- $39 million raised through Zakat and Sadaqah contributions to UNHCR in 2025, with 60% of donations from MENA-based donors
- Donations enabled UNHCR to reach the lives of one million people across 25 countries
- UNHCR launches new campaign encouraging people to give during the Holy Month of Ramadan to help overcome devastating global funding cuts
Dubai, UAE, Monday 16th February – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today launched its 8th Islamic Philanthropy Annual Report, spotlighting the crucial role Zakat and Sadaqah contributions increasingly play in delivering lifechanging assistance to refugees and internally displaced people amidst a year of tightening humanitarian budgets and major funding pressures across the sector.
In 2025, 45 major donors and Islamic institutions, alongside tens of thousands of supporters giving online, entrusted UNHCR to channel their Islamic charitable giving to those most in need.
Through strategic partnerships, the Refugee Zakat Fund, and UNHCR’s campaigns, $39 million was raised enabling UNHCR to reach the lives of more than 1 million people across 25 countries.
Almost 60% of all Zakat and Sadaqah received in 2025 came from MENA-based donors, with top donors including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The report is published ahead of UNHCR’s new campaign which, during the Holy Month of Ramadan, calls on people to donate to UNHCR to help counter global funding cuts. Dismantling crucial life-saving support for millions of refugees, these severe cuts have already forced the suspension of critical medical care, child protection, education, and shelter programmes in countries such as Egypt, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Bangladesh, leaving millions of vulnerable people in need.
Looking back at 2025, the report details how, ssurpassing last year’s fundraising, the Refugee Zakat Fund received more than $23 million in Zakat contributions in 2025, going on to assist more than 579,000 refugees and internally displaced people across 17 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Somalia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Syria, and Yemen.
Meanwhile, Sadaqah contributions amounted to almost $16 million, aiding more than 453,000 people in 18 countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Pakistan.
Dr
Khaled Khalifa, Senior Advisor to the High Commissioner for Refugees for Islamic Philanthropy and Regional Representative to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, UNHCR said: ‘Amidst a year of unprecedented budget cuts, the humanitarian lifeline has been left fraying with millions of displaced families hanging on by a thread. These cuts are not abstract figures – they are felt by the lives of real people who, after being forced to flee their homes, are being pushed to the edge of survival every day.
This year’s report shows how Islamic philanthropy, rooted in faith and compassion, is helping UNHCR to positively impact people’s lives with practical and long-term support. In times of crisis, Zakat and Sadaqah offer a powerful force for change that is essential to help refugees and internally displaced families stay afloat and rebuild their lives with dignity.’
Other notable highlights include an expansion in geographic reach, with UNHCR’s Islamic philanthropy funding reaching four new countries in 2025 – Brazil, Colombia, Central African Republic, and Botswana. Sadaqah Jariyah activities also expanded to Bangladesh, where 280,000 people benefited from vital access to clean water for communities, agriculture, and livestock.
Reporting on notable partners, the report features MENA-wide contributions made through 2025, including:
- Through country-wide fundraising campaigns, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), supported and launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, helped UNHCR assist around 70,000 forcibly displaced people in Bangladesh, Botswana, India, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tunisia.
- The Sheikh Eid Bin Muhammad Al Thani Charitable Foundation, a Qatari humanitarian independent non-profit that signed two agreements totalling more than QAR 9.5 million (USD $2.6 million) to help over 31,000 forcibly displaced individuals in Syria and Yemen. Its total contributions since 2018 exceed USD 9 million.
- Muslim World League (MWL), an international, Islamic, non-governmental headquartered in the Holy City of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, renewed its commitment to UNHCR for five years (2022-2026) with a USD 5 million commitment.
- Working with UNHCR, Arada, based in Sharjah, UAE, has supported the provision of durable housing for more than 3,300 refugees, established water infrastructure benefiting over 43,000 people in northern Kenya, and provided access to clean water for 30,000 and shelter for more than 14,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad.
- In partnership with USA for UNHCR, Humaniti, a global non-governmental organisation, expanded its commitment to USD $2 million to provide transformative and dignified cash assistance for the most vulnerable refugees in Egypt and Jordan.
Since its inception in 2017, the Refugee Zakat Fund has garnered the trust of over 70,000 donors, resulting in more than $300 million raised to uplift nearly 10 million beneficiaries across 36 countries. With the endorsement of 18 fatwas, the Fund stands as a legitimate and effective mechanism for mobilising resources to those most in need.
Islamic philanthropy initiatives, including the Refugee Zakat Fund and the Ramadan campaign, constitute an important pillar of UNHCR’s private sector partnerships strategy. These initiatives mobilise faith-based contributions from individual and corporate donors to help address critical funding gaps and respond to growing humanitarian needs.
To make Zakat contributions even more seamless, UNHCR continues to lead with innovation—the Refugee Zakat Fund App remains the only Zakat-dedicated app launched by a United Nations agency, providing donors with a transparent and efficient way to give.
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