Saudi Arabia: Charity drive raises over SR270 million
Flood of donations from officials, businesspeople, firms
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Cairo: A charity campaign launched in Saudi Arabia has collected over SR270 million in donations, local media reported.
The campaign kicked off Friday evening with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz donating SR20 million and Crown Prince Mohammed pledging SR10 for non-profit charity works.
Soon, generous donations flowed from government officials, businesspeople and private establishments in the kingdom.
By Sunday, the total has soared to SR 273 million handled through Ehsan (Charity), a Saudi integrated portal aimed to manage donations in the kingdom, according to released figures.
Ehsan was launched last month by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) that Prince Mohammed heads its board.
Inflow of donations
The platform did not experience any technical problem despite the inflow of donations, according to its chief executive officer Abdulaziz Al Hamadi.
The Ehsan platform 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 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 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.
