vital part of a successful mosque fundraising strategy.
Whether you’re simply collecting Zakat or planning an exciting Eid event, there are many opportunities to fundraise so you can grow your masjid – and your mission.
Donorbox has the tools you need to capture more donations. Learn about them to start fundraising for your mosque like a pro – sign up now!
Want more tips and resources to fundraise for your masjid or your Islamic charity? Go to our Nonprofit Blog and explore the articles and free resources we have for you. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a curated list of Donorbox’s best resources in your inbox every month.
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower