Hidaya Foundation operates in three continents: Asia, Africa and North America. In Asia, it has executed its programs in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In Africa, Hidaya has worked in Cameroon, Niger, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Guniea. In North America, Hidaya is active in the USA.

Solicitation of funds

Funds are received through mass mailing campaigns, magazine and newspaper advertisements, emails and TV ads. A good number of Hidaya donors belong to the technological field/industry, and most of the corporations do match employee donations up to a certain limit. Hence Hidaya receives an appreciable amount of donations from corporate America, from corporations such as Oracle, Microsoft, Cisco, Pepsi-Cola, etc.

Various kinds of charitable donations are received by Hidaya. Among them, the obligatory charity, i.e. Zakaah (permanent restricted funds), is the most common. Within the countries in which Hidaya executes its projects, either Hidaya representatives, volunteers and employees safeguard Hidaya’s interest, or Hidaya directly opens a sister organization in those countries and works through them. All locations are audited for donor transparency.

Anti-Terrorism Measures

Hidaya Foundation executes projects preferably by using its own volunteers and employees, rather than depending on other international organizations. If a need arises to work with a partner organization, Hidaya Foundation does not release funds to any organization until the organization and the names of its board of directors are checked against the terrorist organization lists issued by United Nations, US Department of Treasury and European Union.

In addition, all Hidaya Foundation employees, project volunteers and partner organizations are required to carefully read the Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities by the US Department of Treasury and attest to executing the projects according to these guidelines as well as the laws of the project country.

Standard Operating Procedures

Operations in USA as well as in Asia or Africa follow standard operating procedures which are revised from time to time to keep up with change. These standard operating procedures encompass entire sets of processes such as accounting, project initiation, completion and report, etc. All employees, volunteers and partner organizations are required to follow these procedures.

Project Lifecycle

Hidaya executes its projects, either through Hidaya representatives, volunteers or employees to safeguard Hidaya’s interest. In some cases, Hidaya directly opens a sister organization in those countries and works through them.

Project funding is not released until a project proposal is submitted and approved by Hidaya Foundation.

In case a project is executed by a volunteer or partner organization, they sign an agreement with Hidaya Foundation which clearly states the purpose of the project and expected results, including filing a project completion report, photographs, receipts, etc.

On completion of short-term projects, final project reports are submitted. In case a long-term project is in place, interim reports are expected, to monitor ongoing performance and to decide on further funding.

Qualifying donation recipient

Word of mouth, or Hidaya’s advertisements in the media, brings the recipient to Hidaya’s office where every person fills an application form depending on category (Educational & Vocational, Social Welfare, Healthcare, Marriage Support, etc.) Once the application is complete, it automatically triggers an investigation process. The field officer visits the neighbor, completes the inquiry to complete the investigation form to return to the Program Manager. Should the person prove to be deserving, the program management, per the standard operating procedure, makes a decision and provides one-time relief or ongoing support, depending on need.

Forms of support

Hidaya helps recipients in a variety of forms. It distributes Zakaah in the form of cash (as checks to keep track), food ration, clothes, etc. Other forms of charities such as Sadaqah (charity) are given in the form of ration, cooked food, meat, clean drinking water in the form of hand-pump. Hidaya also sends containers which consist of a variety of equipment including computers, medical equipment, medical supplies, toys, books, clothes, pots and pans. All the household items are distributed among deserving at economically depressed areas. Computers and books are distributed at schools. Medical supplies and equipment are given to hospitals.