When I was a child, the month before Ramadan, my immigrant parents would sit at the kitchen table with my sister and me to discuss how our family could give back. They would tell us about a family relative back in India who could use our help. Maybe it was for something critical, like surgery; or something invaluable, like education; or something practical, like a sewing machine! My working-class family’s support was not extravagant, but we did what we could. This experience taught me that, even as a child, I had the power to make a transformational difference in others’ lives.
Read MoreOstensibly, tax laws and tax incentives were created so that the wealthy would have agency in their charitable giving and, hopefully, increase it. But is that really what’s happening? Are billionaires actually giving more? And in my own position of relative privilege, how can I leverage these laws and incentives to benefit my community?
Read MoreTwo months before the holy month of Ramadan begins, my mailbox, inbox, and messaging groups swell with invitations to fundraising dinners from all across the metro. Typically, a well renowned speaker flies in, gives a keynote at a semi-formal dinner, and a familiar face challenges us to dig deeper into our pockets with a starting bid to donate $25,000!
Read MoreIn a word, we were *woke,* but were still lacking a space for us to gather and pool our resources to affect real change in often-ignored areas: social and political action and philanthropy. These spaces exist in droves elsewhere, like my professional networks, but were lacking within communities in which I focused on my faith.
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