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Muslims across the world recently observed the Muslim lunar month of Ramadan. As I have previously stated, Ramadan, which started in early March and ended on April 9, is the ninth month on the Islamic lunar calendar, during which Muslims are required to fast from food, drink and sexual activity from dawn to dusk.
While this month places demands on Muslims physically, its spiritual and communal nature leads many Muslims to welcome it each year and miss it once it has passed.
It is also a time for Muslims to renew their faith and remind themselves of the best they can be by performing acts of compassion. For many Muslims, Ramadan is centered around helping the poor. All across Indiana, mosques and Islamic centers were full of people for extra worship going into late night, having potluck iftars or meals, hosting others to break their fast for an iftar meal, and finding ways to maximize the spiritual and communal benefits of Ramadan.
A report by the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy suggests the month of Ramadan is the most important month of the U.S. Muslim charitable calendar.
According to prior research by the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative of Muslim philanthropic practices, U.S. Muslims make efforts to alleviate poverty in America a high priority when giving to Muslim charities. Muslims in the United States overwhelmingly prioritize giving in the United States and give to both Muslim-led and non-Muslim charitable organizations.
Ramadan is a period in which charitable organizations make a great deal of extra effort to raise funds from Muslims in the United States. This is a month in which social media, internet communication and snail mail are blanketed with philanthropic asks. Similarly, the month is filled with social and religious influencers traveling across the country, hosting fundraising events at homes, restaurants, hotels or at the mosque.
Many development officers who work for Muslim charitable institutions might not see their families the entire month of Ramadan because of the importance of this month to their annual fundraising goals. The month is exhausting for these amazing individuals who sacrifice their own spiritual and familial commitments during Ramadan to focus on the mission of their organizations.
For these professionals, Ramadan might be an exceptionally busy month, but it is only one month in a 12-month fundraising marathon. These individuals are called upon to take on such a heavy load because fundraising expenses are seen as an overhead cost rather than an essential social-good cost. This means fewer people must take on the work of many.
Muslim philanthropists and charitable organizations have to find a way to allow these development officers to balance their commitment to organizational mission with their personal, familial and spiritual commitments.
This can happen only if we see philanthropy and charity as an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Philanthropy and charity increases generosity, makes us aware of societal problems, deepens our compassion and roots us more firmly in our communities. Philanthropists must embrace fundraising or development expenses as an essential part of social good rather than a transactional cost for social good. Rather than thinking of these costs as an administrative overhead cost, let’s think of them as essential, social-good programmatic expenses.
This worldview can allow development programs to build more sustainable and equitable fundraising systems.•
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Siddiqui is assistant professor and director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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