United States of America

The United States provides a case of decentralized, nonprofit-led zakat administration in a Muslim-minority context. Its institutional landscape combines registered charities, mosque-based initiatives, informal giving practices, and transnational humanitarian networks operating within the broader American nonprofit framework.

The coexistence of audited organizational accounts, independently conducted household surveys, and less visible informal transfers makes the United States relevant for examining the distinction between institutional financial reporting and the total volume of religious giving. The case also provides opportunities to study organization-specific Shariah governance, domestic and international allocation choices, and the relationship between charitable regulation and religious institutional autonomy.

NB1: The “NGO/Charity-led System” category describes the main institutionally identifiable organizations. It does not imply that mosques, community networks, and individual donations play a secondary role in terms of volume; rather, there is insufficient national data to measure this.

NB2: Regarding data availability, the United States has several institutional series and academic reports. However, it does not have a national public database that consolidates zakat payments, particularly those made through mosques and informal transfers.

NB3: It is essential to distinguish between zakat, sadaqah, and total philanthropic donations. The estimate of $4.3 billion circulating in some publications appears to stem from confusion with the overall figures for Muslim philanthropy; the primary 2022 academic report by Siddiqui et al. accurately puts the 2021 zakat figure at approximately $1.8 billion.