Last chance to make your 2018 donations!
All donations to CIOGC are tax-deductible and Zakat-eligible.
Even a small amount from each one of us can go a long way. We encourage you to donate to CIOGC in these last hours of 2018 and to forward this email to your friends and family.
You can donate online or mail a check to CIOGC, 231 S. State Street, Suite 300, Chicago, Illinois 60604
Asalamu Alaikum, Dear CIOGC Community,
For over 25 years, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) has dedicated itself to servicein order to promote mutual understanding and the common good.
Over the past two decades, CIOGC has nurtured relationships with various faith communities, and through CIOGC’s Zakat Committee, we have been able to establish food pantries, free health clinics, and youth programs across Chicagoland.
We are committed to dialogue and action with our faith partners including the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs & Chicago Board of Rabbis, Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago (CRLMC), Presbytery of Chicago, and United Methodist Church. Every year, the Council and our faith partners organize events to enhance our cooperation.
For the past 20 years during Ramadan, for example, the Council and the Archdiocese of Chicago come together for an interfaith Iftar. Faith leaders and members of various faith groups attend these gatherings where they are able to gain a better understanding of each others’ faith traditions. The Council is dedicated to building and solidifying its interfaith relationships as they foster deeper understanding among us, and provide a platform to collaboratively address issues of social justice important to us all.
Zakat Chicago, our Zakat Committee, operates on the principle of Local Collection, Local Distribution in cooperation with all local participating organizations. Zakat is collected from local Muslim individuals, businesses, and participating Islamic organizations and distributed among various Chicago area Muslim community projects in accordance with the Shari’ah (Islamic law) guidelines.
Beneficiaries include Zam’s Hope in the Devon/Rogers Park area, a growing organization that provides countless worthy services, including emergency food assistance, crisis intervention, rental assistance for victims of domestic abuse, child care, youth tutoring and mentoring, senior citizen support, and more. Zakat Chicago also supports the remarkable Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) Health Clinic in the South Side of Chicago which is staffed by a full-time medical director, lab technician, health care administer, and over 25 volunteer physicians, nurses, and medical students.
All of this has only been possible through your generous support. We encourage you to donate to CIOGC in these last hours of 2018 to support our commitment to interfaith dialogue and service.
Thank you,
Maqsood Quadri
Chief Operating Officer
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC)