Almost OMR500,000 gifted to charities during Ramadan

 Charitable donations received during this year’s holy month of Ramadan are worth almost half of the total collected for the whole of 2018.

A truly blessed and generous Ramadan saw the total donations received through the government’s online portal www.donate.om, reach a staggering OMR428,621 with OMR44,000 given on the last day alone.

According to local charity groups, the holy month of Ramadan is considered to be the time when they receive the highest level of donations, due to the increase in causes such as providing Eid, Ramadan ration and paying for a Ramadan iftar meal which is only available during the holy month.

The last week of Ramadan saw a total of OMR120,000 being donated, more than double the total for the same time last year.

Donation portals

Online donation portals through www.donate.om have proved increasingly popular over conventional methods due to the simplicity of the process. Donate.om is run by the Information Technology Authority which invites everyone to use the system as donations are collected in an easy and secure way, saving time, effort and money.


Visitors to the website can choose from 27 charity organisations and more than 15 causes. The aim of the website is to establish a one-stop shop to collect donations for Omani charitable organisations without the need to visit each organisation separately.

One of the portal regular users spoke to Times of Oman regarding the impact the donating portal has had on their lives, “Personally, I always wanted to donate and give to charity but I never knew how to, it always seemed so difficult to go directly to the families or to look for the charity organisations, but now, thanks to this portal, I can select the cause and the charity organisation all in place.”

Super-fast

“I also love that I can simply use my phone and add my card details on the app, it is super-fast. During Ramadan, I managed to donate at least ten times. The best thing about the portal is that it allows people to donate to lesser-known charity groups that focus more on rural areas,” she added.

Despite a drop in donations on the first day of Eid, the portal has already collected OMR626,405 this year, more than any other year since it was launched in 2009. Donations this year are also estimated to surpass last year’s total value of OMR718,677.