All donations made to the Masjid Bencoolen are handled in accordance with the following guidelines.

Donations made to Masjid Bencoolen
All donations made through Masjid Bencoolen website are made to Masjid Bencoolen, a MUIS registered as the charity of record. Donors will receive a dated receipt of donation from Masjid Bencoolen marking the date the donation was made to Masjid Bencoolen. All grants made by Masjid Bencoolen are effected in a manner that is consistent with our policies and applicable laws and regulations.

The Masjid Bencoolen enrolment status of a charity will determine the method and speed at which we grant funds to that charity. As described below, Masjid Bencoolen pursues multiple specified steps to grant donations it receives to its donors’ recommended charities. Pending distribution of grants, Masjid Bencoolen holds all donations in a secure, bank account.

Through certain partner programs, donors may have the option to recommend that we grant the funds they donate to charities they identify. Masjid Bencoolen attempts to grant donations made to benefit charities that have not enrolled with Masjid Bencoolen after making reasonable attempts to contact them and invite their enrolment in Masjid Bencoolen. We receive information about these charities from our partnership with GuideStar.  We will grant funds to an un-enrolled charity provided that we have verified the charity’s identity and conducted an appropriate level of due diligence into the charity, its officers and directors to confirm that it does not promote hate, violence, racial intolerance, and does not engage in money laundering or other illegal activities.

We will first notify an un-enrolled charity about Masjid Bencoolen’s intent to grant it funds the month after donors have first indicated a desire to support it, and we will invite the charity to enroll with Masjid Bencoolen, enabling it to receive funds quickly and securely. We will make multiple subsequent attempts to contact un-enrolled charities, via email, letter and, in some cases, by phone. If a charity does not enroll with Masjid Bencoolen, we endeavour to deliver the grant funds by other appropriate means, including via check. If a charity does not enroll and we are unable to pay the charity by check (e.g., a check is returned or is not cashed within the time period specified on the check), we may, at our discretion, remove the charity from our directory of eligible charities and reassign funds in the manner described below.

Reassignment of certain donations
While we take multiple steps to attempt to grant donated funds according to the donor’s identified preference, Masjid Bencoolen retains exclusive control over all donations. If a charity fails to meet Masjid Bencoolen’s due diligence standards as described above for receipt of a donation at any time, we reserve the right to reassign funds to another charitable organization of our choice. We may also reassign donations in the event we are unable to distribute the funds successfully (e.g., the charity fails to cash the check(s) we send).

The tax-deductible status of a donation does not change if funds are reassigned because Masjid Bencoolen is the charitable organization of record for the donor’s original donation.

When reassigning funds, Masjid Bencoolen will try to select charities that operate in a similar cause area (and sometimes a similar location) to the charity originally identified by the donor. In doing so, we favour charities that have enrolled with Masjid Bencoolen, to enable efficient, secure and cost-effective delivery to charities. For example, if we are unable to enroll, or deliver a check to, an unenrolled local organization providing housing services, we may reassign the funds to a Masjid Bencoolen enrolled national organization, or to a nearby local organization that also provides housing services.