SNMC Fundraising Policy, Approaches, Features, and Management Procedures

Transcription

1 South Nepean Muslim Community (SNMC) Mailing address: 365 Stoneway Dr, Nepean, ON, K2G 6G8 Telephone: (613) 898-SNMC; Website: SNMC Fundraising Policy, Approaches, Features, and Management Procedures Authors: Emdad Khan, Abdul Syed, Tariq Syed, Ahmed El-Sherbiny Version 1, November 21, Purpose This document outlines various fundraising approaches as well as the processes that SNMC has in place to raise and handle funds. The principles that guide SNMC rest on the principles of: a) Accountability to our creator one God (Allah (SWT); b) Accountability to Canadian Govt by following the rules and regulations of CRA; and, c) Accountability to SNMC community. 2. Policy Statement It is the SNMC policy that any money collected in any SNMC event or Musallah will be deposited to an appropriate bank account and no money will be disbursed against any expenditure without a valid expense receipt. Any money disbursed will only be given by a cheque singed by two directors of different ethnic background with proper authorization. SNMC will not disburse any money in cash. 3. Fundraising Approaches and Procedures 3.1 Fundraising on Fridays and other days at SNMC Musallah In SNMC Musallah, there are three black donation boxes under lock and key for, (i) one for SNMC project and its operation, (ii) one for helping needy family, students and giving scholarship to students, (iii) one for helping other charitable organizations operating Masjids or relief operations for international calamity or local calamity 3.2 Friday Jumah Musallah collection, counting and deposit to bank After Jumah Salah, one SNMC volunteer, Br Syed Ahmed guides Musallees to put money in one of the three boxes according to their choice. Later, the boxes are opened and donations received are counted by two trusted volunteers, Syed Ahmed and Muslim uddin Ahmed and are placed in three envelopes and properly marked. These are then given to the SNMC admin officer, Br Wais Sidiqi /Executive Officer, Br Husam Alaghbari to a) make entry in bank deposit book, and b) enter donor info into the Tax software. The SNMC Admin Success & progress Through community Services.

2 officer/executive officer then hands over the amounts to another trusted SNMC volunteer, Sk Hamed Amer from another ethnicity to make deposits at the Strandherd Branch of Bank of Montreal, opposite SNMC Musallah. 3.3 Saturday to Thursday Musallah collection During weekdays, the coin boxes money are collected by one of the SNMC directors, Br Ahmed El-sherbiny and then handed over to the president, in a closed envelope clearly identifying the category as mentioned under section 3.1 above. 3.4 Occasional fundraising by Imam and/or President in the SNMC Musallah Once in a month or once every two to three months, either the Imam Dr Zijad Delic or the President Dr Emdad Khan, after Friday Salah, speaks for few minutes and encourages Musallees to donate to SNMC project, or to donate for another purpose, that may include another charity who may visit SNMC for their project, or to support the victims of suffering humanity from any calamity to be distributed by another charity. The collected fund are counted, put in envelopes and later on deposited to bank as per the procedure described under section Fundraising in Ramadan and two Eid prayers by Imam and/or President Once in a week during Ramadan, and at Eid-al-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha prayers, either the Imam or the President speaks for few minutes and encourages musallees to donate for SNMC project or for another purpose, that includes another charity who visits SNMC for their project, or for a calamity to be distributed by another charity. The collected fund are counted, put in envelopes and later on deposited to bank as per the procedure described under section Fundraising trips by Imam and/or President with SNMC volunteers to out of town or different Ottawa-Gatineau masjids: In general, the Imam or the President calls and sends s to different charitable organizations/masjids in Ottawa-Gatineau area or in different cities of Canada such as Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver to allow SNMC to come to a Friday Jumah and seek funds for the SNMC project. On an agreed day, the Imam or President, with few volunteers, visit that organization. Mostly, one of the volunteer uses his car for the day trip. The collected funds are counted in the supervisions of the host organization. The host organization either issues a cheque same day or send by post to SNMC. The Volunteers are sometimes provided breakfast or lunch or dinner by SNMC on a pre-determined rate. The car mileage is also given at a predetermined rate. The collected fund is entered in tax software and bank deposit books by Admin officer/executive officer and deposited to bank by designated volunteer elderly person. The host organizations are sent tax receipts by year end as required. 2/6

3 5.0 SNMC fundraising and handling of donation from other donation methods To facilitate fundraising and to make donating easy for Musallees SNMC follows multiple approaches. There are several methods of receiving donations. Printed pledge forms, which are also available on-line, are used commonly. Through these pledge forms, donors are able to identify their mode of donation as well as provide contact information which is used to issue tax receipts. SNMC also display stand-up banners to motivate donors. Conventional way of receiving donations is cash and check, but SNMC realised there are new and simple way of receiving donations. 5.1 Donation cash and cheque This is the traditional way of receiving donations. The cash and cheque way of receiving donations is already described above under section On line PayPal donations SNMC has set up its website to receive donations by PayPal on line donations. Donors can donate using their PayPal account or using MC or Visa or Amex cards from anywhere in Canada. SNMC web-based online PayPal donation is connected to two SNMC bank accounts. a) Main or business account ending with- 056 b) Community/Sadaqa account for needy family and students ending with -480 c) Service account ending with -360 to receive money for non-donations, service fees such as match making, Few times in a month, the SNMC admin officers/executive officer transfers the money from PayPal account to above SNMC bank accounts and also enters the donors personal information to tax software to issue tax receipts as applicable at the end of the year. 5.3 Monthly Bank pre-authorized auto deduction SNMC uses EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) process with Bank of Montreal. To make monthly donation easy, donors provide a void check with details of their bank information. This information is kept strictly confidential. In the middle and end of the month, one of the admin officer processes the pre-authorized monthly donation where the pre-authorized money from donors account is transferred to SNMC account. It is handled by admin officer, Sr leena and overseen by Br Emdad Khan SNMC pays a pre-agreed fee to Bank of Montreal per month. 3/6

