Illustration by Mathew Kurian
Illustration by Mathew Kurian
Illustration by Mathew Kurian
Illustration by Mathew Kurian

How to donate to UAE charities helping those affected by Covid-19


Nada El Sawy
  • English
  • Arabic

In every crisis, there are those who suffer disproportionately and those who have the means to step up and provide financial support to others.

The worldwide Covid-19 outbreak is no different, but what sets it apart is its global scale, its widespread effect on countless businesses and entire sectors, and the need to mitigate health, economic and financial consequences all at once.

While governments are rolling out fiscal stimulus packages, central banks are taking monetary policy measures and retail banks are providing financial relief to customers, individuals and businesses can also play their part in their own communities.

It is not always easy to figure out the optimal way to provide support, though, given the importance of going through accredited charities and legal channels.

In the UAE, government-sanctioned organisations soliciting donations for Covid-19 relief funds include Ma’an – the Authority of Social Contribution in Abu Dhabi – and Dubai Cares. YallaGive, a Dubai-based crowdfunding platform, has collaborated with Emirates Red Crescent and plans on partnering with more charities in the near future.

As of Monday, there are more than 1.2 million confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide and over 69,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic. More than 264,000 have recovered.

The UAE has 1,799 cases with 10 deaths and 144 recoveries. New travel restrictions were imposed in Dubai on Saturday with residents asked to stay at home unless they need to leave for food or medicine, as the sterilisation programme was extended to 24 hours a day for two weeks.

Globally, there is a need to address the health crisis itself, as well as the knock-on effects from the precautionary measures taken to contain the spread of the virus. In addition to immediate support in the form of medical supplies, long-term support is required to help individuals who have lost their jobs, small businesses struggling to survive and vulnerable communities who cannot cope with the fallout.

Here, we outline the ways you can help in the UAE.

Salama Al Ameemi, director general of Ma’an, said the 'Together We Are Good' programme will address current health and economic challenges. Photo courtesy Ma'an
Salama Al Ameemi, director general of Ma’an, said the 'Together We Are Good' programme will address current health and economic challenges. Photo courtesy Ma'an

Ma’an

Ma'an, the Authority of Social Contribution in Abu Dhabi, rolled out its 'Together We Are Good' programme on March 22. By March 27, it had raised more than Dh100 million.

We felt how much the residents are actually caring about being a part of this and we really appreciate that.

While the programme is not specifically targeted towards Covid-19 relief, the funds will be put towards providing medical and educational aid as well as food supplies.

"We can channel it to the right causes. When we say causes, it's not only coronavirus," Salama Al Ameemi, director general of Ma'an, tells The National.

“It could be unemployment, it could be medical supplies, it could be services that need to be provided to the community that are deemed necessary,” Ms Al Ameemi says.

Ma’an was established in February 2019 by the Department of Community Development in Abu Dhabi with the aim of bringing together the government, companies and individuals to foster a culture of social contribution. Its four main pillars include a social investment fund, a social incubator programme, community engagement programmes and social impact bonds.

“This is basically the first programme launched under the social investment fund,” Ms Al Ameemi says. “We noticed a lot of people coming out saying that they want to contribute, but they don’t know what channels are available and trusted by the government.”

Ms Al Ameemi says the organisation prefers to refer to donations as contributions, rather than “charity”, as “we’re moving very much away from charitable work to more of a philanthropic approach”.

Major individual contributors include Abdulkader Sankari, chairman of Sankari Investment Group and Paris Fashion Group, who, with his sons, donated Dh20m.

“As a gesture that recognises what the UAE has given me, my children and I are honoured to donate Dh20m towards the ‘Together We Are Good’ programme,” Mr Sankari said in a statement.

“The country has taken the necessary measures to keep us all safe and I would like to thank all the medical staff who are working around the clock to protect us from coronavirus that is widely spreading around the world,” he added.

Company donations include Dh25m from Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Dh3m from the Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company.

Aldar Properties employees pooled a Dh1m contribution. Last month, the Abu Dhabi real estate developer also signed an agreement with Ma’an to develop the first social impact bond in the GCC and said it will invest Dh2m in the project.

Ma’an has also received hundreds of calls and thousands of text messages, with people making financial or in-kind contributions, as well as offering to volunteer. Non-financial donations included hotel rooms, villas and apartments, cars, meals, industrial buildings, tents, farms and land space.

“We felt how much the residents are actually caring about being a part of this and we really appreciate that,” Ms Al Ameemi says.

How to donate:

Call the hotline on 8005-MAAN (6226) or send a WhatsApp message to +971-54-305-5366.

Make a transfer via First Abu Dhabi Bank using the IBAN number: AE100351011003988349032

Send an text message to 6670 (Dh50), 6678 (Dh100), 6683 (Dh500) or 6658 (Dh1,000).

Dubai Cares

Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, is focusing on the education element of the crisis. More than 1.5 billion students in 165 countries – nearly 90 per cent of the world’s student population – are out of school due to school closures, according to Unesco.

Last month Dubai Cares joined Unesco’s Global Education Coalition to help countries find solutions for distance learning to minimise educational disruptions caused by the pandemic.

“At a time when 87 per cent of the world’s student population is affected by Covid-19 and as we witness large-scale school closures in order to stem the pandemic, finding alternative methods for children and youth to learn has become an urgent priority,” said Tariq Al Gurg, chief executive of Dubai Cares.

In a video “message of solidarity” on the Dubai Cares website, Mr Al Gurg states “some countries are privileged to have distance learning and some are not” as many countries “don’t have the financial capacity, nor the human capacity to adopt these e-learning models”.

Since its inception in 2007, Dubai Cares has launched education programmes reaching over 20 million beneficiaries in 59 developing countries. Its aim is to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.

