Islamic Relief Canada Review (2026): CRA Filings, Zakat Policy and Program Spend

Islamic Relief Canada is a CRA-registered charitable organization, business number 821896875 RR 0001, registered effective January 1, 2006 and based at 3501 Mainway in Burlington, Ontario. Its T3010 return for the year ended December 31, 2025 reports $134.5 million of revenue and $143.0 million of expenditures, with 86.3% of spending classed as charitable programs, 4.0% as management and administration and 9.7% as fundraising. It publishes a scholar-verified Zakat Policy that caps the administration charged to zakat at 12.5% and bars zakat from paying for fundraising. It is a sound choice for zakat and sadaqah going overseas; a donor who wants zakat spent inside Canada should read the domestic section below and our zakat hub.

CRA registration and what the 2025 T3010 shows

The CRA's List of Charities shows Islamic Relief Canada under the legal name "Islamic Relief - IR Canada", status Registered, designation charitable organization, with returns filed for every year from 2021 to 2025. The 2025 return covers the calendar year and was due June 30, 2026. The figures below are the CRA's quick view of that return. They are self-reported by the charity on the T3010 and are not audited by the CRA, but they are the same numbers the charity's auditors sign off on in the annual financial statements it posts.

Expenditures exceeded revenue by about $8.6 million in 2025, which on its own is not a warning sign for a relief charity that spends appeal money raised late in a prior year. The "all other revenue" line of $26.1 million is large and the quick view does not break it down; the audited statements would. Gifts to other qualified donees were $15.2 million, which the CRA shows as a separate line from program spending, and the charity reported programs in over 30 countries with direct resource allocation to a list that includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Where the money goes: program spend, overhead and the IRW implementation cost

Two sets of overhead numbers exist and they do not quite match, for a legitimate reason. The T3010 quick view reports management and administration at $5,677,611 (4.0% of expenditures) and fundraising at $13,870,427 (9.7%). Islamic Relief Canada's own "Admin Explained" page, citing its most recent audited statements, puts overall overhead at 14.5 cents per dollar, split 4.2% administration and 10.3% fundraising, leaving 85.5% for programs. The CRA percentages are shares of expenditures; the charity's are shares of revenue received in the year. Both land in the same place: roughly one dollar in seven goes to running and growing the organization, the rest to programs.

The more important disclosure is how the program dollar is spent once it leaves Canada. Islamic Relief Canada describes itself as an independent affiliate and member of the Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) federation, with members in 12 other countries, and says the majority of its international projects are implemented by IRW. When IRW implements a project, Islamic Relief Canada pays IRW design, implementation and monitoring costs valued at 7% to 8% of total project cost, and field-office program expenses that cannot exceed 8% of program cost. Under CRA guidance these are classified as charitable, not overhead, because they focus on beneficiaries. A donor should understand that "86% to programs" includes up to roughly 16% of each project budget paid to the implementing arm; the charity argues, reasonably, that a shared federation field office in Yemen costs each member less than running its own.

The charity also publishes a return-on-fundraising figure: its marketing and digital advertising generate $14 to $16 per dollar spent, and about 1% of revenue goes to credit card processing fees before the charity receives the gift. Neither figure is verifiable from the T3010, but both are the kind of specific claim a serious donor can ask the charity to evidence.

The Zakat Policy: who verified it and what it promises

Islamic Relief Canada's Zakat Policy page, marked last reviewed September 2026, names a Zakat Advisory Board of Ustadha Ieasha Prime, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Sheikh Yusuf Badat, Sheikh Abdul Wahab and Sheikh Abdalla Idris as providing oversight and verification of distribution. It also posts three certifications that the Islamic Relief zakat policy accords with Shariah, from Sheikh Abdullah al-Judai, Mufti Abdul Qadir Barkatulla (Sharia Judge at the Islamic Sharia Council, London) and Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi. Those three certify the federation-level policy; the five-member board is the Canadian oversight layer.

