A Management Guide for Mosques & Islamic Centres. Compiled and written by Shaukat Warraich & Kashaff Feroze

Transcription

1 A Management Guide for Mosques & Isamic Centres Compied and written by Shaukat Warraich & Kashaff Feroze

2 Acknowedgements We woud ike to thank the foowing individuas and organisations whose hep and support has made this handbook possibe: Our famiies for their patience and prayers. OAK staff, management committee and associates for their input and advice. UK Isamic Mission for providing us access to visit their mosques and hod meetings with committee members and Imams. Dave Fox for proof reading and editing. Faith Communities Capacity Buiding Fund Capacity Buiders and Isamic Reief for funding this initiative Community Deveopment Foundation in aowing us to use and adapt some of the tempates in the appendix Cover design: MDUK Media Pubished by OAK Community Deveopment The Mavern Suite, 1st Foor, Borough Mi Neid Street Odham Greater Manchester OL8 1QG t: +44 (0) f: +44 (0) e: w: Company imited by guarantee Registered office (as above) Registered in Engand and Waes number Copyright OAK Community Deveopment 2007 Uness otherwise indicated no part of this pubication may be stored in a retreivabe system or reproduced in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission from OAK Community Deveopment. Typeset & Printing by RAP Spiderweb Te: A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

3 OAK Community Deveopment OAK Community Deveopment is a not-for-profit organisation; its roots are from a oca grass roots community organisation-the Oak Project. Estabished since 1998 we have deveoped into a speciaist agency working on initiatives that impact particuary on the Musim, BME and faith sector. Our mission is to create better and incusive communities through empowering individuas and organisations with the capacity and skis to enabe them to better identify their needs and pay a more fuer part in contributing to the webeing of society. Our main areas of work incude: Capacity buiding and infrastructure support We provide a capacity buiding and infrastructure support service speciaising in supporting mosques and Musim organisations in improving and modernising their structures. This aows them to better deiver services and meet the needs of their users. Community programmes We work aongside the mainstream services to hep design, deveop and deiver targeted initiatives that improve and enhance peope s educationa, economic, socia, heath and cutura needs. Training, research and consutancy We work cosey in partnership with our cients to offer a wide and personaised training, research and consutancy service. Our poo of highy quaified and taented associates speciaise in research, evauation, community regeneration, chid protection, behavioura management (speciaist) training, good governance, quaity assurance and cutura and diversity training. Faith Associates Faith Associates is a poicy research, deveopment and impementation consutancy focusing around supporting the aspirations and desires of strategic decision makers in oca, regiona and nationa governmenta and non governmenta organisations within UK & Europe. Our areas of deivery have incuded work around faith based communities, youth and Women from the ethnic minorities especiay of the Isamic faith. Faith Associates is committed to mutidiscipinary coaborative research, deveopment and impementation on oca, nationa and internationa eves and has the foowing main objectives: To empower members of faith and the ethnic minorities and to promote socia incusion To be receptive to input from faith and ethnic minorities, service providers, business communities and poiticians which highight important areas of enquiry To infuence the integration and the effective deivery of services to match the needs of faith and ethnic minorities. To inform the deveopment of socia poicy Shaukat Warraich is the Director of Faith Associates A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 3

4 Contents Acknowedgements 2 Foreword 6 Introduction and context 7 History and significance of mosques 8 About the handbook 9 1. The mosque - its structure, management and governance 10 The Starting point Deveoping vision, aims, and objectives 10 Choosing an organisationa structure 11 What is a charity 12 Types of charitabe structures 12 Advantages and disadvantages of being a charity 12 Mosque Governance 13 Management committee 13 Exampe mosque structure 13 Who shoud be on the management committee 14 Roe of the chair 14 Roe of secretary 14 Roe of treasurer 15 Invoving young peope and women 15 Meetings 16 Agenda 16 Minutes 16 Roes and conficts 16 Case study Projects invoving young peope Poicies and procedures 18 Who shoud deveop poicies and procedures? 18 Approva process 18 Estabishing a stye 19 Poicy numbering 19 What poicies and procedures do we need? 19 Lega duties 19 Governing document 19 Equa opportunities poicies 20 Heath and safety 20 Heath and safety poicy 20 Genera mosque poicies to consider 22 Congregationa safety poicy 22 Terrorism Acts 23 Madrasah poicy 23 Chid protection 23 Poicy on disruptive behaviour 24 Recruitment and seection 24 The Crimina Records Bureau (CRB) 24 Insurance 25 Compaints and grievence procedures Faciities management 28 User friendy faciities 28 Booking faciity in mosque 29 Aowing outside organisations to use Mosque faciities 29 Safety 30 Security 30 Mosque Kitchen 31 Equipment 31 Housekeeping and maintenance 32 Creative use of faciities 32 Parking 33 Buiding or moving 33 Environment 33 Case study Isamic cutura centre Ireand 34 4 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

5 4. Staffing and empoyment 35 Choosing and appointing a person 35 Putting together a job pack for appicants 36 Advertsing the post 36 Shortisting 36 Interviews 36 Decision time 37 Tips on seecting candiadates for the post of Imam 37 Vounteer and management support Finance and fundraising 39 Budgeting and forecasting 40 The mosque budget 40 Financia records and accounting 40 Fundraising 42 Types of fundraising activities 42 Guideines on making an appication to a funder Communication 45 Interna communications 45 Externa communications 45 Communications that are both interna and externa 46 Promoting your mosque in the media 46 Deveoping a mosque website Accountabiity and transparency 48 Soft accountabiity 49 Hard accountabuiity 49 Transparency 49 Some exampes of accountabiity and transparency within the mosque 49 Monitoring and evauation 50 Quaity assurance Madrasah 52 The phiosophy and mission of madrasah 53 Important partnerships 53 Madrasha time 53 Subjects offered 54 Using educationa materia and resources 54 Performance assessment 54 Parent-teacher meetings 54 Recognition and reward 55 Rues and reguation 55 Lesson panning 55 Teacher training 55 Chid protection 56 Action points Community deveopment 58 What is community deveopment 58 Are we ready to start community work 59 What types of community projects can we do 59 A ten step guide for deveoping a community project 59 Case studies 61 Working in partnership with mainstream institutions 62 Loca strategic partnerships (LSP s) 62 Key service providers and support organisations 63 Sure start 63 Chidren trusts 63 Learning and Skis Counci (LSC) 63 Change Up and Capacity Buiders 63 Faith Communities capacity Buiding fund Appendix 65 Appendix 1: Tempates 65 Agenda 65 Minutes 66 Mosque budget 67 Madrasah ist 68 Lesson pan 70 Appendix 2: Bibiography 72 Usefu contacts 72 Feedback form 76 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 5

6 Foreword After the Second Word War arge numbers of Musims from British coonia territories entered the UK to hep rebuid post war Britain. Their industria and entrepreneuria zea heped shape the industria fortunes of the UK and were instrumenta in the white heat phenomenon of the 60s and beyond. Having strugged to estabish a base in the UK many of these initia pioneers began to bring there famiies and reatives to the UK. This brought its own chaenges and fortunes. One primary concern was to maintain and foster the cutura and reigious identity of the new incumbents entering into the UK and the young Musim generation being born in Britain. The notion that that mosque was the best pace from where their faith and cuture coud be maintained and be nurtured was whoe heartedy adopted. Many eary pioneers worked in the industria mis during the day and in the evening began to teach the Quran in borrowed rooms above shops and converted back to back terraced houses. The same individuas worked sefessy and sacrificed arge sums of hard earned money from abouring to put down payments on residentia properties which woud be ater converted into paces of worship. Communities worked tireessy to hep coect donations, seek panning permission, and refurbish diapidated properties into cear serene paces for contempation and study. Virtuay a these endeavours were on a vountary basis and neary a the first mosques estabished in the UK were due to financia contributions of the first generation of migrants who came to the UK. The current generation of Musims using these premises owe these pioneers a great debt or gratitude for their nobe services. The structures of these new mosques were simpe and fufied the basic needs of the community at that time i.e. to be abe to offer five daiy prayers and Quranic reading casses to chidren growing up in the vicinity of the mosque. Many mosques have maintained these services but unfortunatey have aso maintained the same governance structures and cutures from the periods they were estabished, which has resuted in visibe stagnation and unfufied potentia. Isam by its very nature has contributed to progression and constructive enightenment where ever it has spread and the mosque as an Isamic institution has maintained its reevancy and status for every period of time and within every cuture Isam has spread within. Having frequented many mosques up and down the UK for the best period of three decades in the capacity as a worshiper, a devotee, a manager, a teacher and a ceaner we have been compeed to write this guide. The current status quo in many mosques cannot be aowed to remain. The necessity to service the mutipe needs of 2nd and 3rd generation Musims in the UK has reached critica eves. The mosque is uniquey positioned in British society to offer soutions to rea probems in many areas where Musims ive. In areas where there is deprivation and underachievement it is the mosque which is the ony credibe and sizabe institution that can reay engage the community, if administrated and projected coherenty. The mosque coud and shoud tacke some of the socia excusion and integration issues currenty paguing the very communities the mosques were estabished for. The purpose of this guide is to hep foster better governance and to start the process of encouraging a greater insight to what the future mosque coud potentiay ook ike. The need for a paradigm shift in thinking from the current and future mosque eadership is essentia if the integrity and reevancy of the mosque is to be maintained. Shaukat Warraich and Kashaff Feroze June A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

7 Introduction and context The significance of mosques In Isam Historicay, the masjid (mosque) has been one of the most important institutions in the Isamic community, and it pays a key roe in the everyday ives of Musims. One of the very first practices of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh* be upon him) when he migrated from Makka to Medina was to estabish a masjid. It was around the masjid that great universities, hospitas, observatories, hostes and other institutions grew up. These faciities and institutions became the hamarks of the great Isamic civiisation known to modern historians. It was in the masjid that great Isamic schoars, theoogians, inguists, jurists, saints, and countess devout worshippers graduated. The womb of the masjid has *peace be upon him produced men and women who have eft indeibe marks on the word as we see it today. The masjid has aways been at the heart of the Musim community serving as a house of worship, an educationa centre, a centre for dispensing vauabe socia services, a meeting pace, and a pace for soace and refuge. Unfortunatey, many mosques today do not carry out a these roes. Instead, they have become focused on just fufiing the main objective of the masjid: to cater for reigious and spiritua needs. This in itsef is very important. But we ive in a time when most services are grouped together and deivered in the community, and it is important that mosques refect this. By doing so, they wi be true to their heritage and modern-day reaities. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 7

8 The history of Musims and masajids in the UK Musims have ong been part of the British Ises, with the eariest reference to Isam or Musims dating back to the 8th century. The Ango-Saxon King Offa ( ) minted an Arabic god coin with the Isamic decaration of faith (Shahadah). This history spans the hostiities of medieva crusades and the British imperia era, which brought the first Musim communities to Britain. In the 19th century, civi servants and inteectuas from coonia India came to Britain. Yemeni and Indian saiors aso found their way here. These Lascars formed sma communities around the dockands of Cardiff, Liverpoo, London and South Shieds. These were not setted communities, as their members were seafarers whose famiies stayed in their home countries. At the same time, convert Musims began to appear as sma Isamic communities in Liverpoo, Woking and London. Many converts were from the British eite and ruing casses. They incuded Lord Heady Farooq ( ), a distinguished statesman; Muhammad Marmaduke Picktha ( ), transator of the Qur an into Engish and Imam of the Woking Mosque; and Abduah Wiiam Henry Quiiam ( ), the Shaykh u-isam for Great Britain. In 1889 Britain s first mosque was estabished at Woking in Surrey. The funds for this were argey provided by Shah Jehan, the ruer of Bhopa, India. The Liverpoo Musim community set up the Isamic Institute and the Liverpoo Mosque in Broughton Terrace, the Medina Home to care for chidren and orphans, the Musim Coege, and a debating and iterary society with weeky meetings. In 1910, a group of prominent British Musims, incuding Lord Headey and Syed Ameer Ai, met at a centra London hote and formay estabished a fund the London Mosque Fund to buid a mosque in the capita. In 1941 the East London Mosque Trust bought three buidings in Commercia Road, Stepney, and converted them into London s first mosque. In the 1980s the East London Mosque moved to its present site in Whitechape Road. Meanwhie, major purpose-buit mosques had been buit in Birmingham, Gasgow and Manchester. The site for the Regent s Park mosque in London was donated by the British government in 1944, in recognition of a simiar donation by the Egyptian government to the Angican community in Cairo. The buiding itsef was finished in The first arge mosque in Bradford was estabished in Howard Street in After the Second Word War arge numbers of immigrant workers came to Britain during the economic boom. The previousy temporary and a-mae communities became famiy-based, setted communities and the needs of the newy forming Musim communities became a priority. The new mosques and Isamic centres, speciaist shops, and socia and cutura centres and activities payed an important part in creating and maintaining a Musim identity for second- and third-generation British Musims The Musim community in Britain is now thought to be around two miion. More than haf of a British Musims have their roots in South East Asia, namey Pakistan, Bangadesh and India. There are aso arge communities from Turkey, and from Midde Eastern and North African countries. In the ast few years, arge Somai, Iranian, Arab and Bosnian communities have been estabished in many 8 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

9 cities, and there are aso a growing number of converts within Britain. About this handbook We have written this handbook in response to the needs identified by the mosque management committees, Imams and the Musim community through the Faith Action project Buiding the Capacity of Mosques Today for Tomorrows Future. The project was carried out by OAK Community Deveopment during and supported by the Faith Communities Capacity Buiding Fund. The handbook aso takes on the recommendations and views from the voices of the minaret report by MCB, and the MINAB consutation report by Faith Associates in which the message to hep buid capacity in mosques and among Imams was expressed oud and cear. The handbook has been written in a simpe and cear format. It highights some of the key areas that the mosque eadership needs to understand fuy. Each chapter covers an area of organisationa concern in a stye that shoud hep practitioners steer their mosque in a manner and direction which wi hep good governance. The authors of this handbook have taken account of the various Isamic traditions invoved in running a mosque and combined them with the ega requirements of running pubic institutions. and make use of premises. Chapter 4 ooks at making the most of staff and vounteers. Chapter 5 discusses financia issues and fundraising methods. Chapter 6 is about methods of communication to get your message across effectivey. Chapter 7 is about the importance of accountabiity, transparency and monitoring the work. Chapter 8 mentions ways of making the Madrasah a better educationa experience for chidren. Chapter 9 expains the need for community deveopment and how to go about it. Each chapter has usefu tips, a case study and a more information box. Chapter 1 is about defining your aims and objectives and ooking at the type of structure you need for the mosque. Chapter 2 taks about the interna rues and practices of the mosque, which we ca poicies and procedures. Chapter 3 goes into detai about how to better manage A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 9

