Sustainability and Empowerment Program

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program is a developmental program focused on developing the non-profit sector, supporting endowments' contributions to economic and social development, and enabling them to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. It was launched by the General Authority for Awqaf in partnership with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on October 13, 2019.

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program contributes to addressing challenges faced by the non-profit sector, enhancing the endowment sector's contributions to the non-profit sector’s development and growth, and supporting economic and social growth to achieve the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. These goals include increasing the non-profit sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) from an estimated 0.3 percent to 5 percent, aligning with the global average of 6 percent, and raising the proportion of charitable projects with social impact, aligned with long-term national development goals, from 7 percent to 33 percent.

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program aims to achieve financial sustainability for non-profit entities, enhance the efficiency of organizations and their personnel, and direct endowment expenditures toward high-impact programs.

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program offers various fields, including serving the Pilgrims Experience Program, mosques, education, health, vulnerable groups, unemployment, and financial sustainability.

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program includes three main tracks:

Sustainability Track: This track aims to fulfill the developmental needs of the community by offering a range of products and innovating sustainable financial resources to achieve approximately SAR12 billion for the non-profit sector. This is accomplished through various products, such as the Associations Support Fund, Endowment Investment Funds, Endowment Sukuk, Donor Network, Developmental Endowment Funds, Endowment Investment Portfolios, Crowdfunding Platform, and Collective Investment.

Empowerment Track: This track focuses on developing and building the capacities of non-profit organizations and empowering them by raising community awareness of the role of the non-profit sector and endowments in development. It includes initiatives to promote university endowments, empower non-profit entities, propose enabling and encouraging legislation, and train personnel in the non-profit sector.

Integration Track: This track aims to support and enhance partnerships and integration with relevant entities to direct efforts toward developmental needs and priorities. These entities include charitable associations, grant-making institutions, companies with corporate social responsibility, government bodies, community endowments, business leaders, and university endowments.

The Sustainability and Empowerment Program aims to fulfill the conditions set by endowers, in accordance with the specified spending purposes, and to raise approximately SAR12 billion to finance and support the non-profit sector. The program seeks to increase the non-profit sector's contribution to the GDP, enhance the role of endowments in achieving financial sustainability for the non-profit sector, support the growth of specialized associations and enable them to develop organizations and their personnel, promote the development of specialized endowments, increase the percentage of developmental spending out of the non-profit sector's total expenditure, and empower and incentivize the non-profit sector.