(ICCF) offered by North American Islamic Trust (NAIT; www.islamicbookservice.org). NAIT executive director Salah Obeidallah says, “We always encourage our member organizations to find a vehicle to invest their savings. Whatever suits their needs and is beneficial. Just don’t let savings sit there. It’s a loss for the community, for the organization. I fully understand their anxiety over losing valuable funds to market fluctuation, but what if you have a fund that is specifically designed to offer growth on investment while minimizing risk of principal loss or loss of accumulated earnings?” Explaining how the risk is minimized, he states, “ICCF is designed to control risk by retaining a portion of the profit — in profitable years — to create a reserve that protects against losses in a non-profitable year, thus guaranteeing no risk of losing principal.” “For example,” Obeidallah continues, “there were years in which a yield of 10.2 percent was declared, which balanced out the years in which no yield was declared.” While explaining this further, he mentioned that the S&P 500 had averaged a 7.15 percent annual yield over the past 20 years. During those years, it had seen a one-year decline of 37 percent. “We all know that such declines in the equity market can happen suddenly and unpredictably. However, ICCF [has] managed to protect investors’ principal savings or earnings in the last 39 years,” notes Obeidallah. “It is unfortunate that despite such performance and safety, Islamic organizations still haven’t fully taken advantage of this investment option, which also offers 100 percent liquidity with access to funds within a few hours if an emergent need arises. There is absolutely nothing to lose.” Obeidallah offers, “Let’s suppose [the following]. If your organization saved $5 million over a period of seven years and you invested that in the ICCF or any other suitable halal manner, it would have earned approximately $2,035,000 in growth during those seven years. Why deprive the community of that halal money, which could help address so many more needs?” Muslim Americans must adopt creative ways to maximize the value of an institution’s savings. Hoarding cash is not an option. Ask yourself: Is your institution being smart in its cash management? ih Sadia Qureshi is a communications consultant for nonprofit organizations.
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