OurMasjid.SG - A Community Crowdfunding Initiative to Support Mosques During COVID-19
MEDIA RELEASE
13 April 2020
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) is pleased to announce the launch of a centralised donation portal in support of the mosques named OurMasjid.SG, as well as a collaboration with KuliahSG for a centralised portal for online religious content provided by the mosques.
Background
2. On 7 April 2020, Muis announced that $1 million had been set aside to support the mosques during their temporary closure due to COVID-19. Muis had also called upon the community to continue to support our mosques and asatizah during the challenging months ahead.
3. Since the temporary closure of the mosques on 13 March 2020, the community has not been able to donate directly to our mosques through donation boxes, which mosques rely on for mosque operations and manpower funding. To help mosques in these challenging times, Muis has partnered MuslimSG to launch OurMasjid.SG - a community crowdfunding initiative to rally the community to provide funding support for our mosques. With this new platform, it is now easier for the community to make online donations to mosques.
OurMasjid.SG Portal - Support for Mosque Operations
4. All mosque operational costs, such as manpower and utility bills still depend largely on donations from congregants. With the closure of mosques, our mosques have not been able to collect donations, especially during Friday congregational prayers which is the main source of funding for mosque operations.
Supporting Mosque Officers
5. Our mosques employ more than 2,000 staff which includes Mosque Religious Officers (MRO), Social Development Officers (SDO), aLIVE teachers, imam, bilal, admin officers as well as maintenance & support officers (noja). These are our frontliners who face thousands of congregants weekly. They also play important roles in keeping our religious life alive at the mosques.
Supporting the Cost of Utilities and Operating Costs at Mosques
6. In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a heightened need for mosques to step up their cleaning and disinfecting regimes since the start of the year. Mosques have also taken steps to ensure the well-being of congregants by purchasing non-contact thermometers, hand sanitisers and soap for hand washing. These are necessary expenses to prepare for the eventual reopening of our mosques.
7. In addition, while there have been efforts by the mosques to promote water and energy conservation, mosques continue to be in need for support from the public to defray such costs to ensure the cleanliness and safe operations of mosques. Water and utilities alone account for almost 4% of mosque annual expenditure.
How to Donate
8. Members of the community can make their contributions online at https://ourmasjid.sg (English) or https://ourmasjid.sg/ms/ourmasjid-home-ml/ (Malay) via credit and debit cards, eNETs, PayNow and GIRO. Recurring payments can also be made through credit/debit card or GIRO to help support the mosques in the long term.
Online Religious Content by Mosques
9. Despite the physical closure of the mosques, mosque asatizah and staff have been working hard to continue to serve the spiritual needs of congregants, by bringing mosque programmes and religious content online. For example, over 50 mosques now have put up online content, comprising over 1,130 videos. Mosques are also continuing with Islamic Education for the young, by conducting aLIVE lessons through home-based learning. These initiatives have been very well received by the community.
Collaboration with KuliahSG
10. Starting out as a ground-up initiative by two individuals, KuliahSG (https://kuliah.sg) is a centralised portal for online programmes produced by mosques. Muis and mosques are fully supportive of this initiative and will work together with KuliahSG, in the spirit of helping the community gain access to Islamic online content which our asatizah and our mosques are producing daily.
MAJLIS UGAMA ISLAM SINGAPURA
