Fundraising activities in the UK
This year Islamic Relief UK developed a new strategy to strengthen fundraising in the UK, increase the effectiveness of our UK campaigns for change and expand our UK domestic programmes.
Our fundraising department worked to deliver another strong year of activities and events that contributed to broader fundraising work. The team organised a wide variety of sponsored challenges for individual supporters to take. Climate change impacts, felt around the globe, resonated with our UK donors, some of whom focused on reducing the carbon footprint of their fundraising efforts. Our fundraising team promoted 29 Great Outdoors challenges across the UK, raising over ÂĢ300,000.
The team worked closely with community partners around the country to build strong relationships, which have been an invaluable source of support for our work. Our community partners, including Green Lane Mosque and Masjid Al Falah, both in Birmingham, are champions of our work in the UK and internationally. In 2021 our community partners helped to raise over ÂĢ1 million. Through our combined fundraising, we raised ÂĢ38 million this year, above and beyond our target.
The UK programmes team also delivered a strong year of activities to ensure that Islamic Reliefâs efforts to support the most vulnerable were reflected in the UK, as well as internationally. The team worked with charity partners around the country, including mosques, community groups, charities such as the Felix Project and FareShare, and football clubs such as Liverpool FC and Celtic FC. Providing grants to our partners helped them to secure a range of essential food and hygiene items that were provided to their local communities through their food banks. They distributed over 11,000 food packs and reached over 25,000 people across the UK.
Our efforts in the UK are wide-ranging, and we have tackled issues from alleviating poverty, to supporting refugees and empowering women. Through the National Zakat Foundation, who distribute zakat to vulnerable families in the UK, we reached nearly 1,400 people. Our work with refugee groups included the Bike Project, which provides financial assistance to asylum seekers by repairing and providing bikes to refugees to help them travel around London â and doing so in a green and sustainable way.
Pushing forward with our climate change work we ran our Eco-Ramadan initiative for the second year in 2021, aiming to reduce carbon emissions during Ramadan and beyond. Blogs, web content and challenges encouraged people to adopt more eco-friendly lifestyles and recognise the importance of this to the Islamic faith. As part of this we launched the Meat Free Fortnight Challenge, asking supporters to go meat free for 14 days during Ramadan. This successful initiative raised awareness of climate change related work, was endorsed by over 100 supporters and 14 people taking part, and raised over ÂĢ2,250 for sustainable livelihood projects.
Greening the mosque
During the COP26 climate change conference Islamic Relief hosted several events to promote awareness of climate change programmes and to advocate for continued efforts to meet the UNâs Sustainable Development Goals. As part of these events, Islamic Relief UK worked with Greenpeace MENA and Ummah for the Earth to promote the Greening the Mosque campaign through the solarisation of Glasgow Central Mosque.
Supported by Islamic Relief, the mosque received a grant to purchase solar panels to be installed on the building. The panels provide a much cleaner and greener source of renewable energy, helping the mosque to limit carbon emissions and save money. It is hoped the initiative will light the way for other UK mosques.
Harnessing the power of communication
This year, Islamic Relief UK continued to harness the power of a range of communications channels. Our efforts with traditional, online and broadcast media resulted in hundreds of pieces of coverage, including news items or features on flagship programmes such as BBC Radio 4âs Womanâs Hour. The exciting launch of the âDear Lifesaverâ podcast also boosted Islamic Reliefâs profile, featuring a range of guests including C40 climate campaigner Muna Suleiman. The digital marketing teamâs success was marked by a win for the Ramadan 2020 campaign at the prestigious Drum Awards.
International
International crises and humanitarian needs remained a key focus for Islamic Relief UK. Rising tensions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were the forerunner to the launch of our Palestine appeal; while swift changes in Afghanistan saw us launch an emergency appeal to raise much needed funds to tackle the growing hunger crisis. Islamic Relief UK was directly involved in assessments that established the devastating extent of the escalating crisis in Afghanistan and the need to scale up our response. We played a pivotal role in providing spokespeople and content to highlight the deteriorating humanitarian situation. Initially raising our concerns in a meeting with the Foreign Secretary, Elizabeth Truss, we also undertook an emergency visit to Afghanistan. UK Director Tufail Hussain was a key spokesperson during the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Emergency Appeal.
