Congratulating the CEO and the staff for their robust volunteerism and domestic engagement, Salie asked Islamic Relief USA staff to play a greater role in leading other Islamic Relief offices toward the same successes. As each Islamic Relief office has its individual strengths, he hopes the offices can share strategies, experiences and lessons for further development throughout departments.

Even though he said people view particular countries like South Africa—where he is from—as charity cases, he emphasized that South Africa has a lot to offer in terms of resources and expertise. With further development of offices and greater communication, Salie hopes we can expand, working in other locations where there is great need.

All those tasks usually start the same way—by turning on the faucet.

Now imagine if your mother not only had to do all those loving tasks, but she also had to carry each drop of water from a well a couple miles away.

That is reality for millions of mothers around the world.

In Yemen, in Pakistan, in Mali and in many other countries, water does not always flow from faucets in homes. In many villages, it is still retrieved from wells—often miles from home. Every drop a family uses must be carried home, along rough paths, in heavy containers. In Africa, people spend 40 billion hours a year just carrying water.

And when men are out trying to scrape together money to give their children food that night, carrying the water is usually the job of the women.

What would you do if you saw your mom carrying this heavy load? You would take it from her hands and carry it for her. In her honor, do that for a mom somewhere in the world this Mother’s Day.

When you contribute to help build a deep-water well or water system to a village, you’re bringing clean water to drink and to help grow food. You’re bringing better health, as people no longer have to rely on germ-filled ponds where animals walk, or old shallow wells that are full of contamination. But you’re also sending a special gift for the women and girls—who can now do their traditional work free of the monumental burden of carrying each drop of water home before they can even start.

In villages that receive these new water sources, women can now spend their time in different ways. Often they start kitchen gardens to ease the burden of poverty, or they choose to take on some work that actually earns them an income. And girls who used to spend hours carrying water can go to school and improve their chances of having a brighter future when they’re women and mothers themselves.

If you bring your mother flowers today, think for a minute about the water in the vase. What a luxury we have, alhamdulillah, that we can turn on the faucet for 5 seconds and fill it up so easily.

And what a luxury that we can spare this water to stick flower stems in to beautify our mother’s life for a few days.

Take a moment today and give another mother the gift of water.

Every drop counts.

Dinner Provided | Babysitting Provided

The Gift Processor transfers donor pledge and/or gift contribution information from source documents to the Organization’s Raiser’s Edge software. Functioning in a crucial capacity to the Revenue Team, the incumbent ensures all donor information provided is accurately entered into the database following established standards, protocols and policies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Record gifts, pledges and pledge payments as directed by gift designation.
• Act as a resource for financial questions.
• Make demographic changes to donor profiles as identified by processing most recent donations.
• Prepare daily bank deposits.
• Handle donation processing and downloading of donor information from the IRUSA website.
• Produce gift receipts for gifts received.
• Work internally to resolve data discrepancies.
• Research missing or unclear information.
• Create gift batches with accurate donor contributions and produce gift validation report for Revenue Specialist(s) to review and commit gift batches.
• Collect daily donations received by Finance Office; evaluate, sort, distribute and total all donations made on a daily basis for daily reporting.
• Scan and electronically file all incoming donations to assist with maintaining source documentation.
• Perform other related duties as requested.

Qualifications and Competencies:

• Internet familiarity required.
• Strong mathematical ability required, in order to interpret data and perform mathematical calculations.
• Must be proficient and highly accurate in data entry.
• Must have effective communication and problem-solving skills.
• Must have ability to multitask and solve day-to-day work challenges.
• Must have excellent customer service skills and attention to detail.
• Prior data entry and cash handling experience preferred.

Islamic Relief USA is seeking qualified candidates available for employment, to fill several positions in the Donor Care department.  An accuracy test may be given on the day of the interview.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Entering and editing donors’ information.
• Answering inbound calls and making outbound calls.
• Receiving phone donations.
• Calling donors for follow-up.
• Sending targeted emails.
• Processing outgoing mail and conducting mail merge.
• Office duties as needed.

Qualifications and Competencies:

• High school diploma or GED.
• Must possess excellent interpersonal and oral communications skills, with a strong customer service focus.
• Must exhibit effective problem-solving skills.
• Should be self-directed, yet still comfortable working in a team environment.
• Prior Call Center or telephone customer service experience preferred.
• Intermediate technical proficiency in MS Office applications, with focus on Excel working knowledge.
• Must exhibit sharp attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities that are moderate in nature.
• Must possess excellent telephone customer service orientation, with the ability to represent the organization in a very positive manner.
• Ability to type accurately at a minimum of 30 WPM (words per minute).
• Must be professional, courteous, and resourceful with donors and staff.
• A minimum of one year of customer service experience.
• Ability to meet set goals and deadlines.
• Proficiency in Arabic, Urdu or Farsi preferred.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.

Registration is just $10, and can be done online or onsite on the day of the event. You can encourage your friends, family and even local businesses to support your efforts by cheering you on and by pledging donations or sponsorships–the more support, the faster we’ll reach our goal of raising $50,000!

“Walk for Water” day will be full of activities, food and entertainment— all for a good cause.

You can find the full details and register at irusa.org/walk.