The operating commitments are specific. Zakat income and spending are kept in separate, traceable accounting records. Zakat is distributed only to rights holders in the Quranic categories, with the poor and needy as the primary focus, and the charity keeps records of how each project matches the criteria. It aims to distribute zakat within a year of receipt and prohibits using zakat for endowments, investments, loans or business enterprises. It asks donors to give to a general zakat fund rather than restricting, on the grounds that the obligation is not discharged until the recipient receives the funds, and says it will decline a zakat gift whose conditions it cannot meet.

On administration, the charity relies on the amilin category: it may use up to 12.5% of donations to zakat-specific funds for administrative and operational overhead, and commits to using unrestricted or non-zakat funds to stay at or under that cap. It states it will not use zakat for fundraising, marketing, event sponsorship, influencers, generic training or governance costs. For a zakat payer that is the operative promise: at least 87.5 cents of each zakat dollar reaches zakat-eligible projects, and the balance is a scholar-sanctioned administration charge. Its zakat page also publishes the nisab it uses, with 612.36 grams of silver valued at about $2,112.64 and 87.48 grams of gold at about $17,732.20 as of May 25, 2026; our Canadian zakat rules guide explains how to choose between the two.

Governance: board, staff and audited statements

The leadership page lists a volunteer board, uncompensated as directors: Ebad Rahman as chair (a corporate and commercial lawyer who joined the board in 2016), Afnan Attia as treasurer, Naseem Mithoowani and Dr. Aarif Pathan among the members, alongside a staff leadership team that includes a chief financial officer, a chief governance officer and directors of programs, fundraising, marketing and finance. Regional representatives cover Ontario, British Columbia, Ottawa and Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and southern Alberta.

The 2025 T3010 reports 128 full-time and 25 part-time employees and total compensation of $9,608,193. Of the ten highest-paid positions, one falls in the $200,000 to $249,999 band, five in $120,000 to $159,999 and four in $80,000 to $119,999. For a $134 million organization, a top salary under $250,000 is modest by Canadian charity standards. Audited financial statements for 2021 through 2025 and annual impact reports for the same years are posted on the annual reports page, and the charity links directly to its own CRA listing from that page. The 2025 impact report claims over 4.4 million people reached through more than 113 projects.

Programs: over 30 countries, and what runs inside Canada

The CRA program description groups the work into categories, which is a useful way to read the appeals on the site.

• Livelihoods, with a stated focus on climate-adaptive support and economic programs.
• Health, including water, sanitation and hygiene, primary health care and in some cases secondary and tertiary services or referrals.
• Food and nutrition through cash programming, gardening and food distributions, including seasonal Ramadan food packs and Qurbani and Aqeeqah meat.
• Protection through community-based approaches and psychosocial support.
• Education, including stipends for girls' schooling, materials for individuals and schools, and safe learning environments.
• Shelter, particularly post-disaster, and cash assistance for orphan sponsorship.

Domestic work exists but is a small share and is not separately quantified in the filings. The home page in October 2026 was promoting $50 school backpacks for students across Canada, support for Naseeha's Muslim youth helpline, and a British Columbia wildfires appeal, and the Zakat Policy states the organization may research poverty in Canada and that the board of directors determines the amount of zakat allocated domestically. The charity is also a member of the Humanitarian Coalition, through which it receives government matching for large humanitarian crises. If your priority is local zakat distribution, our review of National Zakat Foundation Canada covers the organization built around that model.

What is not published or could not be verified

• The split of 2025 revenue between zakat and sadaqah is not in the T3010 quick view, and we did not find it stated on the site's public pages.
• The dollar amount of zakat distributed inside Canada in any year is not published; the policy says the board sets it.
• The "all other revenue" line of $26.1 million is not itemized in the quick view; the audited statements should explain it, and we did not open the PDFs for this review.
• Nisab figures on the zakat page were dated May 25, 2026; check the current value before calculating, since silver and gold prices move.
• The $14 to $16 return per fundraising dollar and the 1% card-processing figure are the charity's own statements and are not independently verifiable.

