A number of charity societies minting money in the name of Ramadan Charity

Many charitable societies in the Kingdom are allegedly generating huge profits in the name of Ramadan charity.

They offer fast-breaking coupons, charity cards and other things for various prices to generous individuals, who observe the holy month in its true essence.

Although the lion’s share of these charity funds goes towards providing Ramadan meals to deserving individuals, sources say charitable organisations are reaping profits, in fact, thousands of dinars.

Speaking to Tribune, Nasser Al Sahaf, an official leading the Al Hadd Charity Fund, said, “Our fund distributes about 800 meals a day to five mosques, while there are many small charity societies distributing up to 350 meals a day each at various locations.

Mr Al Sahaf said these charities were openly charging 100 fils in administrative fees. Bu Mohammed, a citizen who volunteers for many charity programmes during the holy month, said the trend is highly condemnable.

“Charity work is not a business. And it is quite unfortunate that many of these charity societies are turning into business organisations maintaining a profit margin between 20 and 30 per cent.” Yassin, who is a member of a charity organisation, said these days profit-making remains the sole mantra behind every act of charity.

“I was working as a volunteer at a Quran memorisation centre and was getting BD100 a month for my services, while an official there earned BD 1, 000 a month. The centre was charging BD30 from each child apart from donations it received.”

A woman citizen, who doesn’t want to be identified, said she had to leave a charity organisation after realising that they were cheating the public.

“The organisation would receive huge donations and I was shocked that these amounts were being transferred into personal bank accounts.” “You won’t believe, there were some volunteers in that charity organisation, who were receiving salaries as high as BD 1, 500 a month.”