Islamic Society raises £54,000 in Charity Week

The Islamic Society’s annual campaign “Charity Week” raised £54,000 within two weeks end of October to the start of November through various events to raise funds for Human Appeal. This Manchester-based charity focuses on providing aid to civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. “They have a great network on the ground in Gaza to spread the resources to people on the ground to get food,” Ali commented. This year, the Islamic Society was proud to raise for a cause “close to [their] hearts”. 

A range of events 

“Almost one event per day,” Ali stated. Local events such as bake sales in the Sir Alexander Fleming Building – which raised £5,000 – were available to the entire South Kensington Campus, and female-only events hosted an Olympics and a sister-culture night where ticketholders enjoyed each other companies, wearing cultural dresses, eating snacks and drinking chai. Other events were artistic, such as the painting event to make a collective mural, or proactive, as the collection at Whitechapel tube station was. 

Events were also athletic, such as the football competition or the “very scenic” 20km Trek in Brighton where attendees organised private donations from friends and family. Ali collected 800 to 900 pounds in his group last year, and the most successful group this year raised £3,660. Since this event hosted roughly 100 people, grouped into teams of 4-6 people, each raising on average £1000, it easily became the most profitable event, raising to £20,000. The rivalry between teams and the daily leaderboard provided a push to raise the most funds a team could. 

The final event was the large auction dinner on the 6th of November. The dinner, described by Ali as a “lovely night” and “very successful” provided profit from tickets, crowdsourced items such as paintings, a big cuddly bear sold for £4,000, an opportunity to follow the president of the society around for 24 hours and take over the Instagram for £3,000, the exploded microwave that still works – an item with a significant historical background – and pledges, of which 70-80% are upheld. The 20-30% loss can only come from attendees losing themselves in the hype of the auction and promising more than they are then able to fundraise after the event. 

Donations, Donations 

Donations were sourced from different groups of people. The Trek donations came from private families and sold items were paid for by students, however, the majority originated from donating professionals living around South Kensington who attend the Friday prayers hosted in Princes Gardens. The societies’ JustGiving page, the main payment platform used for each event and Trek donations, states a total fund of £36,053 raised by 1155 teams. Imperial’s Pakistan Society aided the cause by raising £2,844 – motivated by a small rivalry between the two cultural societies. 

It’s all in the planning

The charity week, despite being only two weeks long, has been in plans since July, when applications to the additional Charity Week sub-committee closed. 30 students dedicated their time and efforts for three months to plan the “very demanding“ series of events, however, it is clear it was a well-invested effort. The committee reached out to 100 to 200 fashion and large companies willing to donate tickets or items to the auction dinner. This year they secured 50 items, with a small subset presented at the live auction, the rest at a silent auction. 

Beyond Imperial

Charity Week is not only at Imperial. Most UK universities and even a few US universities, totalling about 120, will organise their charity week filled with auctions and dinners. Considering Charity Week started in the 1960s by “Islamic Relief,” a charity organisation in the US, and first came to the UK in 2000, the gravitas and expectations of the event should not surprise anyone. ISoc usually manages to raise between 50 and 80 thousand GBP every year, their maximum having been 89 thousand GBP  a few years ago.  

 A large community, considering a weekly attendance of 300-400 Muslims at Friday prayers – students, staff, and non-Imperial alike, and a charitable essence within their religion, Ali explained that “Muslims are encouraged to donate. […] Generosity is part of [our] religion”.  

The beauty of charity week was also in “getting everyone involved,” especially Freshers who found an introduction to students from different years and departments. New student who take on committee roles learn to become “good leaders” and learn diligence. 

Even though it was the “biggest event of the year,” Ali told Felix that ISoc won’t stop at Charity Week and there is “more to come”.