10 1 The mosque its structure, management and governance Certainy a mosque founded on piety from the very first day is more deserving that you shoud stand in it: in it are men who ove that they shoud be purified. (Quran chapter 9: verse 108.) In Isam, prayers can be offered anywhere on God s earth. The Hoy Prophet (pbuh) said: The word, the whoe of it, is a mosque. Wherever you turn, there is the face of God. (Quran chapter 2: verse 115.) Therefore as Aah s (God s) reach is everywhere, He can be remembered anywhere on the gobe. The Starting point Vision, aims and objectives A masjid (mosque) means a pace of prostration. In practice it now means a house dedicated for divine service. First and foremost, the mosque is a pace of prayer. As Isam considers every action in the word as Ibadat, or worship, if done with the object of peasing Aah, then everything good and awfu can be done within the mosque. For this reason, there is no need to have a separate house for each area of Isamic work, and it is possibe to have a mosque that is muti functiona in a matters. However, to achieve this you need cear vision, good management and eadership, and supporting organisationa structures. The starting point for any organisation, community or faith group is to know where they are going, why they exist and for what purpose. The Niyyah (intention/ purpose) in Isam does exacty that, it trains a Musim to have a cear vision and purpose in whatever he/she does. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said Actions are but by intentions and every person wi get that for which he 10 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

11 intended.. (Hadith Bukhari/Musim). In organisationa or Mosque terms Niyyah is the vision; aim and mission statement. Therefore the first step for the Mosque management and eadership is to begin by deveoping a vision, define the mission or aims and agree a set of objectives. A vision statement is a dream of the future. It describes the end goa or destination the organisation wants to achieve. The aim or mission statement describes the main purpose of the organisation in achieving its vision. Objectives are the things you are going to do to meet the aims. They need to be specific, measurabe, achievabe, reevant and timebound (SMART). 4 TIP If you have aready estabished a pace of worship/mosque or are panning to estabish a new mosque... Do you have a cear vision of: why you need to estabish it or why this pace was estabished? who you are catering for? mae, femae, young, od, reverts to Isam? what major outcomes you want to achieve by estabishing this mosque, and if they wi be achieved by buiding such a centre? Here is an exampe of a mission statement: Mission statement of the Mosque of Centra Jersey (MCJ) MCJ wi activey promote the message of Isam to eiminate misunderstandings among non-musims and to invite them to Isam, create an atmosphere whereby our youths and others are proud to decare their faith. We wi provide the community with a forum for Isamic education. We wi provide a means for the community to interact with each other sociay and provide a path for them to fufi their obigations as Musims. The fundamenta objective of the Society wi be to seek Gory to Aah (SWT). Choosing an organisationa structure Once you have decided the aim or purpose of your mosque, why it exists and what it intends to provide, you wi need an organisationa structure and framework. This wi hep you achieve your goa and objectives, and aso hep you contro, monitor and review your progress and achievements. There are different types of organisationa structures and these each have a different ega status: incorporated or unincorporated; charitabe or non-charitabe. An unincorporated organisation is one where a group or individuas come together for a common purpose. The structure is simpe and can be varied to specific needs. The main imitation is that a members are individuay iabe. An incorporated organisation creates a virtua person. Members are generay protected provided they have not been negigent. The organisation can take the form of a company imited by guarantee (suitabe for community, charities and faith groups) or a company imited by shares. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 11

12 It is possibe to be either a charity or a imited company, or both, or neither of these things. There are a whoe range of issues you need to consider before you decide what is right for your organisation. It often comes down to a trade-off. Being a charity or imited company can bring high initia costs and eave you with an ongoing bureaucracy to manage. But to be neither of these things can mean you have ack of status (with possibe donors and suppiers) and can eave you with an open-ended iabiity if things go wrong. The most common status for mosques is to be a charity. What is a charity? The new Charity Act 2006 passed by Pariament in November 2006 defines a charity as a body or trust that provides benefit to the pubic. Most of the Act wi come into force by eary Organisations wanting to register as a charity wi have to show how their purposes benefit the pubic. A charity s purposes are its objects or aims, and these are usuay set out in its governing document. The Act has widened the scope of charitabe purpose from the traditiona four meanings to thirteen to keep up to date with modern society. You can find out more about the changes in the new Act by visiting the Charity Commission website given at the end of this section. Types of charitabe structures Charitabe Company a charitabe company may be suitabe if the mosque has arge assets, empoys staff, and is invoved in or thinking about commercia activities. It is formed and registered under the Companies Act 2006 by adopting a Memorandum and Artices of Association. Charitabe Trust a charitabe trust is normay set up if the organisation does not have a membership and does not empoy a significant number of staff or carry out trading activities. It is formed by adopting a trust deed. Charitabe Association a charitabe association is run by charity trustees and is the more popuar choice for mosques and unincorporated associations. The governing document is the constitution of the association. A charitabe association is appropriate for organisations which have a membership that eects the trustees and whose work is normay carried out vountariy by members. Charity Incorporated Organisations (CIO) The Charity Act 2006 has introduced a new charity structure specificay created to meet the needs of charities. The CIO gives the benefit of a ega personaity and imited iabiity for trustees. There wi be no need to register separatey with Companies House, nor wi a CIO be reguated by company aw, but the CIO wi be registered and reguated by the Charity Commission. Advantages of being a charity There are a number of advantages in being registered as a charity. The main ones are: being abe to caim back tax paid by donors, using schemes such as Gift Aid or payro giving (GAYE). The vaue of such schemes wi depend on income tax rates a ot of charitabe foundations wi ony give to registered charities it gives you more credibiity when asking for donations from the pubic you are automaticay entited to business rates reief 12 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

13 you can get specia VAT treatment in some circumstances you can formay represent the community and hep to meet its needs. Disadvantages The downside of registration as a charity is the bureaucracy invoved. You need to send reguar information (usuay once a year) to the Charity Commission, hod annua genera meetings and you need to keep to certain rues. Many of these rues are good practice anyway, and your auditor wi want you to foow them. The Charity Commission does have very heavy powers if they think you are abusing charitabe status. 4 TIP If you are not sure about the status of the mosque or your organisationa structure, get speciaist advice from someone who has experience in charitabe aw, such as a soicitor. In the ong run this wi hep you shape the organisation in a way that coud avoid conficts in the future. i For more information pease go to Mosque governance Governance is the systems and processes that ensure the overa direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountabiity of an organisation. In the case of mosques, it is about how authority and responsibiity is shared between senior staff and the management committee, board or trustees. Strategy Skis Structure Vision Staff Management committee Systems Stye The management committee is the group of peope who are responsibe for eading and managing the activities of the organisation. They can aso be known as a board of trustees or executive committee. In the rest of this handbook we have used the term management committee for the sake of consistency. The management committee make decisions about the overa purpose and direction of the organisation, and make sure that the property and money are propery used and managed. They have the ega responsibiity for the organisation. A ot of work may be deegated, but there must be cear ines of authority. The key is to define responsibiities and reporting methods, to make sure that information of the right type and detai gets to committee members in a reasonabe time. Committees shoud meet often enough to hande the work they have to do, athough subcommittees and officers can pay their part. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 13

14 4 TIP Exampe mosque structure An idea mosque structure woud be one which not ony serves the reigious needs of the community but aso provides its socia services. This wi hep create exceent Musim communities. An exampe of the areas of work or departments a mosque shoud consider (and appoint subcommittees for) is given beow: 1 Reigious worship 2 Education madrasah 3 Dawah and Tarbiyyah 4 Famiy and youth deveopment 5 Community and socia activities 6 Mosque maintenance 7 Finance and fundraising 8 Administration Who shoud be on the management committee? It is up to the mosque, that is, the management committee itsef, to decide how many members it needs to do its work smoothy. The aw says that charities must have at east three members. There is no upper imit but it woud make the group inefficient to have too many members. When choosing or appointing persons to the management committee there are certain characteristics one shoud ook for: Taqwa (Piety) Trustworthy Commitment Knowedge Experience Skis Remember the management committee is there to serve its members and not the other way round. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said the eader of a group is its servant. A management committee must have at east a chair, a secretary and a treasurer. The roe of the chair The chair s roe incudes running and guiding the committee as we as managing its business. This work can incude: deciding how the committee is made up and organised carifying the responsibiities of the committee and management panning and managing committees and committee meetings deveoping the effectiveness of the committee. The roe of the secretary Charity Secretaries (the company secretary of a charity) are responsibe for making sure that charities are run within the aw and keep to the terms of the governing document. The status and exact roe of the Charity Secretary wi vary from one organisation to another. But most wi hep the committee to find its way through the maze of aw, governance and good practice, and wi hep meetings run effectivey. 14 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

15 Some key responsibiities of the secretary are: and to note a correspondence (in and out) on the agenda ready for meetings to keep the membership ists up to date to arrange meetings and prepare agendas to carry out the actions from each meeting to consut with committee members for items to be incuded on the agenda to record the names of members at meetings and the apoogies from those who coud not be there to make sure there is a quorum (enough committee members to make a decision) to write up minutes as soon as possibe after meetings (whie the discussions are sti fresh in your mind!) to keep minute books safe they must never be destroyed to oversee the production of the annua report to arrange the annua genera meeting to get nominations for peope wanting to hod office or become committee members in the foowing year to send reports of meetings to the press when this is appropriate. The roe of the treasurer The treasurer has a ot of responsibiity for finances, yet has no absoute power over the way in which financia resources are used. These decisions are taken by the management committee as a whoe. It is the treasurer s job to make sure the organisation spends its money correcty, and this wi invove reguary teing committee members about the group s financia affairs. Invoving young peope and women Young peope are the future! They bring new energy, enthusiasm and freshness to an organisation. However, they need to be guided and nurtured by those who are oder and more experienced. Committees need to make a specia effort to invove young peope and women in decision making and to give them responsibiity. This is the sunnah (practice) of the Prophet (pbuh). He did not excude young peope or women from giving their opinions and ideas and from heping with carrying out tasks. The ife of the Prophet (pbuh) is fu of exampes of where young peope such as Hazrat Ai, Ibn Abbas, Zaid, Usamah, Ayiesha (RA) were a invoved in the decisionmaking process and reguary consuted. It is aso we estabished that women attended for prayers and other gatherings in the Mosque during the time of the Prophet (pbuh) and his successors. ACTION You coud set up a youth and education committee. This woud discuss and carry out activities and programmes for young peope from the patform of the mosque. This is an idea forum where young peope can contribute within the mosque. This committee coud be responsibe to the overa management committee of the mosque. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 15

16 4 TIP Types of peope on the management committee Idea candidates shoud incude professiona men and women from the foowing spheres of ife. Generay they shoud be professionas who are reguar worshippers and are practica peope who can work in a team and get resuts. For exampe, representatives from the foowing professions coud hep: managers (with project management experience) teachers Isamic schoars media socia services aw enforcement agencies youth workers Meetings Having reguar management committee meetings is an important function of the management committee. Meetings wi hep you to discuss, decide and pan for the needs of your mosque and its users. A meeting shoud have the foowing: Agenda This is simpy a ist of things that you want to discuss in the meeting. It is usefu because: it heps you pan the meeting, and decide how ong it wi take it heps you get through the business of the meeting more efficienty it gives peope a chance to think about the issues before the meeting. The agenda is normay made up by the chair and secretary of the organisation. You can see an exampe of an agenda in the appendix. Minutes These are notes that are taken during the meeting to remind you what was discussed and agreed. They can be short points but need to ceary record: who was at the meeting who sent apoogies for not being there what was said at the meeting (main points) decisions made at the meeting and who is going to carry them out and by when. It is usuay the secretary s job to write up the minutes. You can see an exampe of some minutes in the appendix. Roes, and conficts between roes The management committee shoud concentrate on strategy, poicy matters and monitoring efficiency and effectiveness. The detais of how things are done shoud be eft to staff and vounteers. However, particuary in smaer organisations, it is not easy to be so cear cut. Committee members may be cosey invoved in the day-to-day work and wi often comment on their experience at the front ine. When they are doing this they shoud try to recognise that they are reay doing a different job, as a vounteer or ordinary member, and not confuse it with their committee roe. 16 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

17 For exampe, a committee member may aso be an Imam of the mosque and woud therefore have to be aware of the conficts that may deveop. Pease see the Charity Commission s website for hep on how best to manage the confict. Case study projects invoving young peope The York Isamic Centre has young peope on the management committee. These are students who hep out with the administration and finance of the mosque, and pan youth programmes and activities. andscaping an overgrown piece of waste ground near a mosque in Odham, to create a reaxing, natura environment with a fruit orchard and widfower meadow young peope asked to sit on a new-buid committee for a new mosque deveopment in London after-schoo cub set up in Sough to hep underachieving chidren young peope asked to hep in the teaching at the mosque young peope asked to distribute the food in a Ramadan iftaries in a mosque in Bradford. A youth committee was set up to coordinate the activities. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 17

18 2 Poicies and procedures God wants to make [a this] cear unto you, and to guide you onto the [righteous] ways of ife of those who preceded you, and to turn unto you in His mercy: for God is a-knowing, wise. (Qur an chapter 4: verse 26) Poicies and procedures are written rues and statements that define what you do and how you do it. Deveoping poicies wi improve the way the organisation functions and deivers its services. It wi aso hep prevent probems and conficts from arising. Who shoud deveop the poicies and procedures? The management committee is responsibe for deveoping poicies and procedures within the organisation and making sure they are foowed. However, they shoud first consut members, staff, vounteers and anyone ese who may be affected by them. You can get hep and advice from the organisations isted in the appendix or from your ega advisers. When deveoping poicies and procedures, it is important to have a process in pace for their deveopment, approva, review and revision, and for education and training. We suggest the foowing guideines for deveoping written poicies and procedures (poicy manuas). 1 Approva process Before going too far in writing the poicies, it is important to deveop an approva process for them. The management committee shoud be invoved in the approva process. The process you decide on shoud be written down and avaiabe to everyone who writes poicies. You need to decide how often a poicy wi be reviewed (this is caed a review cyce ), and this shoud be part of the approva 18 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

19 process. The review cyce may be the same for a poicies, or you can divide poicies into groups according to how often you wi review them: twice a year, once a year or every two years. We recommend that a poicies are reviewed at east every two years. 2 Estabishing a stye The first step in setting up poicy and procedure manuas is to decide on a format for the system. The size of the organisation may dictate the format you adopt a singe manua or severa manuas. A singe manua works we in a very sma organisation with just a few poicies. Mutipe manuas work better where there are a ot of poicies, generay in arger organisations. Whatever format you use, it shoud be easy for peope to find the information they need and you shoud bear this in mind from the start. 3 Poicy numbering For carity s sake, and to make it easy to find and discuss particuar poicies, a poicies and procedures must have a unique identifier or poicy number. What poicies and procedures do we need? The type of poicies and procedures your organisation needs wi depend on a number of things such as: the type of work you do the services you provide the size of your organisation how formay you operate. This handbook is aimed at mosques, so the emphasis is on poicy areas that are reevant to mosques. Here are some of the important poicies and procedures you may need. Lega duties When deveoping your poicies you need to remember the aws that affect your organisation. The main ones are: Heath and safety Heath & Safety at Work etc Act Reguations 1974 and 1992 Fire Safety Reguations 2006 Equa opportunities Race Reations Act 1976 and amended 2000 Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and amended 1999 Disabiity Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005 Empoyment Rights Act 1996 Chidren and Chidren s Act 1989 and 2004 young peope (Engand and Waes) Working together to safeguard chidren guidance 1999 and 2006 Every Chid Matters Change for Chidren Terrorism Act Governing document The Terrorism Act 2000 & the Anti Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 This is the forma written document describing the organisation s structure, management, and its aims and objectives. Depending on your ega status it can be a: Constitution or set of rues (unincorporated organisation) A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 19

20 Memorandum and Artices of Association (incorporated for exampe, a company imited by guarantee) Trust deed (incorporated for exampe, a charity) You can get mode forms from the Charity Commission Equa opportunities poicy Mosques are faith-based organisations, which run reigious activities according to the Isamic faith. Therefore you have the right to appoint peope with good Isamic faith to serve the mosque and Musim community in a better way. Athough the aw doesn t say you have to have an equa opportunities poicy, a cear poicy and set of procedures for impementing it is the best way of making sure that you keep to equa opportunities aw. This incudes: The Sex Discrimination Act (1986) The Equa Pay Act (1970) The Race Reations Act (1976) The Disabiity Discrimination Act (1995) The Empoyment Equaity (Sexua Orientation) Reguations (2003) The Empoyment Equaity (Reigion or Beief) Reguations (2003) The Age Discrimination Act (2006). Equa opportunities statement from London Centra Mosque The London Centra Mosque Trust & the Isamic Cutura Centre is an Equa Opportunities empoyer. We wecome appications regardess of gender, disabiity, reigion, and ethnic origin. We aso operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for peope with disabiities who meet the minimum pubished criteria. The London Centra Mosque Trust & the Isamic Cutura Centre is an Investor in Peope. The ICC aims to be pre-eminent in the study and practice of creative, cognitive, cutura and socia processes. As an Organisation committed to equaity of opportunity appications are wecomed from a sections of the community. Heath and safety The aw says you have to have heath and safety rues and foow the Heath & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the reguations that go with it. A organisations have a duty of care to their vounteers, members (worshippers), empoyees and the genera pubic. It is good practice for a mosques to have a written heath and safety poicy, but the aw says you must have one if you empoy five or more staff (incuding part-time workers). Heath and safety poicy A heath and safety poicy shoud incude the foowing: 1 Risk assessment You need to be cear about potentia or existing risks and hazards to vounteers, worshippers, members, staff and the pubic. You then need to put in pace ways to put right or avoid the situation or probem. A risk assessment might incude: ooking for potentia hazards deciding who might be harmed and how 20 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

21 evauating these risks, and deciding whether your existing precautions are adequate recording your findings reviewing your assessment and revising it if necessary carrying out any necessary work if you have found your existing precautions not to be adequate. 2 Registering your premises You must register your premises and activities if any of the foowing appies: you have paid staff you prepare, suppy, store or se food you are carrying out a dangerous process or putting on an event (for exampe a fireworks dispay). Most vountary, community and faith organisations woud need to register with the environmenta heath department at the city counci. Some organisations might need to register with the oca Heath and Safety Executive office, but your starting point is the oca environmenta heath department. 3 First aid Different organisations wi need different first aid arrangements, depending on their size and activities. You must at east have someone who has basic first aid knowedge and is avaiabe to take charge in an emergency. This is known as an appointed person. Each organisation wi need to carry out a risk assessment to decide the eve of risk. Depending on the eve of risk and size of the organisation, you must decide how many first aiders you need, and of what type. 4 First aid box You must have a first aid box, athough there are no rues to say what you must have in it. Some of the basics woud incude: bandages, trianguar bandages, sterie wound dressings, sterie wipes and a eafet on basic first aid. You must have a notice showing where the first aid box is, and who the first aider or appointed person is and where to find them. 5 Fire certificate Every organisation has to register with the fire service. They wi issue a fire certificate or exemption certificate, which you shoud keep in a safe pace. The fire certificate gives: detais of the use of the premises fire-fighting equipment that is needed fire escape routes fire dris and other fire precautions. If you ease ony part of your premises, then the andord is responsibe for contacting the fire service. However, if you are concerned that you do not have a fire certificate, you can contact the fire service yoursef. Make sure you have cear guideines for your staff, vounteers and visitors about what to do if there is a fire. Everyone shoud know: where the nearest fire exit is how the aarm wi be raised (not a premises have a fire aarm) where to assembe how the ro ca wi be done and who wi do it. If you hod an event, you shoud make these procedures cear before you start. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 21

22 6 Insurance You must have insurance, as it ensures your organisation is covered if there is an accident. But it is compicated, and is covered in more detai in the Insurance section of this guide. 7 Hazardous substances There are reguations which say you have to do an assessment of any substances, such as chemicas, that are used on your premises and which are hazardous to heath. Most vountary organisations wi not use many of these, apart from ceaning agents. But you sti need to make sure the peope who use them know about: how to store the substances how to dea with any spiages any possibe hazards to skin, hair, eyes and so on. The Heath and Safety Executive has more information on how to do assessments. 8 Food hygiene If your mosque prepares and serves food on your premises whether it is for sae or not then food safety reguations appy. These say that peope handing food must be propery trained and propery supervised. There are aso specific rues about cean work areas and equipment, suitabe premises, suitabe arrangements for food waste and so on. 9 Recording accidents and incidents It is good practice to record any accidents that happen on your premises. By aw, any workpace that has more than 10 empoyees must have an Accident Book. This can be used to record not ony accidents, but aso iness possiby caused by work and any near-misses that coud have been accidents. You must report serious injuries to the Heath and Safety Executive or the Environmenta Heath Division, depending on who you are registered with. Serious injuries are defined as death or major injury (incuding assaut); an injury that means the person is off work for three days or more; workreated diseases or dangerous occurrences (near misses). 10 Genera heath and safety advice In an office environment the foowing basic tips are usefu (and shoud be picked up by your risk assessment!): don t eave wires from eectrica equipment and computers traiing don t keep ots of paper for recycing pied up where it coud be a fire risk make sure that you have appropriate desks and chairs for your computer workstations make sure fire exits are ceary marked, kept unocked and not bocked in any way bend at the knees when ifting and use a troey for moving heavy objects make sure your office is at a comfortabe temperature. i For more information and guidance pease go to Heath and Safety Executive , Genera mosque poicies to consider Congregationa safety poicy One aim of this poicy is to provide an environment that aows a wide diversity of individua expression and spiritua growth. 22 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

23 A safe atmosphere must be preserved in which everyone fees free to take part and to express themseves without fear. Threatening, disruptive or otherwise harmfu behaviour is unacceptabe within such a caring community. The Imam, staff members and the eaders of any mosque activity may take whatever action they beieve necessary to stop behaviour which endangers anybody, obstructs any mosque activity or may otherwise cause damage or harm. This incudes asking the offenders to eave, stopping the activity or caing the poice. The Anti Terrorsim Act A huge range of offences cover what peope consider to be terrorist offences murder, arson, sabotage and harassment. But the UK aso has the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Anti- Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 which are designed to give the poice exceptiona powers to dea with extraordinary circumstances. So what do the acts say? The Terrorism Act 2000 outaws (or in ega jargon proscribes ) groups considered to be terrorist in nature. The act gives poice wider stop and search powers. Detectives can aso detain a suspect for at east 48 hours in contrast to the standard 24. Custody can continue for up to 28 days on the authority of a magistrate. The Act incudes three offences: Inciting terrorism Seeking or providing terrorism training here or abroad Providing training/instruction in weapons from firearms to nucear weapons Madrasah poicy Mosque madrasah shoud be committed to providing a safe and heathy environment that encourages community buiding and student earning. You need to consider the foowing issues for your mosque madrasah poicy: safety of students cassroom supervision cassroom discipine poicy on teacher requirements poicy for wecoming new students and meeting individua needs consutation and panning with parents buiding safety requirements Crimina Records Bureau (CRB) checks. Chid protection Chidren are an especiay vunerabe group. The aw says a organisations working with or providing a service to chidren, young peope or vunerabe aduts must have proper safeguards and measures to protect them. These safeguards shoud incude a chid protection poicy, and procedures for deaing with issues of concern. Your poicy shoud cover the foowing points: the wefare of the chid comes first (Chidren s Act 1989 and Chidren s Act 2004 Every Chid Matters and the Working together to safeguard chidren a chidren have the right to protection from abuse a suspicions and aegations of abuse wi be taken seriousy and responded to swifty and appropriatey a the organisation s trustees, management, staff and vounteers have a responsibiity to report concerns. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 23

24 The poicy shoud be inked to procedures that make cear: what is good practice for a workers and management what behaviour must never be toerated how chid-care workers wi be recruited and seected to ensure their suitabiity for working with chidren how anyone invoved with the organisation shoud respond to suspicions and aegations how chid protection skis and knowedge wi be deveoped within the organisation? how wi parenta invovement with the organisation be encouraged? how to maintain confidentiaity what systems wi be in pace to make sure a chidcare workers are routiney and reguary monitored, supervised and supported. i For more information and hep on chid protection issues and deveoping a poicy pease go to Poicy on disruptive behaviour Creating a community open to a wide variety of peope is one of the most important vaues hed by a mosque s congregation, and this wi be expressed in the mosque s purposes and principes. It is aso important that congregations maintain a secure atmosphere where such openness can exist. If a person s physica or emotiona we-being or freedom to safey express his or her beiefs or opinions is threatened, the source of this threat must be deat with firmy and quicky. This may even mean that the offending person or peope are expeed from the mosque. Any action to dea with disruptive behaviour shoud be carried out with compassion and the hope of reconciiation. There wi be times when the disruptive behaviour of someone in the mosque buiding wi ead members to voice their concerns about one or more of the foowing: perceived threats to the safety of an adut or chid the disruption of mosque activities a essening of the appea of the mosque to its potentia and existing membership. The mosque shoud try hard to be an incusive community, accepting its members wi have differences in beiefs, opinions and ife experiences. However, in some cases, concern for the safety and we-being of the congregation as a whoe must come before the privieges and incusion of an individua. If disruptive behaviour threatens the heath of its congregation, members actions, as peope of faith, must refect the mosque s commitment to maintaining both security and community. Recruitment and seection Having a recruitment and seection poicy wi make sure that you seect the most suitabe person for the post. Peope wi be seected because of their reevant merits and abiities, and no one wi be unfairy treated because of their race, gender, reigion and so on. A poicy may have exception causes that aows the organisation to make conditions that are appropriate for empoying someone in a mosque. The Crimina Records Bureau (CRB) The Crimina Records Bureau (CRB) is an executive agency of the Home Office. Its discosure service gives wider access to crimina records information. This aows organisations 24 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

25 in the pubic, private and vountary and faith sectors to make safer recruitment decisions by identifying candidates who may be unsuitabe for certain work, especiay work that invoves chidren or vunerabe aduts. It is best practice for the organisation to carry out CRB checks for a management members, staff and vounteers. You must carry out checks when recruiting unsupervised vounteers and staff who come into contact with chidren. However, it is up to the recruiting organisation to assess the risk of each roe, by taking into account: how often the worker wi have contact with chidren what type of contact they have how ong the contact is for any background knowedge about the worker. i Insurance For more information about CRB pease go to or phone The management committee have the responsibiity to ook after and safeguard the property and assets of the organisation from direct oss or damage. If they fai then they can be hed personay iabe to make good the osses. One way to discharge yourseves of this duty is to take out insurance. Types of insurance There is a variety of different types of insurance avaiabe for different needs. Some are more common than others, some wi be a ega necessity whie others wi be a matter of good practice and ensure that the management committee is carrying out it s duty in terms of risk management. The foowing ist detais some of the many types of insurance that are avaiabe to organisations. Empoyers Liabiity Insurance This is a ega requirement for any organisation empoying paid staff. The organisation must have, and dispay in the workpace, a certificate of empoyers iabiity insurance. It covers the organisation against any caims by workers for injury or disease. Buidings Insurance This covers the fabric and structures of any buiding that your organisation might rent or own outright. If you rent premises, then you need to check the terms of your ease to see whether it's the responsibiity of your organisation or that of your andord to take out buidings insurance. If you own the property then you are responsibe for taking out adequate buidings insurance. Remember to check to see if this covers terrorism. Pubic Liabiity Insurance This covers injury, oss or damage caused to anyone as a resut of your organisation s negigence (or breach of a ega duty) and covers peope using your organisation s premises or services. If you have premises that are visited or used by members of the pubic or by vounteers, then you are strongy encouraged (though there is no ega requirement) to have this insurance. When taking out pubic iabiity insurance you shoud make sure that the poicy covers staff members, vounteers, committee, members and visitors to your premises. Contents Insurance It is very important if your organisation owns or hires any property and it is kept at your premises, to make sure that you have adequate contents insurance. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 25

