Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF) is a faith based, non-governmental and non-profit making organization incorporated in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission (RC 21237 in 2002). Their primary objective is to deliver quality Zakat assessment, collection and distribution services to both private and public individuals as well as corporate organizations, providing humanitarian and welfare services to mankind and Muslims in particular. The vission of the foundation is "To be a foremost and leading organization committed to improving the welfare of the less-privilege and adding value to stakeholders’ support.
The foundation has just three missions which are
1. To help the rich enrich the poor.
2. To care and touch people’s life.
3. To benefit humanity in general.
The above three missions can actually be achieved where there is effective administration of zakat.
The objectives of the foundation as stated by its founding fathers are:
To bridge the gap between the rich and poor.
To re-awaken the spirit of social responsibility among Muslims.
To return Zakat to it right position in Islam.
To create a credible channel of distribution of Zakat.
To ensure even distribution of wealth for empowerment of the less privileged ones.
To establish cordial relationship with other similar organizations both locally and internationally.
The foundation has four core values which are represented with an acronym PACT, which means
Professionalism, Accountability, Care and Trust.
The services of the foundation include:
ZAKAT ASSESSMENT, COLLECTION & DISTRIBUTION
It provides quality Zakat assessment, collection and distribution services to both private and public individuals as well as corporate bodies.
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT SUPPORT
The foundation use the Zakat collected to procure merchandise goods, vocational materials, and equipment to assist the poor to establish small-scale enterprises or repositioning of existing one.
EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT
The foundation is seriously concerned about the education of Muslim students. As a result, it pays for their school fees, procurement of educational materials and research grants to both local and international students.
MEDICAL SUPPORT
They help those in need to off-set their bills, procure medications, treatment, undergo surgical operations within and outside the country as the situation demands.
WIDOWS/ORPHANS’ SUPPORT
They are fully committed to putting a smile on the faces of widows and orphans. This they accomplish through the sadaqat collected from donors. During Ramadhan, Eid-ul-Adha festivals, ZSF usually provides food items, clothing materials and some monetary incentives to these people.
MOSQUE SUPPORT
In addition to supporting the building of new Mosques or renovation of existing ones, they provide utility materials to other ones as the case maybe.
IFTAR SAIM SUPPORT
Annually, it organises Iftar Saim (i.e feeding of fasting Muslims) across the southwest and some parts of the south-south and northern part Nigeria. Some of the items they provide include bags of rice, live chickens, beverages as well as fruits.
SADAQATU JARIYAH
The ZSF encourages Muslims to revive the culture of executing projects that the less-privileged would continuously benefit from while the executor(s) too will continuously reap bountiful rewards from Allah through projects like digging boreholes, building schools, provisions of good motorable roads among others.
INFAQ AFUW (DISPOSING FAIRLY USED MATERIALS)
They encourage people to donate used or abandoned materials for onward distribution to the less-privileged ones and hence get reward from Allah.
WAQF (ENDOWMENT)
They collect donations of land, buildings or money as an endowment which are invested, the profits from which are given away as charity for indigents, or for construction of public utilities such as borehole, schools, hospital etc
SUPPORT SERVICES TO MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS
They provide office needs, furniture, propagation instruments, food items for camping programmes, sponsorship of seminars/workshops among other.
DETERMINING & SHARING INHERITANCE
ZSF assists in the administration of deceased estates and in most cases, offer professional advice on inheritance that is Shariah compliant based on request.
Every year, the foundation puts smile on the faces of a lot of people. Their major cry however, is not being able to respond positively to all that cry to them for help due to inadequate resources.