A UK-based charity today reports a £50m annual rise in income – continuing remarkable recent growth that has seen it double in size in a decade.
Islamic Relief Worldwide’s annual report and accounts for 2022 show it made £234m – up from £183m in 2021, £149m in 2020 and £130.3m in 2019.
The growth, which comes during a period including Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, is on a scale that is almost unheard of currently in the charity sector.
Today, the charity said the growth was “mostly thanks to the tremendous generosity of the general public all over the world, despite the cost-of-living crisis facing many families”.
The annual report revealed that in 2022 the Third Sector Awards-winning charity supported 17.3 million people in 40 countries, including 3.56 million in Yemen and 2.01 million in Niger, plus 123,000 in the UK.
A press release said IRW had “reached more people than ever before”, having helped 11.8 million people in 2021.
Its expenditure was £193.3m, up from £173.5m in 2021 and £129.5m in 2020.
The charity added that it had supported people suffering from conflict in Yemen, over 1.2 million people struggling with the economic collapse in Afghanistan and “millions of people affected by increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters”.
It said: “In flood-hit Pakistan, where people had their homes and livelihoods washed away, Islamic Relief supported 1.2 million people with food, water, shelter and long-term help to rebuild.
“In the Horn of Africa – which is suffering its worst drought in decades and tens of thousands of people have died from hunger – Islamic Relief supported around 2.3 million people.”
Islamic Relief also helped millions of people with long-term development such as helping farmers to increase productivity, improving access to healthcare and sanitation and promoting innovative microfinance solutions.
IRW chief executive Waseem Ahmad said: “This has been a year of once-in a-lifetime humanitarian crises. Afghanistan has suffered its worst drought for 30 years and East Africa its most severe this century.
“Pakistan is still reeling from the worst floods in living memory, while Europe has seen the worst refugee crisis since World War Two.
“It is testimony to the unfailing generosity of Islamic Relief’s donors, the hard work of our staff and volunteers, bilateral and multilateral donors and other strategic partners that we have been able to rise to these challenges.”
IRW said it last year ran more than 830 projects in 40 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, North America and Europe.
These included helping 11.5 million people to cope with hunger, giving 2.6 million people life-saving and life-changing healthcare, serving 1.15 million people with water, sanitation and hygiene projects and supporting 93,000 orphaned children to get regular food, clothing and education.