4 5.4 Monthly credit card pre-authorized auto deduction This is similar to bank pre-authorized monthly donation, but here donors credit card is charged. SNMC has established with Bank of Montreal and Moneris, the electronic way of transferring pre-agreed amount from donors credit card to SNMC bank account. The process is run few times in a month by one of the SNNC admin officer or executive officer. The donors data is also recorded in SNMC tax software to issue tax receipts at the end of the year. It is handled by Admin officer, Br Shahed Nasery and EO, Br Husam Alaghbari SNMC pays transaction fees to Moneris and credit card companies, Visa, MC and Amex at a pre-determined rate. 5.5 One time pre-processed donation by debit or credit card To facilitate one-time debit or credit card donation, SNMC uses two wireless machines. These machines are rented through Moneris solution and Bank of Montréal and a monthly rent is paid by SNMC. Donors at the SNMC Musallah or in any out of town or any Ottawa Gatineau Fundraising trips are able to donate by using their debit and credit cards using these machines. Week by week based on donations, the pre-processed debit credit slips are organized and entered into tax software by one admin officer Shahed Nasery or Executive officer Husam Alaghbari. In many cases based on donor or phone number, the admin officer collects the complete donor information and enters in tax software to issue yearend tax receipts 5.6 Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF) and Text SNMC to to donate $10 To further expedite and receive donation by texting via a cell phone, SNMC entered into an agreement on a monthly pre-agreed fee with the Mobile Giving Foundation. Cell phone users from anywhere in Canada can donate $10 to SNMC by texting SNMC to There are three sets of fees a) one-time set up fee, b) monthly fixed fees, and c) monthly fees based on the number of transactions. MGF issues tax receipts to donors and sends SNMC a cheque every month based on donation received. 5.7 Donation via Canada helps Org and United Way SNMC receives donations from $5 to $50 per month via Canada helps Org. It is transferred directly by Cando helps Org to SNMC bank account and they issue tax receipts to donors. 4/6

5 SNMC also receives donations through United Way campaign. A good number of donors via their government jobs donate through United Way to SNNC as their chosen charity. SNMC receives 2/4 times in a year amounts ranging from $200 to $5000. The donors are issued tax receipts by United Way. 5.8 Post Dated Cheques (PDC) Some donors also provide a set of post-dated cheques. According to the dates, these checks are processed by Admin officer/executive officer and entering donors data is entered in tax software and cheques are deposited in bank. 5.9 Donation Boxes at Home and Stores SNMC has about glass boxes in different stores in Ottawa. The boxes are distributed to friendly Muslim businesses. The boxes are emptied every 2 to 3 weeks by Sk Hamed, Br Muslim Uddin, Br M Hassan, Br Ahmed El-sherbiny, Br M Hassan, and Dr Imam Dr Zijad. SNMC also distributes donation coin boxes at home. So far there have been over 200 boxes distributed. The store donation coin boxes and home donation coin boxes are processed by Sk Hamed and they are handed over on Thursdays to admin officer Wais sidiqi and EO Br Husam Alaghbari for processing and for entry in the tax software and then back to Sk Hamed to deposit in bank account. 6. Weekly accumulation of pledge forms, cheques, cash donations and processing In addition to the above, any pledge form, cheque or cash donation received by SNMC during a given week is kept at the official SNMC address by the President, Dr Emdad Khan. Once in a week, currently, Thursdays, they are handed over to relevant admin officer, Wais Sidiqi /Executive officer, Husam Alaghbari for processing and entering donors data into the tax software and collected amounts are deposited into the bank via the trusted volunteers Sk Hamed Amer or Br Muslim Uddin Ahmed. 7. Summary Any donation SNMC receives from anywhere by any method is always deposited to SNMC bank account. 8. Monitoring and Reporting The President, Dr Emdad Khan and the Director Accounting, Eng Tariq Syed are responsible for monitoring compliance of this policy and to ensure its effective implementation. They are responsible for ensuring that a neutral assessment of all methods listed above is conducted on an ongoing basis and reconcile with monthly bank statements. The internal auditor, Br Muhannad Arafeh and Accountant, Akkas Ali are also periodically involved in supervising the process and compliance. 5/6

6 They are also responsible for addressing issues that may arise during the compliance process and they also ensure that appropriate corrective actions are taken to address the identified issues. They are required to report to the Board of Directors any matters implicated by this policy including remedial measures and options as well as any request to update this policy. The Board of Directors is required to deliberate on improvement options presented by the President and Director Accounting and take decisions. 9. Consequences The consequences of not following this policy could be serious and potentially damage SNMC reputation and jeopardize the trust that the community has placed on it. Therefore, if it is determined by the Board of Directors that these policies are not being followed, they will direct the President and Director Accounting, the accountant and the internal auditor to take corrective actions and report back on the results. 6/6