The real problem in Muslim philanthropy: generous giving, fragile institutions

Muslims are among the most generous donors anywhere, and non-faith agencies now compete for the Muslim donor because of it. The challenge has always been the same: how do you make that generosity work better against the problems these communities face at home and abroad?

I chaired a panel on collective capital at the Muslim Impact Forum this year, alongside Sultan Choudhury OBE, Ismael Dainehine, Talha Yesilhark and R. Yusuf Akbal. The conversation kept returning to one question: why does so much Muslim giving produce so little lasting institutional strength?

British Muslims give an estimated £2.2 billion a year to charity, according to research published by Equi in 2025. Yet the sector is still characterised by fragile institutions, short funding horizons, and organisations that cannot survive a bad Ramadan campaign.

Too much Muslim charitable capital arrives in concentrated bursts, during Ramadan or in response to emergencies. It is tied to specific projects and campaigns rather than long-term institutional plans. It flows toward visible outputs, the mosque roof, the water well, the food parcel, rather than toward the less visible infrastructure that makes organisations durable. That produces a great deal of activity without longevity.

Fundraising is not capital architecture

The distinction matters because fundraising capability and capital architecture are two different things. The Muslim sector has spent years building the first and invested far less in the second. Our forefathers left their homes and established mosques and institutions that still stand today. By comparison, we have little to show in lasting assets.

A sector funded seasonally will always struggle to build institutions that need to function permanently. The better question is what kind of giving produces lasting strength.

That is the work we do with funders: structuring capital so that it builds institutions rather than only funding campaigns. Some of my fellow panellists are attacking the same problem from other directions, Ismael with Evergive and Talha with Collective Continuum, by changing how funds are raised in the first place.