April 14, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
To help promote charitable giving by Muslim Americans and other donors, a group of nonprofit organizations is forming a membership association that will set financial and governance standards for Islamic charities.
During a conference in Chicago last month, a group of about 20 Muslim international-aid groups, advocacy organizations, and other charities announced plans to establish the National Council of American Muslim Nonprofits. The meeting was organized by the Islamic Society of North America, in Plainfield, Ind., and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, in Los Angeles.
Many donors have been wary of supporting Islamic nonprofit groups since 2001, when federal authorities closed several Muslim groups following the September 11 terrorist attacks. The U.S. government has since seized the assets of at least five Muslim charities in the United States and accused the organizations of financing terrorism.
“American Muslim donors want to know their groups are working at the highest level of transparency and accountability,” said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Besides setting standards, Mr. Al-Marayati said, the new group would allow Islamic charities “to speak with one voice” when dealing with the federal government or other nonprofit groups.
The council will establish its standards during the next few months and decide other issues about how the organization will be structured, he said. “We’re at the infancy stages of the council’s development.”
During the Chicago conference, Robert L. Buchanan, director of international programs for the Council on Foundations, in Washington, encouraged the Muslim groups not to base their criteria on nonprofit guidelines issued in 2003 by the federal government. The guidelines, which are not mandatory, are designed to prevent charities and foundations from unwittingly providing money to terrorists.
Mr. Buchanan said the federal proposal is too ambiguous and onerous to follow. The Council on Foundations and other nonprofit organizations are working with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to revise the guidelines.
The Treasury Department, which is in charge of closing avenues of terrorist financing among nonprofit groups, praised the Muslim effort. The council’s “creation is an important step for the charitable community in the United States,” Juan C. Zarate, the department’s assistant secretary who oversees its financial-crimes office, said in a speech at the Chicago conference. It “demonstrates that the commitment of Muslim Americans to promoting and protecting charity is greater than the terrorists’ ability to corrupt it.”