26 Trustee Indemnity Insurance This type of insurance is entirey optiona. It covers the potentia iabiities of trustees and directors of vountary and charitabe organisations. For exampe, if your organisation s management committee members cause (financia) osses to their organisation then this insurance may cover them for some of the osses. If, however, you are a registered Charity then you must have the express permission of the Charity Commission to buy this kind of insurance and you must be aowed to do so expressy by your governing document. Professiona Liabiity Insurance If your organisation offers an advisory service to members of the pubic then you woud be we advised to take out Professiona Liabiity Insurance (even if the service you offer is free). This covers an organisation s staff members or vounteers who give out advice, shoud that advice be incorrect and ead to oss, injury, etc. When you re taking out this kind of insurance you need to make sure that the insurer is made fuy aware of a of your organisation's activities. Vehice Insurance If your organisation either has its own vehices or its staff or vounteers use their own vehices when carrying out the business of the group then you have a ega duty to take out this type of insurance. If the vehices are the group's own, then you are egay required to have third party cover for a vehices/drivers. Event Insurance As an organisation you may from time to time hod specific events and if these events are arge scae, invove fundraising or a arge outay of money for your group it is possibe that you wi be abe to take out insurance for your event. If you are panning a big event then it is probaby best to consider the specific activities on a case by case basis. Compaints and grievance procedures Feedback from mosque users wi hep to pinpoint issues to dea with, and hep management make continuous improvements. Working effectivey on compaints and grievances wi hep to boost the confidence of your users and members. Compaints may be received by any vounteer or member of staff, and they may arrive in many different ways by etter or emai, by comments on a feedback form, in person or by fax or phone. Here is a procedure for deaing with and recording compaints, with timescaes for deaing with each stage. Stage 1 Record the compaint There shoud be a Compaint Form to record compaints. The person receiving the compaint (the compaint receiver) shoud fi this in the same day. Stage 2 Dea with the compaint The compaint receiver shoud try to sort out the compaint (within three weeks), and fi in the compaint form section to say what they have done. If you cannot sort out the compaint yoursef, you shoud pass it to your immediate manager (within one working day). Te the person compaining who is now deaing with the compaint and when they can expect to hear from them. Stage 3 Take corrective action If the probem has come about as a resut of your own actions, you shoud review your own processes and actions 26 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

27 to avoid simiar probems in future. (Within 1 week of deaing with the compaint.) Changing a process If the probem has come about due to genera ways of working, or another person s actions, you shoud tak to the most appropriate staff member or manager who you fee coud put the situation right. (Within 1 week of deaing with the compaint.) Stage 4 Reporting compaints When you have deat with the compaint, pease pass a copy of the competed compaint form and a the correspondence, emais and so on to (person named in your procedure). (Within 1 week of deaing with the compaint.) 4 TIP Some tips on deaing with compaints: Aways Listen carefuy to the person, particuary if they are angry, and aow them to et off steam. Do not argue with or contradict them. Estabish the facts of the compaint ceary. Rephrase what the person just tod you to make sure that: (a) you ceary understand their concern (b) they fee understood and know you are both deaing with the same issue. Te the person what you are going to do about the probem. Te the person what timescae you are going to take action in. If you fee unabe to dea with the compaint, pass it upwards to your manager. Aways confirm to the person in writing what you have agreed. Aways make sure that corrective action is taken so the same probem does not happen again.? THINK ABOUT Other poicies you may need to consider Mosque management code of ethics Smoking Congregationa responsibiities Individua records rights and privacy Maiing ist Membership status guideines Noise Coection of money Counting the weeky offering Staff pay Caiming and paying budgeted expenses Signatures poicy Specia gifts Property and faciities Faciities use requirements incuding for youth groups and overnights stays Grounds maintenance Guideines for posters, dispays, and permanent items on was Securing the faciities [confidentia] Aocation of outreach funds By-aws for mosque projects The environment Seecting suppiers Isamic education Nursery Youth and women A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 27

28 3 Faciities management He governs a that exists, from the ceestia space to the earth; and in the end a sha ascend unto Him [for judgment] on a Day the ength whereof wi be [ike] a thousand years of your reckoning (Quran chapter 32: verse 5) Faciity management is the management of the buiding and services of an organisation. The physica presence of the mosque in the community stands as a towering symbo of faith and hope. Athough having a we-maintained faciity may ook ike window dressing, to those outside the community of faith it may be the bridge that opens their hearts to a greater understanding of the Isamic faith. For this reason, it is important that mosques consider their guests first impressions. These impressions start when guests first see the mosque from the street and end when they drive away after the service. These first impressions incude guest parking, parking attendants, signs, greeters, wecome centres, nurseries and toiets. The faciities shoud be accommodating to everyone, incuding the edery and peope with disabiities. Lifts and wider corridors wi hep make your mosque a friendier pace. Remember, making a good first impression begins with a cean, we-kept mosque. User-friendy faciities The dictionary defines user-friendy as being easy to earn, use, understand, or dea with. Architects tak about form (how it ooks) and function (how it works). Both are important. Mosques have tended to give more attention to ooks, and itte, if any, to user-friendiness. User-friendiness is a part of function, a part that architects and mosque eaderships have generay ignored. 28 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

29 The goa of having a user-friendy faciity means removing as many irritants as possibe to the person who is entering your buiding.? THINK ABOUT Is the mosque easy to find? Is it obvious which car park entrance to use and where to park? which buiding entrance to use? the main entry point to the buiding may not be idea but the signs pointing the way to it shoud be cear. Are directions to the toiets ceary marked? Whie the toiets or wudu paces perhaps cannot be moved, ceary marked signs can direct the firsttimer to them. Each entry point of the buiding shoud have signs showing the paces and activities easiy reached from that point. Signs shoud incude arrows showing which way to go. Once peope go into the buiding there shoud be spacious wecome centres that give information in a number of different ways: information tabes, eectronic dispay boards, dispay stands, signs, and peope. Just some sma changes may provide a more friendy entry. A frequenty used ha entrance can be changed into a spacious, wecoming entry by getting rid of a cupboard. Adding skyights and windows aso gives a more friendy atmosphere. 4 TIP How do you know if you have a user-friendy buiding? Give your first-time visitors a guest survey. Ask them if they had any probems finding a parking pace, or any probems getting around and finding casses or the toiets. Ask persona guests how they see your buiding. Visit other mosques and notice how easy or difficut it is getting around in their buiding. Athough the mosque is about peope and not buidings, having user-friendy faciities shoud be a concern of both the mosque eadership and mosque architects. Booking faciities in the mosque If you aow members and the community to use mosque faciities, you need to have poicies and procedures for this. You need a faciities caendar if you are to reserve spaces and get them ready at the right time. The event booking request form and room setup request form are important communication toos. Fiing in these forms heps schedue events and prevents doube booking events. They aso give information to maintenance workers about the needs of each event. Aowing outside organisations to use mosque faciities It is important that you have buiding hire/use poicies if you intend to et other organisations use mosque faciities. These poicies ensure that faciities are not abused, that inappropriate activities do not take pace, and that the costs for the event are passed on to those using the faciities. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 29

30 A mosque activity request form wi answer the foowing questions: wi products or services be offered? wi the activities confict with Isamic vaues? wi the activities cause undue wear on faciities? which areas of the buiding wi be used? wi there be adequate supervision if the group invoves chidren? what kind of iabiity wi this event create? is the risk such that the group running the event wi need to have separate iabiity insurance that covers the mosque? The request form shoud have an agreement statement. Your insurance company can hep you with this agreement. Your fees shoud incude any direct costs associated with the event, incuding: kitchen equipment audiovisua equipment personne gas, water, eectricity and phone ines setting up and ceaning up. Safety Safety is an important concern when you open the mosque to a community event. Panning and education can hep make the risk of injury to peope attending an event as ow as possibe. Athough it is wise to guard against possibe financia oss due to unsafe faciities, the mosque s number-one concern needs to be to avoid possibe harm to one of its members or guests. Carrying out a risk assessment is a necessary part of making sure the mosque s faciities are safe. A mosque eader shoud be given responsibiity for buiding, equipment and vehice safety. Fire prevention needs to be a part of every faciities manager s duties. Prevention invoves keeping sources of fire (ignition sources) away from anything that can burn (combustibes). First, do a compete fire risk-anaysis survey of the entire faciity. This wi identify a combustibes and potentia ignition sources. The next step is to get rid of these two eements as far as possibe. You can get professiona hep from your oca fire service, your insurance company or a fire-engineering consutant. To ensure the safety of each member, staff member, vounteer, student, teacher and visitor, the mosque shoud have a comprehensive safety procedures manua. Security Amost every mosque wi have a break-in sometime in its history. Often, the damage caused by thieves breaking in, or the vandaism that occurs after they are inside, far outweighs the cost of stoen goods. On the other hand, the oss of sound and video equipment and computers can seriousy affect a mosque s service. Historicay, mosques were not buit with security in mind because we beieved even criminas respected Aah s house. Designers and mosque eaders were not concerned with protecting property. Many mosques eft their doors open around the cock as a pace for peope to pray and seek sanctuary. Today though, mosques are extremey vunerabe to breakins. Criminas reaise that mosques have property they can 30 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

31 se. Most mosques do not have security systems and many eave doors and windows unocked. Oder mosques may have no security system, or their security system may be inadequate or od. Many new mosques invest more funds in design rather than security. Though mosque buidings may have been designed without security features, a few simpe practices can hep avoid many osses. Here are a few points: Have a poicy on who is given keys and keep a record of it. Get a signed statement from the person to whom a key is given that they wi not copy or end the keys and that they wi return them when they no onger need them. Change the ocks from time to time. Have someone carry out security checks at the end of each day. Since most mosques cannot afford to pay someone to do this, a named member of staff needs to be responsibe for each of these duties. After assessing risks, you may decide to insta security equipment or hire security guards. Security systems range from keyess entry systems to burgar aarms or even cameras CCTV. The goa of risk management is to prevent any interruption to the running of the mosque. Mosque kitchen Food and feowship are important in the ife of a mosque. The design and equipment a mosque chooses wi depend on whether the mosque has schoos, preschoos, a soup kitchen, weeky mosque dinners, wedding receptions, seasona programmes ike Iftars, and community events. What works in a commercia kitchen may not work for the mosque. Pantries, freezers, refrigerators and storage units are aso important items to consider. Equipment Office equipment is the key to productivity in any mosque office. Wasted time because of equipment probems is frustrating for office personne. Don t wait unti equipment can no onger do its job before you repace it. Instead, do a mosque-equipment review every year to see what equipment wi need to be repaced in the coming year. If the item cannot be incuded in the budget, a member of the congregation or business community might donate a repacement that is better than the one the mosque has at the moment. 4 TIP Service contracts can make equipment more expensive to buy but can add to its ife expectancy. When considering service contracts, ask: what is the ife expectancy of this piece of equipment? what is the risk of a mechanica probem happening after the norma manufacturer s warranty runs out? Ceaning and maintenance equipment shoud aow staff to carry out their duties as efficienty as possibe and provide for safe working. Some key pieces of equipment needed by most mosques wi incude vacuum ceaners, singe-disc foor machines, foor scrubbers, push carts, brushes, scrapers, mops, buckets and goves. Asset management is an important part of managing A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 31

32 equipment. This means having a fu ist (inventory) of a the mosque s furniture and equipment, incuding seria numbers and vaue. You need this to make sure you know about any osses that might happen. It aso gives you the documentation you need to show the mosque s assets on the mosque financia statement. There are software programs and inventory speciaists that can hep you with this. Housekeeping and maintenance Peope ony tend to notice housekeeping and maintenance if they are not done propery. If you are responsibe for managing these functions, you wi know that peope are quick to criticise. Athough you can set standards for housekeeping, it may be more difficut to achieve them in practice. Housekeeping tasks make mosque buidings and properties presentabe and fuy usabe. These tasks incude emptying rubbish, repacing toiet products, sweeping, mopping and dusting. Genera maintenance and repair are more speciaised tasks. They ca for skis in simpe repairs and in operating ceaning equipment. These tasks incude using foor-care machines, and repairing or repacing water taps, toiets, ighting equipment, door hardware and ight bubs. Preventive maintenance aso needs to be carried out by a skied person. These jobs are done at reguar intervas and aow equipment to keep working propery. They incude inspecting equipment and detecting potentia probems before they happen, and monitoring equipment performance at reguar intervas. Depending on the size of the mosque, these jobs may be performed by the same person or by different peope. Ideay, peope with the necessary ski eve wi do them. Before work can be assigned to staff, you must have a fu ist of what needs to be done. A ist of weeky jobs needs to be prepared and reviewed frequenty. Then the work can be given to the avaiabe peope. There needs to be proper supervision. Peope doing ceaning and maintenance need to know what you expect from them. Housekeeping and maintenance costs can be a major budget item. Housekeeping is an expense with constanty rising costs. But performing maintenance duties propery is good stewardship of the mosque s faciities and aows the mosque to fufi its mission. Creative use of faciities Most mosques eventuay come to a point where they need to expand quicky. A mutipurpose room may be the answer. The mosque shoud aso use 21st-century technoogy. The intention is to incorporate the feeing and features of the traditiona mosque into a modern, technoogicay capabe buiding. Before you get to this stage you need to create a vision and objectives, as we saw in Section 1. Youth and femae services have become an important function in many mosques. Deciding where these wi take pace is an important decision. Most youth and femae programmes wi need to share space within the pace of worship or use a mutipurpose room. If you pan to host youth or femae programmes in a mutifunction room with a fat foor, this room can aso be used as a gymnasium, banquet room, cafeteria, ecture ha, dining ha, and saah setting. Practica points to think about with a 32 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

