Saudi Arabia: Charity campaign hits SR500 million mark

Cairo: A state-sponsored charity campaign recently launched in Saudi Arabia has raised SR500 million in donations, a government agency has disclosed.

The Ihsan campaign kicked off in mid-April with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz donating SR20 million and Crown Prince Mohammed pledging SR10 million for non-profit charity works.

Around 200 companies and businesspeople have contributed to the campaign so far, Abdulaziz Al Hamadi, the chief executive officer of the Ihsan platform, said.

He estimated that the platform receives SR10-15 million in donations per day in the kingdom.

“The platform is keen to offer digital services and programmes that make the donation experience easy and inspiring,” he told Al Arabiya television.

Donations, he added, are channelled into supporting the most underprivileged areas. “Ninety-nine per cent of donations are spent on charity and development projects across the kingdom,” Al Hamadi said.

The rest is spent outside Saudi Arabia in partnership with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, the Saudi charity arm abroad, he added.

Manage donations

Ihsan was launched in March by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) that Prince Mohammed heads its board.

The platform is an integrated portal aimed to manage donations in the kingdom. It is designed to invest data and artificial intelligence to maximise impact of development projects and services by providing advanced technological solutions and building an effective system through partnerships with governmental and non-profit private sectors.

The platform is overseen by a committee comprising SDAIA, the Saudi ministries of interior, financing, health, education, human resources, justice, municipal and village affairs, and housing as well as the Saudi central bank.

Donors have easy access methods to the portal including the smartphone. The benefactors have the option to specify the sector into which they want their money to be channeled, including education, health care and social relief.