Rumah Zakat Marks 28 Years of Strengthening National Resilience and Humanitarian Sovereignty

Entering its 28th year, Rumah Zakat continues to strengthen its role as a philanthropic institution providing solutions to various social, humanitarian, and community empowerment issues. Carrying the theme ‘28 Years of Rumah Zakat: Safeguarding National Resilience and Borderless Humanitarian Sovereignty’, this anniversary serves as a reflection on a long journey and a reaffirmation of its commitment to delivering broader impact for Indonesia and the world. Over 28 years, Rumah Zakat believes that every change occurring within society is inseparable from the trust and support of donors, partners, volunteers, amil, and all parties who have accompanied the institution. This togetherness has brought happiness, hope, and tangible change to millions of people in need. In the last five years alone, Rumah Zakat has assisted more than 7,800,000 programme participants both in Indonesia and abroad. Furthermore, 4,454 programme participants have successfully escaped the poverty line through various economic empowerment, education, health, and capacity-building programmes. The mandate entrusted by donors through zakat, infak, sedekah, and wakaf (Ziswaf) funds has reached more than IDR 1,798,457,751,423, which has been channelled to support beneficial programmes across various regions in Indonesia. In the field of disaster management, Rumah Zakat has consistently responded to various disasters across the country, including in Sumatra, reaching more than 339,000 affected individuals through emergency response services, logistical aid, health services, temporary shelters, and post-disaster recovery and empowerment programmes. Rumah Zakat’s humanitarian commitment also extends beyond national borders. Through various humanitarian programmes for Palestine, more than 1,800,000 programme participants have received food aid, health services, clean water, winter assistance, and emergency humanitarian support amidst the prolonged crisis. Furthermore, the development of various Rumah Zakat social enterprise units has empowered more than 32,000 entrepreneurs and 516 community groups, creating new economic opportunities while strengthening the sustainability of programme benefits. All these impacts are the result of strong collaboration between amil, volunteers, implementing partners, the government, the business sector, communities, academics, the media, and the public who share a vision of bringing about positive change for the nation. On this 28th anniversary, Rumah Zakat expresses its appreciation and respect to the founders and previous generations who laid the foundation, values, and spirit of service that have become the basis for the institution’s journey to this day. As a form of gratitude for this 28-year journey, Rumah Zakat is organising a series of social and internal activities involving beneficiaries, volunteers, amil, and the wider community, including a Beneficiary Graduation Ceremony, a Champion Children Graduation, a Volunteer and Volunteer Based Team (VBT) Preparedness Assembly, an Amil and Volunteer Blood Donation drive, Orphan Sponsorship distributions, Muharram Gift Package distributions, a Water for Life programme, tree planting for environmental conservation, and togetherness activities for amil and their families to strengthen creativity. These activities represent a tangible manifestation of Rumah Zakat’s commitment to delivering sustainable benefits while reinforcing the values of care, collaboration, and service to the community. Entering a new chapter in its journey, Rumah Zakat has also prepared a number of strategic agendas to strengthen its contribution to the national and global philanthropic ecosystem. These development focuses include completing the digital integration of Rumah Zakat to enhance service effectiveness and transparency, initiating a Sustainability Fund to strengthen programme sustainability, developing social enterprises across various Rumah Zakat service units, developing more measurable social impact, and strengthening the philanthropic ecosystem to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and global humanitarian programmes, including Palestine. On this occasion, Rumah Zakat also extends its appreciation to all partners who have contributed to delivering various beneficial programmes, including the government, philanthropic associations and communities, ulama and religious leaders, international institutions and global partners, the media, academics and researchers, public figures, influencers, the business sector, and various other parties. Rumah Zakat believes that increasingly complex social and humanitarian challenges require stronger collaboration. Therefore, the support and synergy of all stakeholders will remain key to bringing about greater change for society. Entering its 28th year, Rumah Zakat is committed to continuing to grow as a professional, trustworthy, innovative, and impactful philanthropic institution, while being an integral part of safeguarding national resilience and realising borderless humanitarian sovereignty.