33 mutipurpose room incude noise from nearby spaces and constanty having to rearrange chairs, tabes and equipment. Parking How your car park ooks and how easy it is to park are important in eaving good first impressions. A mosque car park shoud be noticeaby different from a commercia car park. Where the parking spaces are is important. You need to be abe to see the parking spaces from the street. If possibe, provide a drop-off point at the main entrance to the mosque. Mosque parking shoud be panned with as much vision and creativity as the inside of the mosque. Parking for guests, peope with disabiities and the edery shoud be we designed. Buiding or moving We need to reaise that the 20th-century mosque buiding probaby won t meet the needs of the 21st-century mosque. Things that a mosque needs to ook at when considering a buiding programme are: capita-deveopment programmes architects contractors panning reguations board meetings and business meetings oca community residents groups interest groups other reigious sentiments. Environment Saving energy is one of the key parts of moving to a more sustainabe use of resources and caring for the environment. Mosques are typicay arge; they may be od or isted buidings that are used irreguary, and so can easiy waste a ot of energy. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said The word is beautifu and verdant, and veriy God, be He exated, has made you His stewards in it, and He sees how you acquit yourseves. (Hadith Musim) Energy efficiency tips i And We have produced therein everything in baance (Quran chapter 15: verse 9). Use energy-efficient ight bubs Use sprinker taps in washrooms (wudu area) Turn hot water and heating thermostats down Encourage worshippers to wak or cyce to the mosque Minimise the use of paper Get an energy survey done on the mosque For more information contact The Energy Saving Trust: A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 33

34 Case study Isamic Cutura Centre Ireand (ICCI) Services & faciities provided at the Mosque incude: Bookfair & Bookshop Gym and Fitness Library Matrimonia Mortuary Muti Purpose Ha Restaurant Seminar Room Shop Transation The Isamic Cutura Centre of Ireand was estabished in 1996 and made possibe by Sheikh Hamdan A Maktoum (deputy ruer of Dubai). It is a distinguished andmark and an exceent Isamic structure, not ony in Ireand but in Europe as a whoe. The ICCI is made up of five interconnected sections, with the Mosque as the raised centre piece to emphahsise that it is the heart of the Musim community. On entering the grounds of the ICCI one first encounters a andscaped, evergreen wecome. The dome and minaret then come into view. Inside the Mosque the decoration is simpe yet eegent. 34 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

35 4 Staffing and empoyment But unto those who have attained to faith and do good works give the gad tiding that theirs sha be gardens through which running waters fow. Whenever they are granted fruits there from as their appointed sustenance, they wi say, It is this that in days of yore was granted to us as our sustenance! for they sha be given something that wi reca that [past]. And there sha they have spouses pure, and there sha they abide. (Quran chapter 2: verse 25) Peope are probaby the most vauabe assets in an organisation. The mosque management need to devote as much (if not more) enthusiasm, investment and resources to this area as to the mosque buiding itsef. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said Dea genty with a peope, and be not harsh; cheer them and condemn not (Hadith Bukhari) Choosing and appointing a person The mosque shoud foow its recruitment and seection poicy or have certain procedures and poicies to appoint staff. These coud be either paid or vounteer staff. Paid staff may incude: Imams teachers caretakers ceaners administrators. Vounteer staff may incude: mosque management committee members and worshippers youths and A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 35

36 Other groups invoved in various community deveopment projects. When recruiting for paid and unpaid positions in the mosque, keep the foowing points in mind. Putting together a pack for appicants which incudes: a copy of the job description this describes the roes and responsibiities of the empoyee. If it is a new job then the management committee shoud spend time deveoping the job description. If it is an existing job then the committee shoud review it before starting to recruit a copy of the person specification this describes the quaities, skis, knowedge and experience that you need the person to have. This shoud aso be created or reviewed by the management committee to make sure it is up to date and accurate an appication form aong with guideines for fiing it in copies of any reevant and up-to-date information about the organisation interview dates. Advertising the post Advertise the post using various methods, such as notice boards and newspapers. The advert needs to incude: detais of what the job invoves, the ength of the contract, the pay scae and where they wi be working your charity registration number (if it is a charity mosque) detais of how to get hod of an appication pack (incuding a phone number if they need it) possiby some basic information about the organisation. information about any funders (if your funders want you to do this) Nobody who is on the management committee can be empoyed by the mosque (they must resign from the committee before appying for any job in the organisation). Shortisting It is good practice to use a forma system when short isting. For exampe, you coud use a points scoring system to assess candidates against the quaities isted in the person specification. The process shoud have two parts. The first is when pane members assess and score the appications. Then there shoud be a meeting where the pane compare their scores and decide who to interview. The pane shoud be honest in their evauations as there won t be time to interview everyone who appies. It is good practice to hod a your interviews on one day, so bear this in mind when deciding how many peope to invite for an interview. Interviews It is aso a good idea to use a scoring system for interviews and to write down comments as you go aong. Use these to hep make a decision after the end of the interviews. You can, if you fee it is appropriate, arrange to have some kind of competency-based test as part of the interview (as ong as you ve tod the interviewees about this beforehand). A competency-based test is to make sure a 36 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

37 person can perform to the standard given in the person specification for exampe, that they have the required typing speed. In the interview itsef you shoud: introduce each of the pane members and expain ceary what wi happen in the interview give the interviewee an opportunity to ask questions expain to the interviewee what wi happen after the interviews for exampe, when they wi be tod if they have the job. Decision time Using the scoring system as an aid, decide who you think shoud get the job. If you need to, you can hod second interviews for interviewees you have short isted. But decide first whether the cost of a second round of interviews is justified. Once you have picked someone, make them a verba offer. Foow this up with a written offer of the job, dependent on getting satisfactory references. You coud incude with the etter two copies of a contract for them to sign and a copy of the Terms and Conditions of Empoyment (for more information see the Contracts of Empoyment Factsheet). In the etter of appointment you shoud te them about any probationary period that wi appy, their start date, pay and so on. You shoud, once this offer has been accepted, te the other candidates that they have been unsuccessfu and be prepared to give feedback if they ask for it. 4 TIP Tips on seecting candidates for the post of Imam These tips expain how candidates for posts such as an Imam can be seected. To be considered for a post of Imam in the mosque, a candidate must: 1 be acceptabe to the dominant schoo of thought in the mosque 2 be suitaby quaified for the roe and have forma quaifications from an accredited institution, which wi be checked 3 be CRB ceared 4 have been active in the congregationa activities of a mosque for at east one year, and in a manner that demonstrates potentia for the post of Imam. Potentia for the post of Imam shoud be demonstrated through at east two of the foowing: deivery of sermons or eading prayers service as chair of a committee reevant to the Isamic faith, such as reigious education, prayers, or congregationa support and care service as a teacher or eader of Isamic education for chidren, youths or aduts service in a socia area or service project endorsed by first Mosque service in pastora care for the congregation. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 37

38 Vounteer management and support Vounteers for the mosque Mosque eaders constanty ask for hep with their tasks and recruit vounteers to do this. But many mosques do not have a system in pace to support, equip, and keep vounteers. So they can spira out of contro: recruiting, negecting and then osing peope to burnout. The system needs to be a two-way one with staff giving support to vounteers and in turn getting support from vounteers to do their work. It s important: to screen vounteers you must make sure that you have appropriate vounteers to meet your mosque s needs, and that means having some form of screening. That can be done in a forma way with an interview or certification process, or more informay to ask for references in some cases getting references may be more important, especiay if vounteers wi be on private property or invoved in sensitive issues to train vounteers effective training is vita for vounteer mosque activities and efforts. If a vounteer is not abe to make the time to attend a training session, they are not ikey to be effective vounteers for the mosque to expect vounteers to be responsibe in a its activities a mosque wi make a significant investment in terms of time, equipment and panning. It needs to know that vounteers wi recognise that and be conscientious about their activities. to reassign vounteers if needed vounteers wi usuay have an interest in a particuar mosque activity, but sometimes the needs of the mosque may mean extra vounteers are wanted esewhere. Knowing that you have the fexibiity to reassign vounteers to new activities or duties makes you more abe to respond to changes within the mosque or outside it. 38 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

39 5 Finance and fundraising True piety does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west - but truy pious is he who beieves in God, and the Last Day; and the anges, and reveation, and the prophets; and spends his substance however much he himsef may cherish it upon his near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and for the freeing of human beings from bondage; and is constant in prayer, and renders the purifying dues; and [truy pious are] they who keep their promises whenever they promise, and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peri: it is they that have proved themseves true, and it is they, they who are conscious of God. (Quran chapter 2: verse 177) Financia management is about ensuring that funds are obtained and used in the most efficient and effective way to the benefit of an organisation. A we-run mosque needs to keep a range of records. These records aow the management committee to account for what has happened to money within the organisation. Most mosques are charitabe organisations. This means its objective is charitabe and meets some sociay desirabe need in the community. Donors make contributions to the organisation to hep in meeting its objectives, and therefore need to have some system in pace to show how the money has been spent. Keeping cear records of income and spending encourages members (donors) to support the mosque and the service it provides. Without sound financia management the organisation cannot survive. It aso gives the proof of stewardship and accountabiity that is needed to maintain confidence in the organisation. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 39

40 Budgeting and forecasting What is a budget? A budget is a pan for using money on activities that meet the mission and goas of the organisation. It is about predicting what income you wi receive and deciding how you wi spend it over the financia year. The mosque budget A mosque budget wi hep the mosque achieve its goas. A good mosque budget shoud: hep the mosque to impement its programmes and objectives, and decide which are most important. provide a way for mosque members to work together give guidance on spending avaiabe funds encourage good accounting of funds chaenge members to provide funds to deiver the services of the mosque authorise the mosque eadership to act within its guideines. Remember, the mosque budget is ony a too that refects the vision and goas of the mosque. It shoud not run the mosque, but shoud rather be a yardstick or a measurement in pounds of the mosque s ambitions. There are many ways a mosque can deveop its budget, but the budget shoud aways ceary communicate and emphasize the needs of the mosque. Whie not ignoring how much peope have given in the past, the tota amount budgeted shoud usuay incude a chaenge for growth in giving. Your mosque budget wi be your financia pan in writing. It wi show who you are and what you vaue. It needs to refect: and the amount members are abe to give the previous year s financia information the needs of the oca community. It needs to be reaistic and it needs to be monitored. You wi see an exampe of what to incude in a mosque budget in the appendix. Financia records and accounting The purpose of financia reporting in the charitabe sector is not to see how much profit you have made. It is to decide how much money you need to meet the objectives of the various projects carried out by the mosque in the year. Donors are asked to make contributions to the mosque based on its goas and objectives. Bookkeeping is the systematic recording, sorting and summarising of events (expressed in pounds and pence) that affect the financia condition of the organisation. Accounting is the information system that is used to anayse and interpret the financia data. Accounts Accounts are a too to hep gather and sort financia transactions. Once gathered together, this information can then be used for reporting. Design your own accounts. They wi incude assets, iabiities, income and expenses. Items isted in the budget shoud have corresponding account numbers (caed ine 40 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

41 items ) so that you can see them in the accounts. What to record income expenses non-cash items. Financia reporting You need to produce monthy statements of receipts and payments and present them to the membership at set intervas. A financia statement shoud: be straightforward and easy to read compare income and spending with the figures in the budget be prepared on time te the reader what has happened and show the financia heath of the mosque. Interna contros It is important for the mosque to have contros in pace. These contros wi hep the mosque: meet its stated goas avoid the misuse of funds protect the innocent. Some very simpe and basic measures coud incude the foowing: at east two peope to count and record offerings cheques needing two signatures. Goods and services to foow an authorisation procedure Keep a ist of assets Remember to write down your poicies and procedures. Deveop an operations manua that wi hep vounteers and staff to understand the poicies and procedures used by the mosque. Audits An audit is a usefu too for ooking at what you are doing, the way you are doing it and how you coud improve on it. An audit checks the efficiency and accuracy of your records. Uness your governing documents say otherwise, you wi not usuay need an officia or forma audit. However, you shoud do an annua financia review when the financia statement is prepared for the year end. It is probaby a good idea to have an audit when there is a change in treasurers. This woud protect both the person eaving the position and the new person taking over. Keeping records The Inand Revenue and the Charity Commission require charitabe organisations to keep books and records, and they aso have specific rues on what records need to be kept and on the period of time they must be kept. The foowing records must be kept permanenty for income tax or because you are a charity: minutes of meetings of members and the management committee a documents and byaws governing the charity copies of officia receipts and records for gifts made. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 41

42 Fundraising THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they shoud spend on others. Say: Whatever of your weath you spend sha [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, veriy, God has fu knowedge thereof. (Quran chapter 2: verse 215) Fundraising is an activity that heps you to get the resources money, equipment, premises that your organisation needs to carry out its activities. There are many ways to raise funds but the key is to have a funding pan. This wi hep you target, and put in order of importance, particuar funders, donors and the type of activities that wi have the most effect. You need to be cear what type of project or activity needs funding and then think about: how much you need when you need it by (timescae) who are the best peope to take charge of this which funders and donors do we need to approach. Types of fundraising activities Sef Funding Membership fees Donations & Appeas Fundraising activities Sponsorships Externa Funding Trusts Government Schemes Charities Loans A key ski of fundraising is communication. You need to be abe to show donors how their money wi be spent and what your trying to achieve. Guideines on making an appication to a funder 1 Choose the right trusts to approach Most funders have very specific areas of interest that are set out in their deeds or by their trustees current poicies and priorities. So it is ikey that ony a few wi be abe to consider your appication. Most organisations get far more appications than they can fund, and wi tend to choose the most innovative or those which have the cearest costbenefits. So don t waste your time (and theirs) by sending out the same standard etter to scores of funders. Use pubished directories (most arge pubic ibraries and Councis for Vountary Service have copies) and on-ine services to ook carefuy at each funder s pubished criteria for funding. Make sure your project ceary fits in with their main interests. If necessary, take just one part of your arger project and use it to appea to a funder that speciaises in meeting specific needs. For exampe, if a funder speciaises in heping peope with disabiities and your major project is to renovate your mosque, you coud approach that funder for hep with improving the physica access for disabed peope. 42 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