How to donate: https://www.dubaicares.ae/supports-us/donate/

Abdulla Al Nuaimi, founder of YallaGive, said the crowdfunding platform has partnered with Emirates Red Crescent and is in discussions with other charities. Photo courtesy YallaGive
Abdulla Al Nuaimi, founder of YallaGive, said the crowdfunding platform has partnered with Emirates Red Crescent and is in discussions with other charities. Photo courtesy YallaGive

YallaGive

YallaGive, the first licensed online donation and crowdfunding platform in the Middle East, has collaborated with Emirates Red Crescent to launch a coronavirus relief campaign. The goal is to raise Dh500,000 “to help others during this difficult time”.

“Emirates Red Crescent will be utilising the funds to support the individuals who are affected by coronavirus and also provide medical supplies,” YallaGive founder Abdulla Al Nuaimi tells The National.

YallaGive is going through the approval process with two additional charities to set up campaigns on its dedicated coronavirus relief fund page, according to Mr Al Nuaimi.

The platform has had more than 100 campaigns since launching a year ago, supporting charities such as Gulf4Good and Al Jalila Foundation. During the bushfires in Australia, individual fund-raisers and corporations raised nearly Dh300,000 through the site to help those affected.

Mr Al Nuaimi says he expects many people to donate and fundraise for the Covid-19 relief campaigns on the site, as "everyone is affected" and "it shows that people really need to be united".

How to donate: https://yallagive.com//charitycampaign/coronavirus-relief

There are also many international charities addressing the Covid-19 crisis. Here are a few that are recommended.

GlobalGiving

GlobalGiving, which has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, has a Coronavirus Relief Fund. It has raised more than $1.2m (Dh4.4m) towards a goal of $5m from over 6,900 donors. Donations will "help stop the virus's spread and give communities on the front lines of the crisis the resources they need to act quickly and protect the most vulnerable", according to the fund's page.

GlobalGiving sends regular email updates about how donations have been put to use. For example, in the early stages of the crisis it made emergency grants to non-profits working to respond to and contain the spread of Covid-19 in China, Italy, Iran, South Korea and the US.

How to donate: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/coronavirus-relief-fund/

Penny Appeal Middle East

Penny Appeal Middle East, a non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in the UK, is distributing Covid-19 relief kits to vulnerable communities that include staple food items, sanitation products and toiletries. A $75 donation will provide a relief kit for a family of four. Donations can also be used to provide testing kits for $100 each.

For the Syria coronavirus response in particular, Penny Appeal has distributed more than 1,450 hygiene kits to displaced Syrians, but said on its website that “much more support is needed” for a country already ravaged by nine years of war.

How to donate: https://www.pennyappealme.org/covid19-relief

World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef announced a partnership on Friday to work together through the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund. The fund, which stands at more than $127m, is powered by the United Nations Foundation and Swiss Philanthropy Foundation.

"Covid-19 is an unprecedented pandemic requiring extraordinary global solidarity to urgently respond," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO.

An initial portion of the fund will flow to Unicef for its work with vulnerable children and communities all over the world. Donations will be used to train and equip communities and healthcare workers to prevent, detect and treat Covid-19. It will help countries expand their healthcare capacity and mitigate the social impact of the virus. Finally, the fund will be used to accelerate research and development of treatments and vaccines.

How to donate: https://covid19responsefund.org

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

 

 

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

Barings Bank

 Barings, one of Britain’s oldest investment banks, was
founded in 1762 and operated for 233 years before it went bust after a trading
scandal. 

Barings Bank collapsed in February 1995 following colossal
losses caused by rogue trader Nick Lesson. 

Leeson gambled more than $1 billion in speculative trades,
wiping out the venerable merchant bank’s cash reserves.  

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

The biog

Age: 35

Inspiration: Wife and kids 

Favourite book: Changes all the time but my new favourite is Thinking, Fast and Slow  by Daniel Kahneman

Best Travel Destination: Bora Bora , French Polynesia 

Favourite run: Jabel Hafeet, I also enjoy running the 30km loop in Al Wathba cycling track

The Greatest Royal Rumble card

50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias

Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match

WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura

Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe

United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos

Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev

Singles match John Cena v Triple H

Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto

Why it pays to compare

A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.

Route 1: bank transfer

The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.

Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount

Total received: €4,670.30 

Route 2: online platform

The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.

Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction

Total received: €4,756

The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.

Top Hundred overseas picks

London Spirit: Kieron Pollard, Riley Meredith 

Welsh Fire: Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah 

Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sean Abbott

Northern Superchargers: Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz

Oval Invincibles: Sunil Narine, Rilee Rossouw

Trent Rockets: Colin Munro

Birmingham Phoenix: Matthew Wade, Kane Richardson

Southern Brave: Quinton de Kock

About Tenderd

Started: May 2018

Founder: Arjun Mohan

Based: Dubai

Size: 23 employees 

Funding: Raised $5.8m in a seed fund round in December 2018. Backers include Y Combinator, Beco Capital, Venturesouq, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Paul Buchheit, Justin Mateen, Matt Mickiewicz, SOMA, Dynamo and Global Founders Capital

The National selections

Al Ain

5pm: Bolereau
5.30pm: Rich And Famous
6pm: Duc De Faust
6.30pm: Al Thoura​​​​​​​
7pm: AF Arrab​​​​​​​
7.30pm: Al Jazi​​​​​​​
8pm: Futoon

Jebel Ali

1.45pm: AF Kal Noor​​​​​​​
2.15pm: Galaxy Road
2.45pm: Dark Thunder
3.15pm: Inverleigh​​​​​​​
3.45pm: Bawaasil​​​​​​​
4.15pm: Initial
4.45pm: Tafaakhor

BANGLADESH SQUAD

Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (vice captain), Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahaman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

While you're here
Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae