Investments
Sustaining charitable impact through ethical, Shariah-compliant investments that preserve and grow Waqf funds.
Awqaf’s Investment Purpose & Funds
Awqaf’s purpose is to empower change through endowments for the Australian Muslim Community through the Islamic principle of “Waqfs”, which means assets that are donated, bequeathed, or purchased for being held in perpetual trust for general or specific charitable causes that are socially beneficial.
Awqaf’s vision is to enable donors to establish enduring legacies through multiple funds including a Forever Fund (mechanism for “forever” charitable grants), an Endowment Fund (mechanism for endowment projects that will serve the community interest for generations to come) and a Benevolent Fund (mechanism for grants towards projects that provide relief from poverty, sickness, destitution, helplessness, suffering, misfortune, disability, and distress).
How Your Donations Are Invested
Specifically for the Awqaf Australia Forever Fund and Awqaf Australia Endowment Fund, your donation is given a waqf status with the intent to preserve your donation indefinitely. This is achieved by investing the donation to generate income and returns. While preserving the donation, returns on your donation are then utilised to fund sustainable charitable grants out across all charitable causes.
Investment Approach & Philosophy
Whether it’s a one-off donation or recurring donations to the funds, our mission is to maximise the returns on your donations.
Awqaf Australia’s shariah compliant investment portfolio is founded on the following beliefs:
- Capital is not allocated for investment unless the expected return is adequate to compensate for the assessed risk taken.
- Absolute positive returns, not market-index benchmark relative returns, are a primary investment objective.
- Timeframes are a critical consideration in determining risk and return expectations.
- Asset allocation is the key determinant of investment risk and return.
- Diversification of assets and investment strategies is essential in managing the portfolio.
- Shariah-compliant funds place a strong emphasis on ethical and socially responsible investments, which benefits the wider community.
- Investment options aligned to Islamic principles: Shariah-compliant investments aim to generate returns while adhering to the ethical and moral principles of Islam.
- Waqf status of investments ensures that capital preservation is critical to ensuring ongoing success. This includes maintaining the real value of the investment account i.e. the value of an asset remains whole.
- Shariah-compliant investments avoid forbidden activities (Haram) and speculative and uncertain investments (Gharar) which help preserve and grow invested capital over the long-term.
- To protect capital, diversification and the selection of quality assets and proven Shariah complying investment strategies are to play a key role in risk mitigation.
Your donation is preserved, grown, and invested ethically to sustain impact for generations.
Investment Objectives
Awqaf’’s investment portfolio includes the following investment objectives:
- All investments must be Shariah compliant
- Strong emphasis on ethical and socially responsible investments
- Time horizon of 5-7 years and longer when determining return outcomes
- Target annual return of 9.4% on donations
