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Friday March 29, 2024

‘Punjab middle class donates Rs113b yearly’

By our correspondents
March 19, 2017

Lahore

People belonging to the middle class in Punjab donate more than Rs 113 billion in a year in charity.

This was stated by Mueen Afzal, former secretary, Pakistan Ministry of Finance while sharing contents of a study on individual philanthropy carried out by Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP) on charity trends in Punjab at a press conference at Lahore Press Club on Saturday. 

Quoting the study, Mueen Afzal said monetary donation was the highest in Punjab with approximately Rs 39. 3 billion while Rs. 12.3 were donated in the form of Zakat. However, Rs 23.1 billion are donated in-kind and Rs 18.4 billion in-time donations in the province.

Major recipients of these donations are individuals, including the disabled persons and beggars. Some amount is also donated to mosques and madrassahs. 

He said that there was a need to channelise this “giving” trend to help the vulnerable individuals in a more efficient way. He added that the study showed that most of the charity comes in cash donations, and time volunteerism. 

He said that the study highlighted importance and role of philanthropy which was relevant to understand people’s tendency and choices to serve or benefit others and reckon its potential as a means to tackle social problems for society’s survival and wellbeing. 

Mueen Afzal said that roughly 39 percent of Pakistanis lived in multi-dimensional poverty and this proportion was nearly six times higher in the rural areas than the urban areas. “Philanthropy offers enormous opportunities to supplement state-run social programmes to reach out to the poor to address local needs and poverty issues,” Mueen Afzal said. 

PCP undertook this landmark study to assess the volume of individual giving and came up with insights about patterns and motivation of giving trends at the national level. Several things stand out about philanthropy in Pakistan in comparison to other nations: first, Pakistan has a tradition of religious giving through Zakat and other forms of giving; second, nearly 98 percent of Pakistanis either give through cash, in-kind, or time volunteered. 

He said that the report addresses varied questions to assess magnitude of individual philanthropy in Pakistan and explored peoples’ preferences and choices. “If mechanisms are in place to ensure greater transparency and local involvement in decision making, respondents will be willing to give more to the organisations committed to social causes,” Mueen Afzal said while quoting the study. 

According to the study, about 98 percent of households give in cash, in-kind or time- volunteered. Monetary giving is the highest in Punjab with approximately 50 percent of donations made in cash.  

The study shows that philanthropy could alleviate immediate and long-term sufferings of the poor and supplement the state-run social programmes to a greater extent.