Dubai: By the end of 2020, the total number of endowments registered by the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation in Dubai stood at 717, representing a total value of Dh7 billion. These endowments have been registered by 442 endowers.
Of the 717 endowments, 683 are real estate endowments and 34 financial endowments (including stocks and financial assets). Philanthropic endowments accounted for 622, Islamic family endowments 64, and joint endowments 31. Women donated 97 endowments while 29 were provided by institutions.
Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and First Deputy Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, said the efforts of the Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF) have helped realise the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to enhance the role played by the waqf (endowments) system in the country’s sustainable development.
Key role
The Foundation has played a particularly important part in realising the leadership’s goal of expanding the scope of endowments to include all areas of development including culture, health care, education and scientific research, Sheikh Maktoum added.
“The UAE’s leadership and its society encourage endowments as a means to enhancing development. Endowments create an enduring legacy for donors while transforming the future of people and institutions that benefit from them,” Sheikh Maktoum said.
Essa Abdullah Al Ghurair, Chairman of AMAF, said: “The vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to enhance the role of endowments in advancing sustainable development goals has encouraged individuals and establishments to develop endowments that support people in need.”
Ali Al Mutawa, Secretary-General of AMAF, said continuous research to identify investment opportunities in sustainable projects is required to further enhance the waqf system. Various entities need to contribute their expertise and resources to enhance innovation in developing waqf projects that can add social and economic value.
