Understanding the Motivation Behind the Surge of Charity Donations During Ramadan
Muslims worldwide, take the opportunity that Ramadan presents to give more to charity. Muslims believe the rewards for good deeds, during the holy month of Ramadan, are multiplied immensely.
According to Give Brite, UK Muslims donated 150 million pounds to charity during Ramadan in 2020. In 2022, over a million donations were made on just one online platform during Ramadan, which raised over 47 million dollars.
It is also beneficial to expand on the concept of Zakat. Zakat, which is similar to tithing for Christians, refers to obligatory charitable donations. Muslims are required to pay 2.5% of their qualifying wealth to ‘the poor and needy’.
During the month of Ramadan, many Muslims choose to pay their Zakat. During Ramadan 2021, Muslim Americans donated $1.8 billion to domestic and international causes. Furthermore, the average household gave more than $2000 to charity.
For more stats read the “Ramadan Charity Campaign Report”.
This opportunity is not strictly limited to donations to Muslim charities but to all sorts of mainstream charities. One must remember that the Quran does not command Muslims to feed the Muslim poor or take care of the Muslim orphan but commands Muslims to do so for all poor and needy.
And feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan, and the prisoner, for love of Him.
Source: Quran 76:8
So if you are a mainstream charity reading this, know that there is an amazing opportunity to receive donations from Muslims, especially in the holy month of Ramadan.
However, there is a certain approach you need to take to recruit Muslim donors during Ramadan and this article will help you advertise your charity to Muslims effectively.
Basic Tips for Creating a Successful Ramadan Charity Campaign
Launch a Dedicated Landing Page for Ramadan Donations
You want Muslim visitors to your website to land on a specific page for Ramadan donations. You do not want them to work hard to find a way to donate their money as this will only cause them to leave and look for another website.
Why is this important? They want to know that the money they are donating goes to charity causes explicitly for the holy month. Better yet, they would love to make sure that their donations are received and donated to the poor and needy during Laylatul Qadr. To understand what Laylatul Qadr is and its significance here is a simple explanation by one of our Charity Clients ICNA Relief.
Make sure you get the basics of creating a great landing page absolutely correct, down to the last point. Doing so will increase your chances of converting visitors to donors. If you are new to advertising to Muslims, we suggest you read our article “Halal Marketing – All You Need to Know”.
Help Potential Muslim Donors Calculate the Zakat
We mentioned earlier that many Muslims tend to pay their obligatory charity donations (Zakat) during the month of Ramadan. Whereas decades ago they would need to go to a scholar to help them calculate their Zakat, today Muslims look for “zakat calculators” online.
This is an enormous opportunity for your charity organization to attract Muslim donors while they are considering paying zakat shortly. Out Charity organization client Zakat.org has a very easy-to-use zakat calculator that you can get inspiration from. You can see that it also has a call-to-action to donate zakat right away after the calculation.
Create a Community Around Ramadan and Beyond
You do not want to have donations from Muslims only during Ramadan and forget about them for the rest of the year. If you do so, your charity organization will struggle the following year to get anything close to what you had in the past.
Community is an extremely important part of Islam and Muslims all over the world. Some of the things that Islam serves to advocate for are strong family bonds and values, and a strong community, which subsequently lead to strong societies and nations.
You can create a community that engages Muslims worldwide for 365 days a year and work with them toward creating a better world. Read also “Creating a Community Around Your Brand for Ramadan”.
Create a Dedicated Ramadan Donation Video
According to LemonLight, in 2022, video content accounted for 82% of global internet traffic. Video viewers claim that they can retain 95% of a message when they get it from a video.
But budgets are not infinite and so your charity organization needs to know which type of video is the most effective we covered this in the article “The #1 Video Advertising Trend for Epic Muslim Consumer Engagement in 2022”.
Use the list below as a guide for the types of content your videos must have as a bear minimum:
- Charity Brand Video: The brand video for your charity should be a creative introduction to the charity’s mission and how it relates to a Muslim’s mission during Ramadan. Try to keep it between 30 and 45 seconds long and make it entertaining and rewarding to watch.
- FAQ Video: Make a video that answers important donor questions. These videos can be up to two minutes long to give Muslim audiences a comprehensive overview of your charity’s impact and core values that match with theirs.
- Case Study Video: Real-life stories will make your Muslim audience think about the people your charity helps. Case study videos of up to three minutes in length can be extremely effective. Tell human-interest stories about your beneficiaries first, facts and statistics can come later.
- Livestream CTA Video: A livestream call-to-action video is one of the best format videos to get people to take action. Trends show that 80% of Muslim consumers prefer livestream video over written content. So why not get them to take action within a content format they love?
- Legacy Video: Legacy videos are great for retention and loyalty. Don’t just create videos that ask for donations for a certain project. After a while, send your Muslim donors a video explaining the positive impact their past Ramadan donations have made in the past ten months or so. That way you time the video a month or so before the next Ramadan season.
Ramadan Charity Campaign Report
Important Note
One tip that we would like to leave you with is being authentic. Sometimes brands get tempted to just design a campaign and not really take the time to understand the Muslim audience that they are advertising to. The result could be less than satisfactory if your charity organization goes down that road.
Get the knowledge you need to understand the Muslim consumer by reading the only Muslim consumer guide available online. Philanthropy and Islam go hand in hand so it should not be difficult for your charity to find common ground.
Most importantly, partner with experts in the field of advertising to Muslims so that you do not waste your budget on impressions that mostly do not reach Muslims. Muslim Ad Network is the only specialized platform for advertising to Muslims and we will be happy to help. Every Ramadan we have special offers exclusive to charities. So please feel free to contact MAN or hit the button below to get started with your charity’s Ramadan campaign today.
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