Muslim charities in the United States are being urged to volunteer to be probed by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to help counter suspicions of links to terrorism.
The initiative stems from allegations against several charities of links to terrorist groups; police investigations of Muslim charities have chilled contributions to many such charities, as American residents fear the “terrorism” tab.
Several U.S.-based Muslim charities have been charged with terrorist ties. That has gotten much public attention. What is little known is that not a single Muslim charity has yet been convicted on terrorism charges. Still, the stigma from such charges has hurt many Muslim charities – including those never charged.
The BBB’s Wise Giving Alliance, working jointly with Muslim Advocates, a San Francisco-based legal advocacy organization, announced earlier this month an initiative aimed at restoring trust in Muslim charities. Like other charities that have sought accreditation from the BBB, the Muslim organizations would be judged on their governance, accountability, effectiveness, spending on programs and openness to public scrutiny.
So far, of the nation’s roughly one million registered charities, 1,100 have requested accreditation themselves, or had a third party – such as a donor – request that a charity undergo the BBB accreditation. But the process is long and arduous and, to date, only 450 of the 1,100 charities have been accredited. Others have failed or refused to cooperate.
H. Art Taylor, president of the Wise Giving Alliance, said there is no charge for the review, but noted that if accredited charities want to display a seal of approval in promotional material, they must pay a fee on a sliding scale based on the charity’s wealth. That fee can range from $1,000 up to $15,000.
The BBB, established in 1912, is an organization that acts as a mutually trusted intermediary between consumers and business to resolve disputes and to provide information on ethical business practices.
Farhana Khera, head of the three-year-old Muslim Advocates, said the suspicions, investigations and prosecutions of Muslim charities by the U.S. government since 9/11 “have had a chilling effect on the lawful operations of charities and on donors.” As charity is a cornerstone of the Muslim faith, Khera said she hoped this initiative would help Muslim Americans “to be active participants in the civil society of our country.”
Taylor acknowledged it was beyond the BBB’s capability to guarantee that an evaluated charity wasn’t covertly linked to shadowy organizations.
“There’s not much any independent evaluator can do to make sure a charity is not linked to a terrorist activity,” he said from his Washington office. “But we believe our measures for charity are strong and promote transparency.”
The BBB traditionally evaluates a national charity after a member of the public inquires or complains about it. But the new program allows the charity itself to volunteer to be evaluated with the aim of preventing or quelling suspicions; eight Muslim organizations have so far volunteered to be evaluated.
The Muslim Advocates organization is encouraging participation by more groups.
Muslim Advocates itself has started an application for accreditation. Taylor said Muslim Advocates and any other Muslim charity that applies faces the risk of being assessed on the bureau’s Web site (us.bbb.org) as not meeting standards or in non-compliance.
Despite that risk, said Taylor, “I believe the charities are better off going through the process than letting the public keep wondering about them.” Beginning in 2001, the
Treasury Department froze the assets of seven U.S.-based charities – six of them Muslim – alleging that donations wound up in the pockets of organization such as Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.
The groups were: Holy Land Foundation in 2001; Global Relief Foundation in 2002; Benevolence International Foundation in 2002; Al Haramain Foundation in 2004; Islamic American Relief Agency in 2004; Goodwill Charitable Organizations in 2007; and Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in 2007.
Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was one of the largest Muslim charities in the nation.
The charity’s leaders were later tried in federal court in Dallas and accused of channeling money to Hamas, a group designated by the United States as a terrorist organization. The judge declared a mistrial last year after the jury couldn’t agree on most of the charges. The case is now being retried.
On July 15, the Portland-based Child Foundation was raided by federal agents; the Child Foundation is an Iranian- American charity based in Oregon whose mission is to support needy children in developing countries. An Iranian-American couple formed the charity in 1994, to aid poor children in Iran and other countries including Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Indonesia and the United States.
In a recent report, the Child Foundation announced their office was raided by federal agents as part of an investigation of the Foundation’s financial records and operations.
“This recently initiated investigation is focused on our compliance with a number of federal statues and regulations, including tax laws and Treasury regulations governing transactions with Iran,” the report stated, adding that it is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
Treasury officials now say the department is stepping up efforts to work with the Muslim-American charitable community. “We do feel a moral imperative to create a safe giving space for donors,” Deputy Assistant Secretary for Terrorism Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser said.
In 2005, a coalition of Muslim-American leaders asked federal officials to issue a “white list” of “clean” charities that Muslim Americans could donate to, but Treasury officials refused the request as impractical.
The new BBB initiative comes as Muslim charities are nearing their peak season with the Holy Month of Ramadan beginning September 2.
