National Zakat Foundation Canada (NZF Canada) is a CRA-registered charitable organization, business number 839912599 RR 0001, registered effective March 8, 2017 and based in Mississauga, Ontario. Its model is simple: every dollar of zakat collected is distributed to Muslims in need inside Canada within one lunar year, through caseworker-assessed applications. The latest T3010 return on the CRA listing, for the year ended December 31, 2024, reports $7.19 million of revenue and $7.05 million of expenditures, with 82.0% classed as charitable programs and 1.9% as management and administration. For a Canadian who wants local zakat distribution it is the obvious candidate; the questions are its silver-based nisab, its fundraising cost and what it does not publish. Start with our zakat hub.
Ready to compare halal options?
CRA registration and the 2024 T3010 figures
The CRA's List of Charities returns one result for "national zakat": National Zakat Foundation, Mississauga, Ontario, status Registered, designation charitable organization, with T3010 returns filed for 2020 through 2024. The 2025 return was not yet on the listing when we checked in October 2026, which is normal for a December year-end charity whose return was due June 30, 2026 and takes time to appear. The site says NZF has been helping Canadian Muslims since 2013; the CRA registration date is 2017, so the first four years presumably ran under another arrangement, which the site does not explain.
| 2024 T3010 line | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Receipted donations | $4,468,634 | 62.2% of revenue |
| Non-receipted donations | $630,914 | 8.8% |
| Gifts from other registered charities | $2,001,948 | 27.9% |
| Government funding | $44,419 | 0.6% |
| Total revenue | $7,187,201 | 100% |
| Charitable programs | $5,785,005 | 82.0% of expenditures |
| Management and administration | $134,089 | 1.9% |
| Fundraising | $934,167 | 13.2% |
Two lines stand out. Gifts from other registered charities were $2.0 million, over a quarter of revenue, which suggests NZF acts as a distribution channel for zakat collected by mosques and other charities that lack their own casework capacity; the quick view does not name the donors. Fundraising at $934,167, or 13.2% of expenditures, is the largest non-program cost by far and sits well above the 1.9% administration line. A further $199,327 went to other qualified donees. The 2024 return reports 28 full-time and 4 part-time employees and total compensation of $1,524,633, with the top ten positions falling in two bands: eight at $40,000 to $79,999 and two at $80,000 to $119,999. No one is paid $120,000 or more.
How distribution works: who can apply and how cases are assessed
NZF's application page sets out the process in plain steps, and its FAQ describes the standard: applicants go through a financial assessment to determine whether they qualify under guidelines set by the Shariah advisors, with caseworkers verifying information and matching need to assistance.
- Complete the online application and verify both an email address and a Canadian phone number.
- Submit the application, then upload the documents NZF emails you, including bank statements; NZF publishes a tutorial for downloading statements from RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC.
- A caseworker assesses the file against Islamic and financial eligibility criteria; incomplete documents delay the decision.
- Receive a decision, typically within 7 to 10 days of all supporting material arriving, with urgent cases handled sooner.
- If approved, assistance is provided in the form NZF considers fit for the need; under current CRA rules NZF does not hand cash directly to applicants.
- Re-apply after four months of receiving support, or after two months if found ineligible.
Zakat is treated as a restricted fund for Muslims in need. Non-Muslim applicants are helped from non-zakat funds and connected to other community resources. The CRA program description adds detail the website does not: NZF's registered purposes include food vouchers, clothing and financial assistance under established selection criteria; establishing and operating transitional houses for Muslim women and children who are homeless, low-income or victims of domestic abuse, with counselling and outreach; zakat education; and building calculation tools. Whether transitional housing is currently operating is not stated on the pages we fetched.
What NZF funds, and the impact numbers it publishes
The programs page groups assistance into named streams: Feed Our Neighbours (food support, with a choice between a delivered halal food box and a halal grocery voucher), House Our Neighbours (help accessing safe, stable housing), Life Essentials (urgent food, clothing and utilities), New Roots (newcomers building stability), Medical Relief (essential medical and health costs), the Islamic Scholarship Program (tuition, Quran programs and school essentials for children) and a seasonal Share the Warmth winter campaign. Food packages are delivered to the door or a pick-up location through local partner organizations and volunteers, which the site frames as protecting recipient privacy.
