As your masjid or Islamic charity prepares to celebrate Ramadan, do you have everything you need to easily collect donations? Ramadan is the perfect time to fundraise to support your community outreach - and we have you covered! Read on to learn which types of donations to collect during Ramadan and the 12 best practices to bring in more giving.
Every year during the month of Ramadan, 1.8 billion Muslims globally celebrate with fasting, reflection, and acts of charity. This exciting season is often prime fundraising time for masjids and Islamic charities looking to raise more money for their important causes.
In this article, we’ll look at the Ramadan donation types and best practices that encourage more generosity during this holy month.
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a time of fasting and charity. Those who are healthy and able will fast from sunrise to sunset as a symbol of spiritual cleansing and a way to better understand human suffering. It’s a time to reflect and help those around you through acts of charity and donations.
Ramadan ends with a large celebration and fast-breaking called Eid al-Fitr. This joyous holiday is a time to be near family and exchange gifts.
In addition, Ramadan charity is multiplied by 70 and sent back as blessings to the giver. That means any generous act made during this holy month, like donating, will be multiplied upon the giver.
This is an important time for masjids and Islamic charities to fundraise. For example, check out how Urban Muslim Minority Alliance used Donorbox to raise over $300,000 during Ramadan in 2023 –
We love how each donation tier tells the donor what that amount can do for their organization and the people they help!
Ramadan donation types are varied, from generous gifts made simply for charity to donations with a more specific purpose. Here are eight to keep in mind.
Sadaqah is an act of charity made completely out of the goodness of one’s heart. It is not an obligatory donation or act.
Sadaqah can be given all year long but is often solicited during Ramadan so the giver can benefit from the multiplied blessings. When Muslims give sadaqah, they also erase some of their sins.
On the other hand, zakat is an obligatory donation for Muslims who fit the requirements of the Nisab. They must donate a set amount at least once per lunar year.
Zakat can be collected all at once, in installments through recurring donations, or during Ramadan.
In addition to the general obligation of zakat, there is also Zakat al-Fitr. This is an obligatory gift made during Ramadan by anyone who has more food than they need. Each person in a household that has excess food is required to give either food or money to those who need it.
This masjid used Donorbox to collect Zakat al-Fitr. They offered different pricing tiers for the number of family members who needed to pay.
Those who are unable to fast due to health or other reasons can “make up” for missing the fast by paying fidya.
Fidya is used by masjids and Islamic charities to provide food for the needy.
Similar to fidya, kaffarah is a payment made when someone doesn’t fast, but also doesn’t have a valid reason to skip fasting.
It’s important to stay on top of paying kaffarah and fidya throughout the month of Ramadan to account for any days of missed fasting.
Laylat al-Qadr is the Night of Power – the night the Quran was first sent down from heaven and revealed by the Prophet Muhammad.
Any act of charity performed on this holy night is said to be like performing it for 83 years continuously, and Allah rewards you likewise.
The last 10 days of Ramadan are the holiest days of all, where more worship and acts of charity should be made. Although this period includes Laylat al-Qadr, it’s important to recognize the whole 10-day period as a time when Ramadan giving is at its peak.
Often, donations are made during Iftar, the meal held after sunset every day when those participating break their fast.
Donating during Iftar recognizes those who don’t have food and is a way of honoring God.
It’s also common to raise money so others can experience Iftar, the way Hikmah Relief did here –
Giving during Iftar shows your gratitude for having food to eat.
Now that we’ve reviewed the types of Ramadan donations, let’s look at 12 ways you can encourage even more giving to support your work in the community.
Bonus: Looking for more ideas? Check out these 17 fundraising ideas for Islamic charities!
If you aren’t accepting Ramadan donations online, you’re missing out on gifts made easily with credit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, stocks, and cryptocurrency.
Donorbox donation forms and fundraising pages are easy to customize so you can collect more donations. Whether you want to embed a form on your website or host one on Donorbox, quickly link donors to your page so they can donate smoothly online.
Plus, you can –
This significantly streamlines the giving experience and lets you spend less time on fundraising and more time celebrating this holy month. For example, check out how this organization used Donorbox to raise money online for their Ramadan meal drive. They raised over C$6,000!
These days, you’ll be lucky if half the people who walk into your masjid have cash on hand. Relying on cash for in-person donations means you’re missing out on sadaqah from half of your attendees – and you aren’t allowing them to complete these important acts of charity.
Donation kiosks are essential for mosques these days to accept in-person donations made with credit cards, smartphones, or smartwatches.
The Donorbox Live™ Kiosk app makes it easy to turn a tablet and card reader into a donation kiosk. Simply download the app, connect your card reader, and start accepting more in-person donations. All donations received will show up on your Donorbox donation management dashboard, too, so you can easily check donation records.
We have an article all about masjid donation kiosks – check it out for a more in-depth look!
Tracking your progress toward your Ramadan fundraising goal will help you determine if you need to try a new strategy. It will keep you nimble – and you’ll raise more money!
Donorbox donation management makes it super easy to track donations coming in since you can sort by campaign. Here’s what it looks like on your end –
Choose other filters to get a more in-depth look at your fundraising over time. You can also run the following reports using Donorbox’s reporting templates –
These reports look at the bigger picture – which aids in your strategizing during Ramadan fundraising.
