What is the Iraqi Charities Forum?

The Iraqi Charities Forum was founded in Baghdad and London to achieve the following goals:

• Working to link the local and international Iraqi philanthropic foundations up with each other in order to boost coordination and common cooperation, through the ICF's website as well as organizing conferences, panels and workshops.
• Working to rehabilitate and develop the Iraqi philanthropic foundations and enhance their particular efficiency and capacities so as to become able to work properly and effectively by providing advice, guidance, training and benefiting from the rich experiences of peoples and global philanthropic foundations.
• Seeking to find sources of funding and donations from the states, donors, and all benevolent individuals for the purpose of introducing the Iraqi philanthropic foundations to them.
• Working to publicize and propagate, via the media, the Iraqi philanthropic foundations and all their activities and projects, through constructing a special webpage for each foundation on the ICF's website and through a magazine specializing in charitable work, in addition to television programs in this area.
• Stimulating philanthropic and benevolent activities and deepening the culture of voluntary work among Iraqis in order to provide Iraqi philanthropic foundations with volunteers to implement and develop philanthropic projects.
• Seeking to set up a databank that benefits philanthropic work by designing a database and surveys that cover all the provinces of Iraq in order to elucidate the scope of the need and the number and kinds of humanitarian needs.
• The ICF was registered with the Charity Commission in the UK under number: 1115625, on 31/7/2006.
• The ICF was also registered as a non-profit (philanthropic) corporation with the Companies House in the UK under number: 50937932, on 10/5/2005.
• Iraqi Charities Forum is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board Scheme and has committed to the highest standards in fundraising. Membership Number: FS00958

• The ICF is registered in Iraq under the name, the "Media Association of Iraqi Charities," as a non-governmental organization under number: 1J46555, and it has the same logo, and the activities and programs of both entities are joint and complement each other. They share the same website, but have different members on their boards of trustees, due to the fact that the members are in two different countries.

By the grace of Allah, blessed and exalted be He, and thanks to the awareness of benevolent people, from among the members of the association's board of trustees, and all its members and volunteers, who took the initiative and took part in the establishment and development of the ICF, it was their daily hard work, faith and meticulous care to achieve all that which benefits mankind, which solidified and reinforced the ICF's approach. This enabled it to become a beacon for philanthropic work in Iraq, and a meeting place gathering benevolent people, volunteers, and Iraqi charities and their cadres, giving them access to the society which they come from and to whose benefit they are dedicated. It also enabled the ICF to take upon itself strategic philanthropic projects.

Is it possible to give details of an illustrative example of one of the projects that the ICF had taken upon itself?

Yes, the project to sponsor Iraqi children with special needs.

This project simply seeks to sponsor and support some 1,000 children with special needs from among the orphans, the abandoned and the poor. It is hoped that the project would expand at a later stage to cover ten thousand children. As such, the campaign would continue until it reaches all disabled children in Iraq. Since the ICF does not provide its services directly to those in need and works instead to provide its services through the Iraqi charities affiliated with the project, it (the ICF) has laid down a mechanism for work and action that focuses on reliance on qualified and competent Iraqi charities inside Iraqi which directly sponsor children with special needs.

The following is a depiction of the cases of disability that would be the focus of attention and on which the sponsorship would be centred:

How much does it cost to sponsor a disabled child?

The cost of sponsoring a disabled child is 10 GBP, or 20 USD, per month, whereby a sum of 25,000 Iraqi dinars is paid monthly to each child, and the association's fund would cover the differences in the exchange prices.

How do I become a sponsor?

All that you need to do is to fill out the donation application below, and to pay a first installment, in cash, by check, through postal payment, or by way of any other indicated way of payment.
The ICF will provide you with a photograph of the child if you wish, in addition to the records of the child you wish to sponsor.

What is the required length of the sponsorship?

In order to be fair to those in need, the Forum usually asks for a minimum, which is a 12-month sponsorship. After that the sponsor could provide a sponsorship for any period he desires. Those who find it difficult to commit themselves financially for the duration of this [12-month] period can give a financial assistance, whatever the sum is.

What can 25,000 dinars do for a disabled child?

1. Your donations will contribute to a certain extent in alleviating some suffering and would provide some basic needs, such as clothing, food, stationary, healthcare and the like. Always remember the proverb: "Do not be shy to give a little for declining to give would be less than it."
2. Most importantly, the child would be in the hands and care of all specialized foundations, whereby the Forum would continue to update the files of the children registered in this project so as to keep on analyzing and classifying the health, subsistence and social cases and referring them to the relevant parties and foundations in pursuit of help or guidance.

How much would be deducted from the paid sum in terms of administrative fees?

Nothing whatsoever. The Forum's policy mandates that no administrative costs be deducted from the donated amounts or actual sponsorships during the first, experimental phase of the project which concerns the sponsorship of the first 1,000 children.

When the project will have expanded, a small partial percentage would be allocated to cover the administrative costs of both the ICF and the charities affiliated with the project in order to provide the best developed services in accordance with the programs that are employed.

Is it possible to contact the sponsored child or to send him/her presents?

We absolutely encourage contacts between the sponsor and the sponsored, for this is very important for the sponsored child and his family. This means that there is a person who engages in providing care, sponsorship and continuous communication from afar.

Who are the parties to the project of sponsoring children with special needs?

The contributing parties or those who have to contribute to the sponsorship project are shown through the circles', or the simultaneously independent and interrelated chains', scheme in the diagram shown below:

These are:

	Registered Child Welfare The central circle in the middle: to introduce the children who are registered in the sponsorship project, deriving information from the children's descriptive forms, which include comprehensive information about the child, his health, the social milieu in which he lives, and his various activities, in addition to education, rehabilitation, and whatever new developments occur in his life, together with some pictures
	Affiliated Charities The circle dedicated for the charities affiliated with the project: from which the names of these charities are spelled out, as well as a list of the names of the children whom it nominates and is committed to follow up on their sponsorships, whose number stands at 50 children for each charity. It also includes a call to register the charities wishing to join the project through a special application form prepared for the purpose of the charities’ membership.
	Donations & Sponsorships The Donations & Sponsorships circle: which lists all possible types of funding for the sponsorship project such as foster care; state and international aid organizations' contributions; funding that comes from pecuniary taxes mandated by the Shari'ah, donations written into final wills, and almsgiving; donations from special events and parties and through donations boxes; in addition to funding from sponsoring parties such as corporations, shops, and material donations paid to the e-charity market, and other means of funding, be they common or novel ones, which abide by the laws of the relevant states.
	Child's Homecare Child's Homecare circle: Those included in this circle are the direct sponsor of the child, the family in which he lives or the houses providing care, and all that is related to their support, training, and publicizing their suffering which might not be less than the suffering of the disabled child whom they sponsor.
	Types of Disability and Special Needs: The Types of Disability and Special Needs circle: It includes the statistical cases of disability for all registered children, and the pertinent institutions specialized in each type of disability, with an eye to urge the health, rehabilitation and social institutions to provide help and to be in contact with the various segments of those suffering from different types of disability and needs.
	Government Contributions Government Contributions' circle: It lists everything that the state provides for children with special needs, such as social security, healthcare, specialized schools, rehabilitation centers, aid programs, scholarships dedicated to some segments of these children or their families, and other means of support.
	Volunteers Volunteers' circle: It includes all volunteer activities which could be performed by volunteers for the associations and the charities affiliated with the sponsorship project, in order to advance humanitarian work in accordance with the programs prepared for the sponsorship project which is dedicated for children who are in dire need for someone to help them and their families out so as to alleviate their suffering, especially orphaned and abandoned children and those hailing from chaste families.