43 Just as importanty, ook to see what types of project or organisation each trust wi not fund. For exampe, its constitution may prevent it from giving to mosques or funding capita projects. Aso, many funders wi not give to organisations outside particuar geographica areas. 2 Ask for an appropriate amount Most funders pubish a ist of typica past projects that they have funded. This shoud give you a good guide to the appropriate amount of money to ask for. Don t ask a sma trust for too much or a big trust for too itte! 3 Write the appication carefuy Each appication shoud incude a number of items: Appication form. A few of the arger trusts and most pubic bodies have officia forms that you need to fi in, but smaer trusts don t. If there is a form, fi it in before writing a covering etter you may not even need one. Covering etter. One page ony, taiored to the specific funder. Expain how your project fits their specific criteria. Ask for a specific amount of money. Summarise what other fundraising you have achieved or have panned (specia events, oca support, other trusts, Gift Aid and so on). Remember to incude your fu contact detais. The etter needs to be signed by the person chairing the appea. Project summary. One or two standard A4 pages ony. Incude the project s main purpose, who it wi hep and how, and what wi be achieved once it is finished. Remember to incude the benefits for the wider community. Point out anything that is distinctive or innovative. Summarise the overa budget, and show the major stages of the project. Give detais of other partners, funders, professiona advisers, and so on. Make it as easy to read as possibe, not crammed fu of facts and figures in sma print. Remember it s a summary. Your organisation s annua accounts. Incude your atest report and accounts. If you aready have arge reserves of cash, you may need to expain why you cannot use it a for the project, or say how much of the money you ve aready set aside for the project. The organisation s accounts shoud meet the Charity Act Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), and arger funders may reject appications where the accounts do not do this. Stamped sef-addressed postcard. Many trusts do not acknowedge appications and wi ony repy to successfu appicants. So a postcard may improve your chances of getting definite news whether yes or no. Do not incude ots of other materia the funder wi ask for more information if they need it. Most trusts are run by vounteers, who are very skied at deciding whether an appication is worth considering. So make sure the covering etter grabs their attention. 4 Appy in good time Start sending your appications at east a year before you need most of the money from trusts. Ony the argest funders have paid staff and are ikey to repy within a coupe of months. Smaer trusts ony ook at appications every three, six or even tweve months, and it may take their vounteers some time to pay the grants once they have been approved by the trustees. 5 Say thank you Remember to repy as soon as you find out about a A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 43

44 successfu appication and again when you receive the money. Once the project is finished write to a funders with detais, photographs and so on. Encourage them to visit, especiay if there is a forma opening. 6 Send progress reports If the project is one that continues over severa years (for exampe, funding a youth worker for an initia three years) send a report on progress and resuts each year. Be honest about any probems that arise. The trust may be abe to provide other forms of practica support they want their projects to succeed! Most trusts do not fund projects in the ong-term, so you wi need to find other sources of funds after a few years. The trust wi want to know about your funding pan for after their funding stops (or how you wi hand the project over to another organisation your exit strategy ). At the end of the project send a fina report showing the resuts, and incude a summary in your parish annua report. i For more information and hep with funding see chapter 8 Community deveopment and usefu contacts in the appendix. You can aso visit OAK Community Deveopment at 44 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

45 6 Communication Said [God]: O Moses! Behod, I have raised thee above a peope by virtue of the messages which I have entrusted to thee, and by virtue of My speaking [unto thee]: hod fast, therefore, unto what I have vouchsafed thee, and be among the gratefu! (Quran chapter 7: verse 144) Communications are defined as any means of passing information among peope and groups in the congregation, or information about the mosque to the wider community. There are three types of communication that the mosque needs to think about: 1 Interna communications You have a primary audience of members, friends, visitors and potentia members. Interna communications are the ones that are aimed at this audience. They incude: the newsetter website emai communication to the members ist buetin boards posters other communications within the mosque. 2 Externa communications These are aimed at the wider community and incude: news reeases interviews with news media on behaf of the mosque advertising written communications on the mosque s etterhead banners, posters or dispays using the mosque s name other communications pubicy representing the mosque. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 45

46 3 Communications that are both interna and externa The mosque s website Annua report Departmenta reports 4 TIPS Content. A communications shoud refect Isamic vaues. They may: provide information about the mosque, its business and activities encourage action that is in keeping with our covenant, and with the mosque s and Isamic principes. Communications may do either or both of these things. Nonpartisan communication. Mosque communication media may not be used for partisan poitica messages uness approved by the management committee or adopted by a vote of the congregation. Spokespersons. Externa communication must be ony by authorised spokespersons. These are the Imams, the chair of the management committee, and other peope named by the committee. Those peope may incude the chair or named representative of a media or communications committee, or an education or socia responsibiity committee. Promoting your mosque in the media Your mosque may be invoved in activities and events that wi interest oca newspapers and radio, and sometimes regiona TV. This is particuary true when the events invove the wider community. But remember that it is the unusua or specia that makes news. Mosque hods service is not news. Nor is Imam gives Khutbah. But mosque hods charity dinner for oca non-musim orphanage or Imam speaks out against/for (a newsworthy oca or nationa issue) are news items more ikey to win coverage. So what is the best way to get the airtime or coumn inches? Put it in writing is often the best way of making sure your news story has a good chance of pubication or broadcast and phone the newsdesk in advance to aert them to the story (but not on the day they go to print). News items are often sent out as press reeases a piece of paper or emai message with a the basic information presented in a ogica sequence. Sounds easy? But there is a catch. Every newspaper, radio and TV newsroom receives a pie of press reeases each day. The chaenge is to make yours stand out and catch the news editor s eye. Write it ike a news story so that the journaist or editor has amost a ready-made item to incude in their newspaper or programme. The ess work they have to do to make it readabe, the more chance you have of its being printed. 46 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

47 Deveoping a mosque web site Mosques are discovering that the internet can be used effectivey to support their congregations, and to reach out to others in their communities and around the word. Before you design your mosque web pages, you need to have some specific goas you want to achieve with your site. Keep these in mind as you maintain and deveop your site. It is aso a good idea to have someone with professiona design skis to hep you. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 47

48 7 Accountabiity and transparency Unto God beongs a that is in the heavens and a that is on earth. And whether you bring into the open what is in your minds or concea it, God wi ca you to account for it; and then He wi forgive whom He wis, and wi chastise whom He wis: for God has the power to wi anything. (Quran chapter 2: verse 284) Accountabiity In the context of mosque management or trusteeship, is a about giving and receiving facts and expanations within open and honest reationships. It is about hoding onesef responsibe to others and communicating one s actions accordingy. We are a accountabe to Aah. Accountabiity is one of the ever-present themes throughout the Qur an. Aied to this is the theme of eadership, of which accountabiity is an important part. What is true of the reationship between Creator and the created humanity appies ogicay to human reationships too. Accountabiity has two aspects: expaining onesef and one s actions to those who are affected by or share in the purpose, with a view to increasing understanding or being hed to account in the more rigorous sense of submitting onesef to judgment. Both these aspects impy a reationship and a common anguage and set of expectations. They aso both carry an impied aim of aiding efficiency, and buiding trust and confidence. These things wi happen within a spirit of mutua support throughout the activities of the mosque. 48 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

49 Soft accountabiity The first aspect can be seen as soft accountabiity: giving account in the sense of giving information to provide context, expanation and forward-ooking vision within open reationships. The purpose is understanding for mutua benefit rather than judgment. Such accountabiity shoud not be expected to carry the threat or reaity of sanctions where faut or shortcomings are exposed. Hard accountabiity The second aspect can be seen as hard accountabiity: hard facts, an emphasis on what can be counted or measured expressed in terms which can ead to stark reative judgments ( X is better than Y ), eague tabes and benchmarking. The information discosed is ikey to be decided outside the organisation and given on a common tempate. It may carry an expicit threat of sanctions (for exampe, schoo inspections) and create power reationships. Particuary with hard accountabiity, there is a danger that fear of judgment and sanction wi get in the way of honest accountabiity and transparency. However, you do need to have both soft and hard accountabiity. Without eements of both, accountabiity may tend to be either simpistic or too vague. Transparency Transparency is about honest and cear communication to improve discosure, increase knowedge and improve mutua understanding and support. Today, peope have ess and ess trust and confidence in institutions. The mosque is not immune from this. Indeed, most peope seem to be sceptica about arge institutions. Whether we ike it or not, this is how the mosque wi be seen by many outside it and some within it. We need to show that we are operating efficienty and with integrity in everything we do. Peope wi often assume that we are not being efficient, rather than that we are, as this may have been the case in the past. To counter this we need a high eve of transparency. We need to be reaistic with ourseves as we as with others about our strengths and shortcomings. We need to be reaistic about what we see as areas of mission opportunity and how we are responding to them (or not doing so). If peope think our recommendations are just additiona bureaucracy, they wi have competey missed the mark. We need to see transparency both as a means to an end and as an end in itsef because of the benefits that transparency brings. An open rather than defensive attitude wi unock significant opportunities that mosques and their management need to seize. Some exampes of accountabiity and transparency within the mosque Within the mosque, peope have righty tried to improve accountabiity. Accountabiity is a key theme of consutations with worshippers. These have ed to new interna committees being set up with the aim of estabishing partnerships. Because of their accountabiity and transparency, some mosques have been abe to gain funding from beyond the mosque (such as European, nationa or regiona funding, and contributions from secuar bodies towards activities such as having the madrasah in schoos, coeges, prisons). A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 49

50 Funding from trusts is another exampe of what coud mean a very big addition to resources, but mosques have to be accountabe to their funders. Monitoring and evauation Athough the term monitoring and evauation tends to be used as if it is ony one thing, monitoring and evauation are, in fact, two distinct sets of organisationa activities. They are reated but they are not the same thing. Monitoring is the systematic coection and anaysis of information It is aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation. It is based on targets set and activities panned during the panning phases. Monitoring heps to keep the work on track, and can et the Mosque management know when things are going wrong. If done propery, it is an invauabe too for good management, and it provides a usefu base for evauation. It enabes you to see whether the resources you have avaiabe are sufficient and are being we used; whether the capacity you have is sufficient and appropriate; and whether you are doing what you panned to do. Evauation is comparing actua project resuts against the agreed strategic pans. It ooks at what you set out to do, at what you have accompished, and how you accompished it. Evauation can be: formative (taking pace during the ife of a project, activity or organisation, with the intention of improving the strategy or way of working for the future). For exampe: has the extension to the mosque soved our overcrowding issues? or summative (earning from a competed project, activity or an organisation that is no onger functioning). What monitoring and evauation have in common is that they are geared towards earning from what you are doing and how you are doing it, by concentrating on: efficiency effectiveness impact. You can use different methods to evauate your project, activity or organisation through observations, group discussions, devising your own questionnaires and feedback forms and hoding evauation meetings. Quaity Assurance The term Ihsan in Isam is something that cosey resembes the concept of quaity. It is about aiming for exceence in whatever we do. A quaity assurance system demonstrates that your organisation is committed to providing good service and practice through working to a set of agreed standards. There are aso some forma toos that have been deveoped by organisations for sef evauation. These are: PQASSO (Practica Quaity Assurance System for Sma Organisations by the Charities Evauation Service Investors in Peope (Iip) EFQM (European Foundation for Quaity Management) through the British Quaity Foundation. Quaity First by Birmingham Vountary Service Counci. VISIBLE by Community Matters 50 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

51 ACTION Why not start off by carrying out a survey on the attitudes of your members and congregation about the services the mosque provides. Questions to ask can incude: Do you think the mosque meets the spiritua and reigious needs of the community? Are you satisfied with the handing of your donations and the mosque s financia procedures? Are you satisfied with the educationa services the mosque provides if not how can we improve things? Are you satisfied with the ceaniness and upkeep of the mosque? Do you think women shoud be aowed in and made to fee wecome in the mosque? A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 51

52 8 Madrasah And that those on whom knowedge has been bestowed may earn that the (Quran) is the Truth from thy Lord, and that they may beieve therein, and their hearts may be made humby (open) to it: for veriy Aah is the Guide of those who beieve, to the Straight Way (Quran chapter 22: verse 54) Madrasah is an Arabic word which means schoo. However, in this handbook a madrasah means an Isamic reigious schoo. Historicay, the madrasah started ike other forms of Isamic education: the earning of the Quran and Hadith from individua uama or the studies of Isam conducted in mosques. Its main purpose was to educate an individua on Isamic reigion or various aspects of the reigion. In many mosques there were spaces such as corridors and annexes which were used for casses as we as providing iving space for students and teachers. Separate institutions for higher studies, sited away from mosques, came into being in the 10th century. But in many cases the mosque itsef was sti used for teaching. Moreover, every great mosque buit by the Musim ruers had a fuy-fedged madrasah attached to it. Today in the UK, the traditiona madrasah casses are normay hed during weekday evenings or on the weekends. In many madrasahs there is no forma curricuum, or just a basic one and chidren of different age groups are often taught together. Teachers often just have a simpe quaification, for exampe they have graduated from a madrasah, or they are the Imam (reigious eader) of the mosque. The students in this type of madrasah are aso ikey to be students who go to mainstream state schoos. The institution of the madrasah has payed a key part in 52 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

53 continuing the faith of Isam, especiay in the younger generation. It has deveoped countess schoars and teachers who have heped to nurture and foster the spirit of Isam. Chidren from as young as five earn to read the Qur an, and earn about: Isamic History, Adab and Akhaaq (Manners and Etiquettes), Hadith (Traditions of the Hoy Prophet Mohammad pbuh), Fiqh (Basic Isamic Ruings) and much more. In many cases this is where chidren compete Hifz (the memorisation of 30 chapters, 114 Surahs and 6236 verses of the Hoy Qur an). The madrasah system has survived in part through the efforts of pious Musims over hundreds of years. This same institution is now facing fresh chaenges. It now has to hep give its current and future students the skis and insights they need to hep them face the modern and compex word. The objective of this chapter is to hep mosque management committees consider what a madrasah education system shoud have so it can produce whoesome and we-rounded students. The phiosophy and mission of the madrasah You need to have a mission, objective and phiosophy for the madrasah. This wi hep to bind the teaching staff, management and pupis of the madrasah together. The madrasah has never been isoated from any form of earning. So it shoud co-exist with other madrasahs, secuar educationa institutions, academics and chid earning/teaching experts. Try to have a vision for chidren and young peope that takes in a aspects of their persona deveopment and roe in society. At the heart of the vision shoud be the need to nurture toerance, conscientiousness, and devotion to one s faith. The vision aso has to acknowedge that the madrasah with parents and the community at arge has a crucia part to pay in fostering these attributes in the pupis. Mission statement of Masjid A Arabiyah A Isamiyah (Singapore) To make every pupi emerge as a pious, we-mannered individua, knowedgeabe in A-Quran and As-Sunnah, iterate, heathy, creative and a thinking individua who oves his reigion, famiy, society and country. Important partnerships For the madrasah to be successfu you need a good parentstudent-teacher partnership. This three-way approach is vita if the madrasah is to pass on the necessary quaities to students. It is difficut for students if they see different sets of vaues and behaviours at schoo, at home, in Isamic centres or madrasahs, and generay around them. Therefore, a the parties must work together. They must pass on their expectations (those of the parents and teachers) to students with carity and consistency. They must hep moud students behaviour both at home and at the madrasah. Madrasah time Remember that chidren aready spend a fu day at schoo especiay if you pan to run casses after schoo during week days. Leaving a gap before the madrasah starts wi hep chidren recharge their batteries and freshen up. When deciding how ong the madrasah cass wi ast remember that it is important to keep students attention as we as to cover certain materia during a set time. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 53

54 When the Quran is read, isten to it with attention, and hod your peace: that ye may receive Mercy. (Quran Chapter 7: verse 204) Subjects offered The foowing subjects coud be offered, depending on the type and abiities of teachers at the madrasah. It is important to use written-down and tested guideine and syabuses when deivering these subjects. We wi try to incude innovative syabuses and methods in future voumes of this handbook. Quran: The teaching of the Arabic aphabet, particuary with the correct pronunciation, is important. Depending on the pupis eve of abiity the science of pronunciation (tajweed), memorisations (Hifz), and understanding the meaning of the Quran (tafseer) shoud be taught. Fiqh: Understanding the Isamic ruings on Saah (prayer), Hajj, marriage, reationships, citizenship and so on, within the context of society, is important. Aqeedah understanding the beiefs and artices of faith Arabic anguage this coud hep students to better understand the Quran and other cassic Isamic texts Seerah earning about the ife of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Genera earning about Isamic history, biographies of Prophets and their companions, comparative reigion, how Isam co-existed with other faiths, manners and etiquettes (adab), being good citizens, community wefare, and persona deveopment skis. Using educationa materia and resources The madrasah shoud try to use and provide resource materias. This wi hep to create a professiona atmosphere and maintain a ogica curricuum for the madrasah. You shoud charge fees for the materia, which wi hep students to take ownership of it. The cassroom shoud have items such as: whiteboard fipchart stand and paper computers, TV and video projectors (so that different teaching approaches can be used) books. Performance assessment The madrasah shoud support a system of continuous and comprehensive assessment. Continuous in the sense that assessment goes on throughout the year, and comprehensive in the sense that it covers not just the materias taught, but aso Isamic behaviour and conduct. With this in mind, teachers coud hod reguar tests, give homework assignments (but remembering that pupis going to mainstream schoos wi aready be doing homework). Teachers shoud aso evauate behaviour in the cass and, more generay, during the madrasah hours. Parent-teacher meetings The madrasah shoud constanty be in touch with parents and make frequent appointments to discuss their chid s progress. One-to-one meetings shoud be arranged, to hep parents understand the progress so far and what actuay is being taught in the madrasah. Open and continuous communication with the famiy wi hep in the 54 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

55 three-sided teaching approach. Recognition and reward Exceence, determination, commitment and passion shoud be recognised and rewarded. Positive behaviour, and keeping to madrasah rues and vaues, shoud be appreciated reguary with prizes and tangibe rewards. This wi hep create a winning and motivating atmosphere. The types of rewards coud incude certificates, books or gift vouchers. Rues and reguations The rues and reguations of the madrasah shoud be written down and given to a pupis when they join the madrasah. You shoud aso put up notices showing the rues in paces where students can easiy see them inside the madrasah. It is aso a good idea to give a copy of the rues to parents. Different peope shoud be responsibe for: pupis parents teachers madrasah management. These responsibiities shoud be written down, and you shoud give a copy of the documents to parents and pupis when they join the madrasah. This gives you a system that is cear and open, and tes parents and pupis what to expect. Lesson panning It is unfortunate that peope may assume that the standard of subjects taught in the madrasahs shoud be beow that taught in mainstream secuar institutions. Mosque and madrasah management shoud reguary check the esson pans of subjects being taught by the Madrasah teachers. A esson pans shoud be recorded centray and kept for future use in case the teacher is absent. If there is no set syabus you must have a record of what has been taught, so that a students receive the same standard of education. There is a sampe tempate to construct a esson pan in the appendix and you can appy this to any subject being taught in the madrasah. Teacher training We cannot stress enough the importance of having good, quaified/skied teachers who can be iving roe modes: caring, compassionate, wiing to isten and non judgmenta. They shoud be a person the students coud turn to in good times and bad times. Teachers must be a waking and iving exampe of the very vaues that we want the students to ive by. Teachers must be abe to understand the minds, needs and deveopmenta stages of the students they are working with. This is so they wi be abe to dea with and communicate effectivey with them in the right manner and from the heart. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 55

56 In view of the above, it is important the mosque and madrasah management offer access to the foowing training courses: Learning and teaching methodoogies and approaches Positive discipine and cass management Isamic education and studies Psyche, deveopment and growth of chidren Observation and assessment methods Counseing, motivation and persona effectiveness. These courses are avaiabe in most oca coeges or higher educationa institutions. ACTION The mosque shoud make an aowance in its budget so that it can invest in the human deveopment of the teachers and Imams in the mosque. It is expected that teachers of the Isamic sciences continue to deveop their understanding of the Isamic faith through appropriate methods. Chid protection Madrasahs, ike any other organisation, have a responsibiity to communicate any concerns about a chid s wefare. It is therefore vita that madrasahs deveop and maintain awareness about chid protection issues among vountary staff and specificay the teachers who are in direct contact with chidren. This is to make sure that staff have the skis they need, and the knowedge of oca procedures, to recognise abuse and te the reevant agencies. You may want to think about training someone in the area of chid protection. You can get hep from oca agencies if you don t think you have anyone quaified to do the training. But the sooner you deveop a poicy on chid protection the better it is for the madrasah. You need to have cear guideines on chid protection, and on appropriate methods of discipining students. Parents trust madrasah administrators with the education and wefare of their chidren during their time in the madrasah. This responsibiity covers many aspects of the chid s deveopment and education. It aso incudes ensuring the safety and security of a chidren from the time they arrive at the madrasah to the time they eave. Therefore a madrasahs have a duty to protect chidren and prevent them from coming to any harm. In achieving this, madrasah administrators and mosque management need to consider the foowing action points to make sure that chid protection issues are considered in the deivery of Isamic education. ACTION POINTS: Mosque management 1. Adopt a brief, written poicy statement on safeguarding the wefare of chidren who are being educated in the madrasah. This poicy shoud state ceary the duty of everyone in the organisation to prevent harm coming to chidren. 2. Give a copy of the statement to parents, and a paid staff and vounteers. Te staff and vounteers about any guideines or training which wi hep them to put the poicy statement into practice. 56 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

57 3. Make sure a key peope are famiiar with oca chid protection procedures. Make sure you have a copy of them for teachers, administrators and parents to ook at. 4. Get advice and then foow good practice in identifying and deivering appropriate education to chidren with specia educationa needs. 5. Deveop a madrasah code of behaviour for chidren and a madrasah discipine procedure. Staff management 1 Choose a senior member of staff to take the ead on a chid protection and student discipine issues. Give them support with their training and deveopment in these areas. 2 Give a staff and vounteers guidance on their roes, particuary about discipining chidren. The guidance shoud say ceary which members of staff are responsibe for the behaviour and performance aspects of chidren s education. 3 Make sure a staff are adequatey supervised. This reinforces good teaching methods and heps detect any potentia probems. 4 Put chid protection issues on the agenda of staff and management meetings reguary. 5 Have written grievance poicies and procedures to dea with concerns about the conduct of teachers and vounteers. 6 Carry out Crimina Records Bureau (CRB) checks on a new staff when they are recruited. It is good practice to carry out CRB checks on existing staff too, uness they have aready been ceared. For more information about CRB pease go to or phone Recruitment issues 1 Ask a job appicants to give detais of their previous experience vountary or paid of working with chidren. They shoud aso be asked to give their permission for you to contact at east one person for a reference. 2 Before appointing any member of staff, you shoud get an appropriate reference from at east one person who can comment on the appicant s character and experience. 3 If an appicant has eft one madrasah in order to find work at another, write to the previous madrasah to find out their reasons for eaving. 4 A new members of staff shoud be interviewed by at east two members of the mosque or madrasah management to decide on their suitabiity. 5 Mosque or madrasah management shoud consider making a person s appointment depend on their successfuy competing a probationary period of between three to six months. This woud aow some eve of monitoring of a new staff. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 57

58 9 Community deveopment Surey Aah does not change the condition of a peope unti they change what is within themseves (Qur an Chapter 13: verse 11) Isam is not just about rituas and reigious worship but rather an a-embracing Deen (way of ife). It beieves in the deveopment of strong communities and famiies for a heathy and prosperous society. Therefore Musims can never be isoationist or segregate themseves. They shoud be part and parce of the society they ive in, and have a duty to make things better. You are the best of peope evoved for mankind because you enjoin that which is good and forbid that which is wrong and you beieve in Aah (Qur an chapter 2 verse 110) Mosques have a major roe in contributing to the deveopment of their members, worshippers and the genera community Musim and non-musim. Many mosques do provide activities other than worship, and provide front-ine services. However, much more is needed and can be done, particuary with the chaenges and issues the Musim community faces. It is becoming more common for the non-musims iving around the mosques in inner city areas to face these same chaenges and issues. This chapter is therefore devoted to heping you know more about community deveopment and how to work with mainstream service providers and the wider community. What is community deveopment? Community deveopment is a broad term appied to how civic eaders, activists, invoved citizens and professionas work to improve various aspects of oca communities. Community 58 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

59 deveopment seeks to empower individuas and groups of peope by providing them with the skis they need to bring about change in their own communities. Are we ready to start community work? Any person or group can be invoved in community work. Many peope are aready invoved in some way or another, for exampe heping out with a oca cean up, vounteering in organising an event, taking part in oca consutation forum or obbying MPs or counciors to change something in your neighbourhood. These are just some types of community work. However, if you are to do these types of activities in a more forma and co-ordinated way you need to be propery organised and constituted. Chapters 1 to 9 of this handbook wi hep your organisation get ready to set up and deiver community projects. What types of community projects can we do? The type of community projects you can do depends on the needs you have identified, what your faciities can cater for and how innovative or creative you can be. Here are some exampes: Summer pay schemes Heath and fitness Sports Arts and crafts Creche Mother and todder group Education suppementary schoo, homework cub Adut earning Counseing Cean-ups Interfaith visits Isam awareness and mosque open day Drop-in for edery Day care A ten-step guide for deveoping a community project Step 1 Know what you want to do It is good to begin by asking yoursef some basic questions: What are the needs of members, worshippers and the genera community? What are the oca probems and issues? What can we do? What space and resources do we have? Step 2 Estabishing the need Do a needs anaysis by consuting with the community you serve Do a SWOT anaysis (that is, understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Step 3 Deciding priorities You wi not be abe to do everything and sort out a the probems. Therefore decide what is most important and what you can do best. Step 4 Deveoping the project idea A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 59

60 The next stage is to brainstorm ideas on how to sove the probem. You can have a discussion and get peope to shout out ideas, write them down (get chidren to draw or paint), or ook at other projects and see what they are doing. Then sort the ideas out and begin to work on some that are definitey worthwhie. Try to define some cear objectives and the specific activities to be carried out. Step 5 Buid your team Deveoping and working on a project can be chaenging and frustrating at times, but can aso be motivating and rewarding. You wi need peope with different skis and abiities. Not everyone needs to be invoved, but you shoud choose the team carefuy and sensitivey and then assign responsibiities and tasks to specific peope. Step 6 Write a project pan Deveop your project in detai by writing a project pan or proposa. Ideas are good but if you have nothing to show for them then they aren t very usefu. This part wi aso hep you define: each stage of the project what your aims and objectives are how you have identified the need and demand for the project how and when you wi deiver it what you wi achieve at the end (outcomes) the resources you need to do it. Step 7 Get the resources Once you have written your pan and worked out the detais, it s time to get the funding. You wi need to consider money for the activity itsef, staffing, premises and equipment, and then approach funders. There are many different funding organisations and trusts that give out money for various causes. Find the funder that wi be most suitabe for your project. Pease see the chapter on fundraising and the section on how to make an effective appication. Step 8 Impement and deiver your project Finay it s time to get the project running. It can be exciting, but aso chaenging and stressfu at times. But if you have prepared we then you shoud be abe to cope with the hard work. Remember to pubicise your project and et peope know what you are doing. Step 9 Monitor and review Reguary monitoring and reviewing your project wi hep you to spot any potentia probems, keep your project focused and hep you achieve your objectives. Step 10 Cose the project This is an important part of the project. You wi need to consider evauating the project: what you have earnt and the project s strengths and weaknesses. You may want to have an end-of-project ceebration for the peope invoved and then write a report about the project. There may be issues that sti need deaing with or have been created as a resut of the project. You wi need to discuss ways of deaing with them. i For more information about community deveopment and funding pease see appendix usefu resources. 60 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

61 Case study Adut earning The OAK Project, in partnership with the Noor-e-Isam Mosque, Odham, hep set up an IT suite with funding from the Loca Network Fund. The faciity is now used to provide free internet access to community members, for adut earning and to support chidren with their homework. Case study Homework Cubs Stoke Poges Lane Mosque, Sough, Berkshire, heps tacke educationa underachievement in the ethnic minorities. The Sough Community Schoo (SCS) was estabished by a group of young professionas from a waks of ife, who were concerned about the constant headines in the oca and nationa press about ow educationa achievement within the town. The group of men and women, consisting of teachers, doctors, accountants, IT consutants and concerned parents, drew up a pan to set up a suppementary schoo, covering major core nationa curricuum topics such as mathematics, Engish and science. The group aso fet there was a need for something extra, to boost the chidren s sef esteem and to hep them to focus on their desired goas in ife. So a Persona Deveopment Programme (PDP) was deveoped. The PDP woud cover issues such as careers advice, pubic speaking, reading and writing skis, team buiding and genera ife skis. Having come up with the concept, they needed a venue. In the autumn of 2000 the new Stoke Poges Lane Cutura and Isamic Centre was nearing competion and the group fet that this venue woud gain from such a community schoo service. The pans were presented to the Isamic Centre s committee and were enthusiasticay accepted by a. At the moment, 140 chidren are taught weeky and there are 180 chidren on the waiting ist. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 61

