Donations via portal touches RO 584,000

Donations to the tune of RO 584,402.48 were made through the Donations Portal, run by the Information Technology Authority (ITA) in association with Ministry of Social Development, so far this year. The bulk of this amount (RO 226,783.45) was for the Zakat Fund, the donations for which were made through the Oman Charitable Organisation. This was followed by Sadaqa RO 103,341.84, donations for Yemen RO 48,209, care of orphans RO 37,083 and donations for Syria RO 20,367. The portal, which attracted some 20,775 contributors this year, has been developed to promote charity for valuable social causes. It connects donors and beneficiaries using an e-payment gateway operated by the ITA. The user-friendly portal makes donations as easy as making payments using a credit card. It attempts to gain access to the largest groups of communities possible via the Internet in an effort to promote a culture of volunteerism. Since its launch in early 2009, the portal has succeeded in collecting a sum of RO 2,675,181.75 for various causes with the support of 25 participating charity organisations. These include Dar Al Atta’a Charity, Oman Association for Disabled, Environment Society of Oman, The Association of the Welfare of the Handicapped, Al Noor Association for the Blind, Association of Early Intervention for Children with Special Needs, National Association for Cancer Awareness, Oman Hereditary Blood Disorder Association and Oman Charity Organisation. Zainab al Nassri