Pakistanis give annual Rs140bn charity

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Saad Hasan
KARACHI: The money Pakistanis donate to different charities may easily have swelled to Rs140 billion since the last philanthropy survey was conducted 10 years ago, said Dr Shams Kassim Lakha, Chairman Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP).

Dr Lakha, who is also President of Agha Khan University, told The News in a recent interview that a household survey carried out in 1998-99 showed that people were giving away a total of Rs72 billion in charity, though mostly to organisations that are neither regulated nor maintain audited accounts.

“The reason for almost all the charity can be traced to religion,” he said. “It is in our religion to give Zakat and Sadqa.” A non-profit organisation, the PCP aims to promote the idea of self-sufficiency through indigenous philanthropy and was formed in 2001 after the findings of the 1998-99 survey showed that billions of rupees of philanthropic contributions were unaccounted for. Although not directly involved in collection and distribution of charity, the PCP verifies the credentials of charitable trusts.

“What happens is that you give to a beggar out of pity, not with the trust that your money will be used for something constructive,” he said. “This attitude created a whole begging industry.”

Today, the PCP is the only organisation in the country that issues accreditation certificates to charitable trusts. So far, it has been able to certify only 162 institutions. “Minimal amount of total charity goes to these institutions, even though they are exempted from taxes.”

However, despite the exemption, thousands of NGOs operating across the country fail to disclose the amount they receive in charity and the way it is used. “The PCP encourages philanthropy in a transparent way and for constructive initiatives,” said Dr Lakha.

According to him, charity can be much more effective if it is used to build schools and skill development centres. “Our problem is that we concentrate on relief efforts, but not rehabilitation,” he said.

His assertion is not without precedent. Last year amid soaring food inflation, stock brokers announced they would arrange free meals for the poor, but the same brokers are always up in arms over paying tax from their earnings.

Tax evasion is rampant in the country, with tax-to-GDP ratio among the lowest in the world. From departmental store owners to businessmen, no one wants to pay taxes, but they still give Rs140 billion as charity.

Dr Lakha explained the phenomenon as a lack of trust between the government and the people. “People are scared their money will not be used properly,” he said. “They are not sure if they will get anything in return.”

It has been over a decade since the first philanthropy survey was carried out, and since then much has changed with the economic growth and its subsequent downslide. The original study was funded by the Agha Khan Development Network, but another such initiative will prove to be very expensive.

“As much we would like to collect data again, we don’t have the money to do it,” said Dr Lakha. However, the PCP has been commissioned to undertake a household survey in Punjab by the provincial government. While the centre regularly gleans the accounts of listed companies to see how much they contribute as part of their corporate social responsibility, it has now decided to study unlisted companies.

Dr Lakha suggested that the government insert a clause in the national census to seek information about how much people give away in charity.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=174595