The headline impact numbers are inconsistent across the site. The about page states 81,000 or more Muslims supported since 2013 and 141 or more cities reached, with over $23 million of zakat and sadaqah distributed; the home page states 26,100 or more individuals supported and 145 or more cities. The difference is probably a definitional one (people in households versus applicants, or cumulative versus a recent period), but the site does not say, and a donor should ask. The $23 million cumulative figure sits comfortably with the $5.8 million of charitable program spending reported for 2024 alone.
Nisab basis and calculator methodology, compared with HalalWallet's guidance
NZF's online calculator defaults to the silver nisab, shown as 595 grams of silver, with a gold option available. Using silver sets the lowest threshold and brings the most people into the obligation, which is the position NZF and many Canadian scholars prefer for a domestic poverty program. Islamic Relief Canada, by contrast, publishes 612.36 grams of silver as its nisab weight, so two of the best-known zakat collectors in the country use different silver weights; the difference is a few dozen dollars at current prices and comes down to which classical conversion of the dirham each follows. Our Canadian zakat rules guide explains both the gold and silver bases and when each is used.
| Item | NZF calculator treatment |
|---|---|
| Nisab | Silver by default (595 g); gold selectable |
| Gold and silver jewellery | Zakatable at resale value; safer view applied to all jewellery; no zakat on other metals or gemstones |
| Long-term shares and ETFs | 30% of market value treated as zakatable (a proxy for the underlying zakatable assets) |
| Short-term or actively traded shares | Full market value zakatable at 2.5% |
| RRSP | Enter the value net of withholding tax (10%, 20%, 30% by withdrawal band; 5%, 10%, 15% in Quebec), not net of final income tax |
| Debts and liabilities | Deduct only amounts due within the next 12 lunar months; for a mortgage or student loan, principal due in the year only |
The RRSP treatment is the most consequential choice. NZF has you deduct the withholding tax you would pay on withdrawal today and pay 2.5% on the net, which is a middle position between paying on the gross balance and the view that locked-in retirement money is not zakatable until accessible. Our guide to zakat on RRSPs and TFSAs lays out the three positions; if you follow a different one, enter your own figure rather than NZF's net value. The 30% proxy for long-term shares is a common simplification; investors with the data can instead compute the actual zakatable share of each company's balance sheet, and the HalalWallet zakat calculator lets you enter either.
Overhead and the amilin policy as stated
NZF's zakat policies page commits to distributing every dollar of zakat in Canada, within one lunar year of collection, with each campaign's intent stated clearly and all Shariah matters reviewed by its Shariah Advisory Board and an internal Islamic Compliance Committee. On administration it relies on the amilin category, the Quranic allowance for those who administer zakat, but with a stated order of preference: zakat may be used to run the program only after other available resources, such as sadaqah, have been used. The FAQ puts the administrative cost at 5% or less and says the policy is to try to cover all of it from non-zakat donations.
The T3010 bears this out on administration, at 1.9%, but a donor should notice that fundraising at 13.2% is a separate line and is not covered by the 5% statement. Whether any zakat money pays for fundraising is not addressed on the pages we read; NZF's wording covers "admin costs". The honest reading is that NZF runs a very lean back office and spends meaningfully on acquiring donors, and that a sadaqah gift to its general fund is what keeps zakat untouched by both.
Governance and Shariah oversight
The site names a three-member Shariah Advisory Board: Mufti Taha Masood (head administrator and instructor at the Al-Ihsan Centre in British Columbia, completed the Mufti program in March 2013), Shaykh Hacene Chebbani (Bachelor of Shariah from the Islamic University of Madinah in 1993, Master's in Islamic Finance from the UK in 2012, imam in Calgary, described as the board's senior scholar) and Imam Nabil Khan (Dars Nizami graduate of Al-Ihsan Institute, imam in Vancouver). A chief executive officer and chief operating officer are listed on the about page. The organization's office is at 115 Matheson Blvd W, Unit 214, Mississauga.
What the pages we fetched do not show is a list of the board of directors by name, or a link to audited financial statements. The T3010 is public, and the CRA listing is the place to confirm the financial figures above, but a charity distributing $5.8 million of restricted religious funds should post its audited statements and director list where donors can find them. We would treat the absence as a disclosure gap rather than a red flag, and it is a fair question to put to the organization before a large gift.