Verdict by donor type, and the tax credit

A zakat payer can give to Islamic Relief Canada's general zakat fund with confidence that the funds are ring-fenced, scholar-overseen, distributed within about a year to the poor and needy, and that no more than 12.5% is taken for administration under the amilin allowance; a payer who follows the view that zakat should be spent locally first should split with a domestic distributor rather than relying on IRC's unquantified Canadian allocation. A sadaqah donor gets a large, audited, federation-backed relief organization whose fundraising cost of around 10% is the number to watch over time. A monthly giver should pick the general fund over a restricted appeal, for the same reason the charity itself gives: unrestricted money moves fastest.

Every gift to a registered charity earns a Canadian donation tax credit, and both zakat and sadaqah qualify; our guide to whether zakat is tax deductible in Canada walks through the federal and provincial credit. Compare the organization against the field in our roundup of the best Muslim charities in Canada and our Penny Appeal Canada review, run your own number through the HalalWallet zakat calculator, and use the charities directory for CRA numbers before Ramadan, when our Ramadan finance guide is the companion page. Facts checked against islamicreliefcanada.org, apps.cra-arc.gc.ca on September 19, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is Islamic Relief Canada legit?

Yes. Islamic Relief Canada is a registered Canadian charity (business number 821896875 RR 0001) with status Registered on the CRA's List of Charities, returns filed every year from 2021 to 2025, audited financial statements posted for the same years, and a volunteer board. Its 2025 T3010 reports $134.5 million of revenue and 86.3% of expenditures on charitable programs. It is a member of the Islamic Relief Worldwide federation and of the Humanitarian Coalition.

What is Islamic Relief Canada's charity number?

The CRA business number is 821896875 RR 0001, registered under the legal name "Islamic Relief - IR Canada" with a status effective date of January 1, 2006. The charity prints the number in its website footer. You need it to confirm the listing on the CRA's List of Charities and to check that a donation receipt is valid for the Canadian donation tax credit.

Does Islamic Relief Canada accept zakat, and how is it spent?

Yes. Zakat is tracked in separate accounting records, distributed to Quranic categories with the poor and needy as the primary focus, and the charity aims to distribute it within a year of receipt. Up to 12.5% may be used for administration under the amilin category, but none may be used for fundraising or marketing. The policy is overseen by a five-scholar Zakat Advisory Board and the federation policy carries three Shariah certifications.

How much of Islamic Relief Canada's spending goes to programs?

The 2025 T3010 shows 86.3% of expenditures ($123.5 million of $143.0 million) as charitable programs, 4.0% as management and administration and 9.7% as fundraising. The charity's own page, measured against revenue, gives 85.5% programs and 14.5% overhead. Program spending includes implementation costs of 7% to 8% paid to Islamic Relief Worldwide plus field-office costs of up to 8%, which the CRA classifies as charitable rather than overhead.

Is Islamic Relief Canada the same as Islamic Relief Worldwide?

No. Islamic Relief Canada describes itself as an independent affiliate and one of 13 members of the Islamic Relief Worldwide federation, with its own Canadian board, CRA registration and audited statements. IRW is its primary implementing partner for international projects and shares field offices in over 30 countries with the other members. Donating to the Canadian entity is what earns a Canadian tax receipt; gifts made directly to IRW abroad do not.

Can I claim a tax credit for zakat given to Islamic Relief Canada?

Yes. Zakat given to a registered Canadian charity is a charitable donation for tax purposes and earns the federal and provincial donation tax credits on the official receipt. The 2025 return shows $96.0 million of receipted donations, so receipting is routine. Claiming the credit does not reduce the religious validity of the zakat; our guide on whether zakat is tax deductible in Canada explains the credit rates and how to carry forward unused amounts.