Fundraising events are an excellent way to raise money during Ramadan. They encourage your community to come together and celebrate a holy time as a group while supporting your important work through donations.
Donorbox Events helps all kinds of organizations sell more tickets for their fundraising events with an easy online events page. With your Donorbox Events page, you can –
Events like special prayers, Iftar, and Eid celebrations are all great possibilities!
Check out how this foundation used Donorbox Events to sell tickets to their Ramadan celebration –
It’s hard to know when to make a fundraising appeal and how to do it. While it’s not appropriate to ask for donations during prayer, consider making your ask before or after prayer.
Pro tip: Jumah, the Friday prayer, is an especially good time to ask for donations. Ask your masjid community to reflect on this holy month and why they should donate.
We have tons of resources to help you make the ask! Listen to this episode of The Nonprofit Podcast to help you put the “ask” into action!
Crowdfunding helps masjids and Islamic charities raise more. These online fundraising campaigns rely on smaller donations from many people to accomplish amazing things.
Crowdfunding during Ramadan provides more opportunities to give and uses social proof to inspire more generosity. Social proof is the concept that if someone sees someone else do something, they are more likely to want to do it themselves.
That’s why Donorbox Crowdfunding pages have donor walls, where donors can leave comments with their donations. You can also post updates throughout the campaign to inspire even more giving.
UKeff used these crowdfunding tools, including a goal meter, to encourage more giving for their Eid gifts campaign –
Gratitude is so important during the month of Ramadan. It’s especially important to inspire donors to give again.
Donor stewardship relies on prompt, thoughtful gratitude from the mosques or charities receiving a donation. Someone who feels like their gift was appreciated is more likely to give again.
Donorbox makes gratitude easy with automated, tax-compliant receipts with thank-you messages you can customize to fit your campaign. Anytime someone donates online or through your Donorbox Live™ Kiosk (when they choose to share their email), they’ll receive a receipt – you don’t have to do anything.
Need help saying thank you? Check out our list of 20 thank-you quotes for inspiration or try out one of these 10 ways to thank your donors.
Peer-to-peer giving involves your supporters fundraising on your behalf. Asking your supporters to fundraise for you during Ramadan is a great idea since the act of fundraising is a good deed and will be multiplied and returned to them as blessings!
With Donorbox Peer-to-Peer, you can invite supporters to build their campaign pages through email or simply allow anyone to fundraise on your behalf via a button on your main campaign page. Any donations your supporters collect online will automatically flow to your Donorbox account.
For example, IAC raised $281,365 for its earthquake relief campaign – $53,950 of which was raised via Donorbox Peer-to-Peer.
They allowed anyone to fundraise on their behalf by clicking the button on their fundraising page.
Personal connection encourages more donations, so reaching out to your major donors during Ramadan can help you raise more money.
For these kinds of personal appeals, it’s so important to track those communications so you don’t reach out to the same person too often – or not enough. Donorbox’s donor management tools allow you to keep records of incoming and outgoing communications with your donors so you never have to rely on memory!
Plus, get alerts for donor moments like the anniversary of a first donation, changes to a recurring donation plan, and more.
Recurring donors give the same amount at a preset donation interval. This is a great feature to push during Ramadan since it can help someone automate their fidya or kaffarah donations or simply increase their sadaqah during Ramadan.
With Donorbox, you can choose up to four donation intervals for your donation form from the following: one-time, daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Once someone signs up for recurring giving, they can log into their own Donorbox account at any time to update their payment method.
We love how this organization used recurring donations to encourage more giving during the last 10 nights of Ramadan. The only interval they added to their form was daily, which helped encourage their donors to give a little every day and make it count!
Ramadan is all about sacrifice and reflection daily. So it’s important to make it super easy for your donors to give again and again during Ramadan.
Donorbox has you covered with some sharp features –
Giving a little every day is what Ramadan is all about!
Since there are many Ramadan donation types, be as clear as possible about what kinds of donations you’re accepting – and where.
You can launch as many different campaigns as you need from your Donorbox account to help demonstrate which donations should go where.
For example, we love how clear the Muslim Community of Knoxville is about collecting Zakat al-Fitr and Fidya on their Donorbox fundraising page –
This way, they can collect two kinds of donations on the same fundraising page – and it’s easy for their donors to choose.
This holy month of sacrifice, celebration, and charity is the best time for masjids and Islamic charities to ask for additional donations. Whether your organization is collecting zakat, sadaqah, fidya, or another type of Ramadan giving, the givers will be rewarded with multiplied blessings.
These 12 best practices can inspire even more generosity during Ramadan. But to make the most out of this month, you’ll need the right fundraising platform.
Thousands of mosques and Islamic charities trust Donorbox to help them fundraise throughout the year. With online fundraising tools that can be customized to fit your needs, you’ll have a whole new world of Ramadan fundraising possibilities!
For more fundraising tips, check out our Nonprofit Blog, our YouTube channel where we post recorded webinars and podcast episodes (and more!), our library of downloadable resources, and our Academy with an onboarding class to get you started! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive curated fundraising content 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