Years ago, Imam Azhar sat down with us on What a Relief! to talk about getting ready for Ramadan. He opened with some real talk: fasting is hard. Long days, heat, exhaustion. And yet, he said, Ramadan shows you that you have the ability to make change, and it brings real results if you have a game plan laid out beforehand.
He was talking about the soul. But every time I’ve worked on a Ramadan fundraising campaign since, I’ve thought about that line. The nonprofits that do well in Ramadan aren’t the ones with the flashiest appeal. They’re the ones that had a game plan before the crescent was sighted.
Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin around February 8, pending moon sighting. That’s about four months away, which means the planning window is open right now.
Why Ramadan fundraising rewards planning
Ramadan isn’t just a busy month for Muslim nonprofits. For many, it is the year. A LaunchGood giving report found that the money raised on its platform during the 30 days of Ramadan came close to what it raised in the other 11 months combined. It also found that 78% of zakat donations came in during Ramadan, and that campaigns raised 27% more on average in the last 10 days than in the first 20.
Those numbers are from a few years back, but the pattern hasn’t changed: giving concentrates, and it concentrates late. If your plan is to “post something at the start of Ramadan,” you’re competing for attention at the exact moment everyone else is, and you’re not ready for the stretch where giving peaks.
A Ramadan fundraising plan in five phases
1. Now through December: build the game plan
- Pick one clear goal and two or three programs. Donors give faster when they understand exactly what the month is for.
- Get your zakat house in order. Know which programs are zakat-eligible, have a written policy, and make it easy for donors to designate. This is the question you’ll get asked most, so answer it before anyone asks.
- Line up a match early. A matching gift for the last 10 nights is one of the strongest levers you have. Board members and major donors need lead time.
- Decide your channels and cadence. Email, SMS, social, masjid announcements, community partners. Write it down so the month runs on a calendar, not adrenaline.
2. January: warm up with useful content
When Shaykh Azhar Nasser (known to many as “the Twitter Shaykh”) joined the podcast, he explained how he grew a big following: by answering people’s questions simply and practically, often with humor. People, he said, just need practical guidance.
That’s your pre-Ramadan content strategy. Before you ask for anything, be useful: a Ramadan prep checklist, a zakat explainer, a short video from a program participant, answers to the questions your community actually asks. Earn attention in January so your ask lands in February.
3. The first 20 days: find your daily rhythm
- Time your messages around the fast. The hours around iftar and suhoor are when your community is together, on their phones, and in a giving frame of mind. A 2 p.m. email on a fasting day is a quiet email.
- Tell one story a day. Thirty days is a lot of content. Plan it as a series so each day adds something new instead of repeating the same appeal.
- Show the local work too. Naeem Muhammad from Islamic Relief USA once told me about bringing Ramadan food boxes to families in low-income communities across the U.S., continuing a tradition the organization already had overseas. Donors who give globally all year love seeing their neighbors helped at home.
4. The last 10 nights: go all in
This is where the plan pays off. The last 10 nights, and especially the odd nights when many believers seek Laylat al-Qadr, are when giving peaks.
- Offer automated nightly giving so donors can spread a gift across all 10 nights without remembering to give each evening.
- Launch your match and show progress toward it in real time.
- Keep messages short and spiritual. People are tired, focused on worship, and giving with intention. Don’t bury them in noise.
5. Eid and after: say thank you and stay connected
Most organizations send a thank-you and then go quiet until next Ramadan. Don’t. Share what the month made possible, then invite Ramadan donors into monthly or Friday giving. The generosity doesn’t have to end when the month does, and the donors who stay connected are the ones who come back.
Don’t forget your team is fasting too
One of my favorite episodes featured Farah Haq, a fitness instructor and mother of four, on staying active while fasting. Her advice was refreshingly practical: she’d do squats in the kitchen while waiting for a pot to boil. You fit it in where you can.
Plan your campaign the same way. Your staff and volunteers are fasting, praying at night, and running on less sleep. Front-load the heavy work before Ramadan, keep meetings short, avoid late-afternoon crunch time, and schedule and test your automations ahead of time so nothing breaks while everyone’s at taraweeh.
A quick Ramadan fundraising checklist
- Goal and priority programs chosen
- Zakat eligibility and policy published
- Matching gift secured for the last 10 nights
- Content calendar for all 30 days drafted
- Iftar-time email and SMS schedule set
- Nightly giving option live and tested
- Eid thank-you and monthly-giving follow-up written
The game plan is the point
Imam Azhar’s advice was about the heart, but it works for campaigns too. Ramadan rewards the people who prepared for it. If you want a strong Ramadan in February, the work starts now.
And if you’re also planning for the holidays, the same principles apply to Giving Tuesday: invite people in, give them something to be part of, and have the plan ready before the day arrives.