62 Case study projects invoving young peope Mosque empowerment project in Singapore Improving peope s empoyabiity The Isamic Reigious Counci of Singapore has inked up with organisations such as the Association of Musim Professionas (AMP), which have a network and expertise in providing services such as job referras, improvement programmes for soft skis, basic budgeting and job mentoring. Reigious and ife skis empowerment initiative The Isamic Reigious Counci of Singapore (IRCS) has partnered with mosques and vountary wefare organisations (VWOs) to manage groups of famiies. The mosque wi hep to enro the chidren into its reigious education casses, monitor the chidren s progress and ink up mosque vounteers as befrienders and educationa mentors. The VWOs wi run programmes based on the needs of the famiies. IRCS has aso set up the empowerment programme to enabe famiies who are recipients of the IRCS zakat fund to become more sef reiant. The mosques have heped IRCS choose the famiies to take part in various empowerment programmes, such as improving skis and knowedge for parents and education hep for chidren. Working in partnership with mainstream institutions And hep one another to virtue and God consciousness and do not hep one another to sin and transgression. (Qur an Chapter 5 verse 2) Partnership working is the current in thing in community regeneration. The government nationa strategy for neighbourhood renewa has given oca authorities new responsibiities (through the Loca Government Act 2000). They must consut and invove the faith community and the back, minority and ethnic communities in deveoping their Community Strategies. Therefore mosques and mosque councis can contribute to the heath of their oca areas and the we-being of peope who ive in them. Loca authorities need to consut widey in their area to: find out what improvements are needed consider the best strategies to bring about the improvements ook at how oca peope can take an active part in running and deveoping their communities. Loca Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) A Community Strategy is about promoting and improving the economic, socia and environmenta condition of your area, and the heath and we-being of the peope who ive there. Many oca authorities have set up a co-ordinating partnership caed an LSP to hep achieve this. i You can find more information about neighbourhood renewa and Community Strategies at 62 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

63 Key service providers and support organisations Sure Start Sure Start is the government s programme to deiver the best start in ife for every chid by bringing together eary education, chidcare, heath and famiy support. Responsibiity for deivering Sure Start beongs to the Sure Start, Extended Schoos and Chidcare Group, part of the Department for Education and Skis Sure Start covers a wide range of programmes. Some cover the whoe country and others are aimed at particuar oca areas or disadvantaged groups. One of the key programmes of Sure Start are its chidren s centres. These wi buid on existing successfu initiatives ike Sure Start Loca Programmes, Neighbourhood Nurseries and Eary Exceence Centres, and bring highquaity, integrated eary years services to oca communities. There wi be a network of up to 2,500 chidren s centres by 2008, and a young chidren and their famiies in the most disadvantaged areas wi have access to one. i For more information go to Chidren s trusts The Chidrens Fund was set up to improve socia deprivation and chid poverty for chidren between 5 and 13. Connexions provides information, advice, guidance and access to persona deveopment opportunities for young peope. It aims to remove barriers to earning and progression, and ensure young peope make a smooth transition to aduthood and working ife. Connexions is going through a process of change. Foowing the pubication of Every Chid Matters and Youth Matters, chidren s trusts are being estabished in each oca authority area and the Connexions service wi be taken over by the oca authorities. i i For more information and updates visit Learning and Skis Councis (LSCs) Learning and Skis Councis exists to make Engand better skied and more competitive. They are responsibe for improving the further education and training sectors to raise standards and to make earning provision more responsive to the needs of individuas and empoyers. The work of LSCs is spit into initiatives aimed at chidren aged 14-19, Adut Learners and Empoyers. For more information visit Change Up and Capacity Buiders Change Up is a programme to strengthen the support that is avaiabe to the vountary and community and faith sectors. It is managed by Capacity Buiders, a nationa agency deveoped by the government and ed by experts in these sectors. The Change Up programme has estabished six nationa hubs of expertise to provide support. These are: A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 63

64 The Finance Hub improving financia management, fundraising, procurement and socia enterprise. The Governance Hub improving the quaity of governance in the vountary and community sector. The Information and Communications Technoogy (ICT) Hub providing a framework of ICT guidance, good practice, advice and support. The Performance Hub aiming to hep vountary and community sector organisations achieve more through performance improvement. The Vounteering Hub increasing the number of vounteers and improving the training support they get. The Workforce Hub deaing with: earning and skis; empoyment practice; promoting the sector as a positive pace to work and vounteer; eadership and management deveopment. Faith Communities Capacity Buiding Fund (FCCBF) The FCCBF is part of the government s Improving Opportunity, Strengthening Society strategy to increase race equaity and remove divisions in society. It aims to hep faith communities promote understanding and diaogue. The fund is run by the Community Deveopment Foundation and has two categories: interfaith activity and capacity buiding. Interfaith activity invoves organising and deveoping programmes to bring together peope of different faiths to promote understanding and co-operation. It heps remove divisions through deveoping partnerships between different faith groups and the wider society. The capacity buiding programme is about heping faith organisations to be better abe to sustain themseves and work with mainstream service providers to pay a fuer part in society. i For more information about the Community Deveopment Foundation and the FCCBF visit or 64 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

65 10 Appendix 1 Type of Meeting: Mosque Management Meeting Meeting Faciitator: Invitees: [List of Invitees] 1. Wecome & Opening Recitation 2. Apoogies 3. Decaration of any interest 4. Approva of minutes from ast meeting 5. Matters arising from minutes (not on the agenda) 6. Reports from departments a) [Admin & Finance] b) [Madrasah] c) [reigious worship] d) [dawah & tarbiyyah] e) [youth and famiy deveopment] f) [mosque maintenance] 7. New business a) [seerat un nabi conference] b) [Repacement of carpet] c) [fundraising] 8. Any other business 9. Date of time of next meeting [Mosque/Organisation Name] Meeting Agenda [Date] [Time] [Venue] A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 65

66 Opening: (Date, time and venue) Opening recitation of the Quran By Qari Chair s wecome. The reguar meeting of the [name of organization/committee] was caed to order at [time] on [date] in [ocation] by [Meeting Chair]. Present: [ist of attendees] [Mosque/Organisation] Management Committee Meeting Minutes 1. Approva of agenda The agenda was unanimousy approved as distributed. 2. Approva of minutes The minutes of the previous meeting were unanimousy approved as distributed. 3. Matters arising List the points of matters arising from the previous minutes. 4. Reports from departments Summarise progress to date of departments and issues for action. 5. New business Summarize the discussion for new issues, state the next steps and assign any action item. 6. Agenda for next Meeting List the items to be discussed at the next meeting. 7. Date & time of next meeting Meeting was adjourned at [time] by [person]. The next genera meeting wi be at [time] on [date] in [ocation]. Minutes submitted by: Approved by: Type name here Type name here 66 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

67 Sampe budget for a Mosque Organisation Budget heading Year 1 Year 2 Staff & Vounteer Costs Saaries and nationa insurance 30, , Pension Recruitment Training and deveopment 2, , Vounteer expenses Trave Office/overhead & premises costs Teephone, fax and internet Postage Stationery Heat, ight, water Insurance , Book keeping & payro Printing, photocopying Repairs & Renewas Ceaning Activity Costs Seminars and Confrences Exhibition Courses Literature production Youth activities (Summer pay scheme) Interfaith programme Capita Costs Equipment Computer, other eectrica Furniture Pubicity and other costs Annua Report AGM Posters and eafets TOTAL 64, , A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 67

68 Quick quaity checkist As an Organisation do you have in pace: n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n Governing document? (e.g. Constitution) Written mission statement or vision? Core vaues? A management committee? Defined roes and responsibiities of management committee? Work pan for the next three (or five) years? A quaity statement? Minutes and agendas for a meetings? Contracts of empoyment? Job descriptions? Recruitment & Induction procedures? Madrasah curricuum? Vounteers management and support procedures? Staff management and support systems supervision, review, appraisa, training and deveopment? Monitoring and evauation system? Pubicity information? Detais of services what, when, who etc? 68 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

69 n n n n n n n n n n n n n A heath and safety poicy? An equa opportunity poicy? A chid/young person/vunerabe aduts protection poicy and procedures? (if appicabe) Other poicies and procedures reevant to your area of work? Financia management procedures? Empoyer s and pubic iabiity insurance? Compaints procedures? Office procedures/handbook? Organisation budget? Fundraising strategy? Organizationa pan/strategy? Quaity system? Audited accounts and annua reports? In your work do you have in pace: n n n n n n Quaity in your work practice? Copies of a paperwork used? Activities records? Feedback from other organizations? Feedback from your cients/users/vounteers/participants? Undertaken risk assessments A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 69

70 Date: Sampe Madrasah Lesson Pan Key Stage: Subject: What concepts do you want students to understand after competing this esson? Essentia Question Criteria for Success (How wi you know students have gained an understanding of the concepts?) Resources (What resources wi you and your students use?) Management (How wi students share resources? How wi you break up the esson into segments the number of minutes for each point?) Engagement Method Capture the students attention, stimuate their thinking and hep them access prior knowedge. 70 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

71 Exporing Methods Give students time to think, pan, investigate and organize coected information. Expaining method Invove students in an anaysis of their exporations. Use refective activities to carify and modify their understanding. Eaborate Give students the opportunity to expand and soidify their understanding of the concept and/or appy it to a rea-word situation. Evauate Evauate throughout the esson. Present students with a scoring guide at the beginning. Scoring toos deveoped by Madrasah teachers (sometimes with student invovement) target what students must know and do. Consistent use of scoring toos can improve earning. A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 71

72 10 Appendix 2 Bibiography Hisham at Taib, (1996) Training Guide for Isamic workers Internationa Institute of Isamic Thought Rumman Ahmed, (2002) Toos for Regeneration Practica advice for faith communities FCBRN Setting up for Success A Practica guide for community organisations Six steps to deveoping a neighbourhood project LSE Sahib Mustaqim Beher, (1989) A Programme for Musim Education in a Non-Musim Society Musim Educationa Trust Shaukat Warraich, Ifath Nawaz (2006) Mosques Imam Nationa Advisory Body (MINAB) report Faith Associates Umar Hegedus (2000) Musim Mosque AC Backs David Macauay2003 Mosque Houghton Miffin/Water Lorraine Books Dr Khaid Aavi (2004) The Mosque, within a Musim Community UKIM Dawah Centre Rahman S (2006) Voices from the Minaret report Musim Counci Britain (MCB) 2006 Ghuam Nabi Saqeb Dr, (1995) Teacher Training in Isam: its importance and practicaities Musim Educationa Trust Martin Frishman & Hasan-Uddin Khan 2002 The Mosque History, Architectura Deveopment & Regiona Diversity Lancashire Counci of Mosque Ladder4earning A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

73 Usefu contacts and resources Capacity Buiders 77 Paradise Circus Birmingham B1 2DT Phone: Fax: Website: ChangeUp 77 Paradise Circus Birmingham B1 2DT Phone: Fax: Website: Charity Commission Harmsworth House Bouverie Street London EC4Y 8DP Phone: Website: Charity Commission Direct PO Box 1227 Liverpoo L69 3UG Phone: Website: charity-commission.gov.uk CEMVO Boardman House 64 Broadway Stratford London E15 1NG Phone: Fax: Emai: Website: Community Deveopment Foundation (CDF) Unit 5, Ange Gate City Rd London EC1V 2PT Phone: Fax: Emai: Website: Directory of Socia Change 24 Stephenson Way London NW1 2DP Phone: Website: HM Revenue & Customs (charities) St. John s House Merton Road BOOTLE Merseyside L69 9BB Phone: Website: A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 73

74 Interfaith Network for the UK 8A Lower Grosvenor Pace London SW1W OEN Phone: Website: Nationa Association for Vountary and Community Action (NAVCA) The Tower 2 Furniva Square Sheffied S1 4QL Phone: Fax: Website: Nationa Counci for Vountary Organisations (NCVO) Regent s Wharf 8 A Saints Street London N1 9RL Phone: Website: OAK Community Deveopment The Mavern Suite 1st foor Borough Mi Neid Street Hathershaw Greater Manchester OL8 1QG Phone: Fax: Emai: [email protected] Website: Links to the Government and government departments: Cohesion and Faiths Unit Home Office Aington Towers 19 Aington Street London SW1E 5EB Website: DirectGov Website: Deapartment for Communities and Loca Government Eand House Bressenden Pace London SW1E 5DU Phone: Website: Government funding website Website: Department for Education and Skis (DFES) Sanctuary Buidings Great Smith Street London SW1P 3BT Te: Emai: [email protected] Website: 74 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

75 Musim Support organisations British Musim Forum 4th Foor, Saxon House Derby DE1 1NL Phone: Emai: Website: The Isamic Foundation Markfied Conference Centre Ratby Lane Markfied Leicestershire LE67 9SY Phone: (01530) Fax: (01530) Emai: MPAC UK Emai: Website: Musim Counci of Britain (MCB) PO Box London E1 2WJ Phone:+44 (0) Fax:+44 (0) Emai: Website: mcb.org.uk UK Isamic Mission (UKIM) 202 North Gower Street London NW1 2LY Phone: Fax: Website: Emai: Musim Directory 65a Grosvenor Rd London NW7 1HR Te: Emai: Website: Musim Youth Hepine 2nd Foor 18 Rosemont Rd London NW3 6NE Te: Emai: Website: Musim Women s Hepine London Phone: Website: A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 75

76 Feedback Form It was our intention that this handbook wi act as a usefu too to start the process of action to make our Mosques become better institutions and serving the needs of our communities more effectivey. We hope you have found it a source of inspiration and guidance and we ask Aah to forgive our shortcomings and accept our humbe efforts. In order to hep us improve on our pubication and provide support to your organisation more effectivey, we wi be gratefu if you can et us know what you think by photocopying this form and fiing it in. You can aso downoad it from our website at Tite A management guide for Mosque & Isamic Centres What I iked most about the handbook is What I iked east about the handbook What I found most usefu about the handbook What I found east usefu about the handbook is We woud ike more information on This handbook wi hep my organisation deveop by Other comments Name Mosque or Organisation Address Contact: E-mai/Te 76 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

77 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres 77

78 78 A management guide for mosques and Isamic centres

79 OAK Community Deveopment The Mavern Suite 1st foor Borough Mi Neid Street Hathershaw Greater Manchester OL8 1QG Phone: Fax: Emai: Website: Creating Better and Incusive Communities 12.95