Taking online fundraising into the future

The Swiss Zakat Foundation

We’d like to introduce you to the Swiss Zakat Foundation. A young foundation that is making a local impact by using RaiseNow technology to unite tradition and digital advances in a very special way. 

Zakat is a term that may not be widely known, but it stands for an amazing form of social support. As the third pillar of Islam, it means more than simply charity in the community. It’s a fundamental teaching of the faith. Zakat requires Muslims to donate 2.5% of their wealth annually, redistributing it to strengthen the community both socially and economically. 
 
Since 2020, this young foundation has been drawing on the potential of zakat in today’s world, using digitalization and technology as a tool for good. A calculator on the website helps interested parties determine their personal zakat, automatically taking into account current rates. In just a few clicks they can make their donation on the website. Donations are managed by the Zakat Foundation and put to good use locally. The website is also the first port of call for people seeking help, who can apply for zakat safely and directly. 
 
The Zakat Foundation has helped over 400 private individuals in this way since April 2020, making a real impact in the local community.

But how does RaiseNow technology make it possible?

First steps 

When he founded the Swiss Zakat Foundation, managing director Saâd Dhif very quickly realized that they needed an automated fundraising method with all the information in one place. “We started with another CRM, but that was a real patchwork of IT platforms, so it wasn’t very clear. It was okay, it worked, but it was complex and not ideal. I was already thinking that there must be another solution that gathers together all the information and payment options. A single source of truth.”
 
And Saâd eventually found that single source of truth in RaiseNow. After making contact and signing up as a free customer, he was impressed by the benefits of our technology: “We quickly saw that it was simply much easier for people to donate. Thanks to RaiseNow, we were able to provide numerous payment options in the configurable donation forms, while options such as TWINT+ immediately gave us more visibility.”

Integration with Salesforce NPSP

So it wasn’t long before the Swiss Zakat Foundation became one of our valued Growth customers. Together, we started with the Salesforce NPSP (The Nonprofit Success Pack) Integration at the end of 2021.
 
“With a fantastic team of volunteers supporting me, the Salesforce integration was easy and the process with RaiseNow went smoothly,” explains Saâd, who sees digitalization as the future of online fundraising. This aligns with his predominantly young target group, because 50% of the Muslim community in Switzerland are between 25 and 45. Salesforce is a great help with that. 

Here’s how the Swiss Zakat Foundation benefits from Salesforce:

• Efficient, secure donation collection
• Professional data management
• Grant-making and case management with Salesforce
• Transparency, better reporting and impact measurement
• Strong RaiseNow partner: collaboration with Nexell

Integrating Salesforce with online fundraising allows you to store and manage all data on donations and donors at a central location. Automated processes increase efficiency and reduce the number of manual errors. Salesforce also offers a wide range of integrated functions, which are very important for online fundraising, in particular relating to data security. Reports and real-time analyses provide insight into the performance of a given campaign at all times, and you can build personalized communication with donors by tracking their interaction and donation history.
 
We have become a trusted partner of the Swiss Zakat Foundation. Which is particularly important in this case, because up to 90% of all donations are made during the month of fasting, Ramadan, and every year the highly motivated Zakat Foundation team has to manage a huge volume in a short space of time. Salesforce not only helps with processing donations and takes the pressure off the Foundation’s team during this intense period, but also makes donation management planning considerably easier, because zakat applications from people seeking help arrive and are processed throughout the year. So it’s important to stay on top of things.

Impressive results

Success soon set in, more than justifying the digital approach. The Swiss Zakat Foundation became one of RaiseNow’s valued customers in October 2020 and began pushing ahead with online fundraising the following year. The Salesforce Integration has helped manage the volume of donations since the end of 2021, which then enabled the volume to multiply many times over. Here’s the fantastic growth of Swiss Zakat Foundation donations over the last three years:

However impressive that donation figure for the last year may seem, the purpose behind it is even more important. The money has already helped provide significant help for over 400 people and families. The Swiss Zakat Foundation supports those who don’t have any other options. It pays off debt so they can have a new start in life, provides educational grants to shape the future of young people, offers help locally in emergency situations where it’s really needed and continues supporting with a team of committed social workers. 
 
Thanks to donor support, the Swiss Zakat Foundation can use digitalization and our payment-processing technology to positively impact many individual destinies and, as a result, society in general.

The journey continues

With these fantastic results, the Swiss Zakat Foundation remains a satisfied Growth Package customer. If you’re also feeling inspired to try a comprehensive technical solution that will take your online fundraising to the next level, do get in touch with us. Our strong partnership with Salesforce allows us to offer the right solution for every market, whether in Germany, Austria, Switzerland or worldwide. 
 
For more information about the Swiss Zakat Foundation and its successes, and how you can help locally, see their website. For Saâd and his team, Salesforce is just the beginning: 

From our perspective, digitalization offers huge potential for making an impact in the non-profit sector. IT solutions and platforms such as Salesforce make it possible to be even more efficient with fewer resources and costs. There are numerous tailored solutions and you can always develop them further.

One thing the Swiss Zakat Foundation team wants to do is use the Salesforce profile to show their supporters where their donations are going and what impact they have had. More transparency thanks to Salesforce. “We’re currently working with Nexell on further releases, to optimize online fundraising even more for all parties. Our journey in this area continues.”

We at RaiseNow are thrilled to be part of this journey. A big thank you to Saâd and the Swiss Zakat Foundation team for the fantastic cooperation!