We would like to share some wonderful news with you on the future of Orphan Aid insha'Allah.

We have decided to merge our charity with Human Appeal International.

The primary reasons for this are:

1. We cannot run Orphan Aid on a voluntary basis. Due to our continued growth over the past few years, we are now facing some new challenges. We can no longer run this size of charity with a purely part-time, volunteer-based workforce. None of the Orphan Aid staff are salaried and all have other employment. It has become increasingly difficult to run Orphan Aid on top of our day jobs.
2. We are struggling to meet the costs of running a charity of this size. Not one penny has ever been taken from your donations to help run the charity. We have always found other ways to cover our costs. This was achievable when the charity was relatively small. The cost of running Orphan Aid has increased over the last few years and the trustees now find it difficult to meet these growing costs.
3. Our projects are now much larger and more complex. We do not have the specialist skills to deal with all the complexities that go with looking after children across four different countries.

So, why merge with Human Appeal International:

Human Appeal is a successful Muslim charity that has built its reputation on the same principles as Orphan Aid. Human Appeal operates a very similar 100% donation policy. In the UK, they raise approximately £4 million a year without taking a single penny from donations for the running of the charity. Furthermore, they are committed to investing significant funds into our Orphan Aid projects - thus securing the long-term needs of the children. They have an international presence and work at a government level to change the conditions faced by our orphans.

What this means for Orphan Aid:

This means that we will close Orphan Aid as a charity and our projects will be handed to Human Appeal to run. Of course, we will ensure a smooth handover and will still be involved with the projects on an ongoing basis. All of our projects and children will be unaffected by this change.

What do you need to do?

Please cancel any standing order you have with Orphan Aid. You can still sponsor the same orphan child through Human Appeal and we would urge you to give generously to Human Appeal. They are in as much need of your duas and donations.

If you would like to continue to sponsor the same Orphan Child or make a general donation, please follow the links to Human Appeal below and do so online or request a direct debit form.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for supporting Orphan Aid. We ask Allah to accept all our deeds, keep us sincere and bless us with more, so that we can fulfil our Islamic duty of helping others.

Please contact Saeed Mahmood at Human Appeal for any enquiries - his contact details are:

Human Appeal International
Victoria Court
376 Wilmslow Road
Fallowfield
Manchester
M14 6AX
United Kingdom

Telephone
0044 (0) 161 225 0225

Facsimile
0044 (0) 161 225 0226

www.humanappeal.org.uk