As-Salamu `Alaykum: After a lapse of almost an year, AlSadaqa's newsletter is finally here!
Organizational Structure
- New steering committee was selected by the 'founding members' in March 2009.
- We had to change our name from Baitulmal to AlSadaqa due to trademark reasons.
- The team at AlSadaqa grew from 4 members to 16; comprising 6 brothers and 10 sisters.
- All members participate on a purely voluntary basis in their spare time.
- In addition, several key members of the community and Seattle locality helped AlSadaqa at critical times in various capacities. These include advisers, lawyers, accountants and several others who graciously provided their professional services for free.
Our Activities
- To the best of our ability and resources, we assisted the needy who applied for assistance, which includes both Muslims and Non-Muslim community members, by providing financial and other support services after appropriate evaluation.
- With this news letter, we are also announcing our newly & indigenously designed website. This is one of the initiatives to automate our various office activities.
- We streamlined the application processing and record keeping procedures.
Projects - past, current and future
AlSadaqa assisted the Puget Sound community by carrying out various projects. Housing, Food and Transportation services have been the three largest areas where our community members needed help during last year. AlSadaqa helped by providing rental, utilities and transportation assistance to single mothers, job searchers and homeless.
Zakat ul Fitr Project with ICOB, Homeless in Tent City, Animal Sacrifice at Eid Ul Adha in collaboration with MHS, and Build Your Sadaqa Box were executed professionally and successfully. AlSadaqa Kids Club project is currently underway with great involvement from our young stars. AlSadaqa envisions to ingrain Islamic values in the daily lives of our young generation. May God help us in raising our kids to be righteous human beings. This program is currently running at Medina Academy with a vision to expand to other Islamic schools.
The following links may contain additional information about these projects.
Finances 2009
| Total donations | $84,472 |
| Sadaqa | $59,273 |
| Zakat | $25,199 |
| Total Assistance | $77,517 |
| Rent | $37,037 |
| Food | $12,272 |
| Utilities | $8,767 |
| Medical | $2,576 |
| Education | $2,543 |
| Transportation | $3,826 |
| Com. Outreach* | $9,600 |
| Clothing | $896 |
| Admin costs | $1,711 |
Our Process
Our application evaluation follows a methodical approach as outlined below.
- AlSadaqa receives an application through its online assistance application.
- It is then assigned to a case associate for processing (we have 6 active case associates at this time).
- Case associate gathers and verifies specific information from the applicant and his/her references.
- Case associate then forwards this case to evaluation committee with recommendations.
- Evaluation committee makes the decision and appropriate assistance is provided.
- Case associate acts according to the decision and closes the case.
- Assistance is provided to applicants in kind only. No cash assistance is provided at this time.
- During normal circumstances our turnaround time could take 7-10 days.