Get every halal provider graded (free PDF)
Every Canadian halal provider graded on Shariah integrity, transparency, and value - the full scorecard PDF, plus alerts when grades change
No spam ever. Unsubscribe in one click.
What is not published
- Audited financial statements were not linked on the pages we fetched; the CRA T3010 is the only public financial record we could read.
- The directors of the corporation are not named on the pages we fetched; only the Shariah Advisory Board and executive titles are.
- Which charities make up the $2.0 million of gifts from other registered charities is not disclosed in the quick view.
- The impact figures differ between pages (81,000-plus versus 26,100-plus people supported) without an explanation of the measurement.
- Whether the transitional housing program described in the CRA purposes is operating, and at what scale, is not stated.
Verdict: local versus overseas zakat, and how to split
A zakat payer who holds the view that zakat should be spent where it is collected, or who simply wants to see its effect in a Canadian neighbourhood, can give to NZF Canada with confidence in three facts: the money stays in Canada, it is distributed within a lunar year through assessed cases, and administration is held to a few percent and preferentially funded from sadaqah. The disclosure gaps are about governance documents, not about where the money goes. A payer who follows the view that the greatest need abroad takes priority will prefer a relief organization such as the one in our Islamic Relief Canada review, and many Canadian scholars endorse a split rather than an either-or.
A practical split for a household paying several thousand dollars a year is to send the local share to NZF Canada and the overseas share to a relief charity with a published zakat policy, and to add a small sadaqah gift to NZF's general fund so that its administration is covered by non-zakat money, which is the outcome its own policy prefers. Both gifts earn the Canadian donation tax credit, covered in our guide to zakat and tax deductibility in Canada. Compare the options in our best Muslim charities in Canada roundup and the charities directory, and time the calculation with our Ramadan finance guide if you pay in Ramadan. Facts checked against nzfcanada.com, apps.cra-arc.gc.ca on October 4, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is National Zakat Foundation Canada legitimate?
Yes. National Zakat Foundation is a registered Canadian charity, business number 839912599 RR 0001, status Registered on the CRA's List of Charities since March 8, 2017, with T3010 returns filed for 2020 through 2024. Its 2024 return reports $7.19 million of revenue, $7.05 million of expenditures, 82.0% on charitable programs and 1.9% on administration. It names a three-scholar Shariah Advisory Board and operates from Mississauga, Ontario.
Does NZF Canada really distribute all zakat inside Canada?
That is its published policy: every dollar of zakat collected is used in Canada in line with its distribution policy, and all zakat is distributed within one lunar year of collection. The CRA listing shows no direct resource allocation outside Canada, consistent with that claim. The program streams are food, housing, life essentials, newcomer support, medical relief and children's Islamic education, delivered through caseworker-assessed applications and local partner organizations.
What nisab does NZF Canada use?
NZF's calculator defaults to the silver nisab, shown as 595 grams of silver at the current price, with gold available as an option. Silver sets the lower threshold, so more people are obliged to pay and the poor receive more, which is the reasoning NZF and many scholars give for using it. Islamic Relief Canada uses 612.36 grams of silver, a slightly different classical conversion, so the thresholds differ by a small amount.
How long does a zakat application to NZF Canada take?
Most applications are processed within 7 to 10 days of NZF receiving all supporting documents, depending on volume, with urgent cases handled sooner. You apply online, verify an email and Canadian phone number, upload documents such as bank statements, and a caseworker assesses the file. NZF does not pay cash directly to applicants under current CRA rules; assistance takes the form NZF judges appropriate. Recipients may re-apply after four months of support.
How does NZF Canada treat RRSPs in its zakat calculator?
NZF asks you to enter your RRSP value after deducting the withholding tax you would pay if you withdrew today (10%, 20% or 30% by withdrawal band for most provinces; 5%, 10% or 15% in Quebec), and then charges 2.5% on that net amount. It specifically says not to adjust for final income tax at filing. If you follow a different scholarly position on locked retirement savings, enter your own figure instead.
Compare providers in your province
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Is a donation to NZF Canada tax receiptable?
Yes. NZF Canada is a registered charity and issues official donation receipts; its 2024 return shows $4.47 million of receipted donations, which is 62% of revenue. Both zakat and sadaqah gifts earn the federal and provincial donation tax credits. Claiming the credit does not affect the validity of the zakat. Keep the receipt with your return and use the CRA business number 839912599 RR 0001 to confirm the listing.
