Islamic-American Zakat Foundation

We assess, collect and distribute mandatory (ZAKAT) and voluntary (SADAQA) Islamic charity primarily to assist the poor and needy in America and seek to help them attain self-sufficiency.

How do you help people in my community?

Our assitance is not restricted to any particular  community and we have helped people of different religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds whose problems may be rooted in a wide variety of difficulties including employment problems, medical problems, spousal abuse or abandonment, racial or religious discrimination.

Why do you need my support?

As word of our work has spread so have the number of applicants. In addition, the increasing shortage of affordable housing has made dealing with people at risk of homelessness more difficult. Your donation, added to our existing sources, can easily make the difference between having enough to buy a client time by postponing an eviction for days or weeks until they can sustain themselves. While some people's medical bills are very high, there are others who may need  only $50 to meet an immediate prescription need.

Our vision is of a partnership between the applicants and the institution to discover and deal with the real "deep needs" of the applicants and help them to become future donors.

How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?

We carefully investigate every case to determine not only the legitimacy of the need but to search for the underlying cause that may need to be addressed. The following example may answer the question succinctly. A woman approached us saying that her rent money had been stolen and she needed us to pay this month's rent to avoid eviction. Our investigation determined that the story was true, but that it was the woman's own son who stole the money in order to buy drugs. We helped her in the condition that her son enroll in drug counselling to prevent the recurrence of such a situation.

Can I Volunteer? How?

Yes!  Click on the volunteer application button on our website (www.iazf.org) or call us at 301-907-0997 and ask us to mail you an application.