# Funds

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Peter Smith, Funds, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Funds
> 
> Extract from A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith
> by Peter Smith
> 
> published by One World, 2000
> 
> Funds.
> 
> The Activities of the Baha’i Faith are financed by the voluntary contributions of Baha’is. No
> solicitation of contributions is allowed other than general appeals for donations. Only
> donations from Baha’is are accepted for support of the propagation work of the Faith, but
> outside assistance is allowed in funding charitable and SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
> projects.
> 
> Origins.
> 
> Although the Bab referred to donations being made to himself and to the future HE WHOM
> GOD SHALL MAKE MANIFEST (Walbridge, Sacred 95-96), no organized funding system ever
> seems to have been developed by amongst the Babis. By contrast, Baha’u’llah noted ‘the
> progress and promotion of the cause of God depended on material means’ (CC1: 489), and
> called upon his followers voluntarily to contribute a specified proportion of their wealth. This
> was the HUQUQU’LLAH (established c. 1873, implemented 1878). He also referred to the
> future establish of an alms-tax (ZAKAT).
> 
> The Huquq was payable at first to Baha’u’llah, and later to his successors as centers of the
> Faith, and was used for such purposes as the support of Baha’i teachers. Its payment
> remained largely confined to Middle Eastern Baha’is until 1992. In addition to the Huquq,
> early Bahais also made gifts to Bahala and later to Abdul Baha, and expended resources on
> particular projects which they considered important, such as the building of local Baha’i
> centers and the Ashkhabad Temple (MASRIQU’L-ADHKAR). The early Western Baha’is did not
> pay Huquq, but they followed the example of their Middle Eastern coreligionists in making
> donations and supporting projects such as publishing and the planned temple near Chicago
> See BAHAI TEMPLE UNITY).
> 
> Local and national funds.
> 
> The overall system of funding was regularized by Shoghi Effendi. In 1923 he directed that all
> local and national ASSEMBLIES should establish their own funds. These would be under their
> exclusive control, and should be expended as they saw fit to promote the interests of the
> Faith (e.g. for TEACHING campaigns; help for the needy; EDUCATION). The funds would be
> administered by the assemblies’ elected treasurers. The flow of contributions represented
> the ‘lifeblood’ of these institutions All Baha’is were encouraged to support the funds ‘freely
> and generously’, and in a spirit of sacrifice. This is a source of spiritual blessings. Giving is a
> means whereby individuals can test the extent of their own devotion and spiritual progress.
> There is no limit; it is the extent of the sacrifice not the actual amount that is important.
> They should be ‘undeterred by thoughts of poverty’ and reliant on God’s bounty, but also
> wise and not incur debts or cause suffering to others in order to donate. Local assemblies as
> well as individuals should support their respective national funds. All donations should be
> entirely voluntary, and no one should ever be psychologically pressurized into giving. It is a
> personal matter, and each individual should follow the dictates of his or her own conscience.
> They are free to make their contributions anonymously or to receive a receipt from the
> Treasurer. They are also free to earmark donations for specific purposes. Monies for
> philanthropic and strictly Baha’i administrative and teaching purposes should be
> differentiated, with only Baha’is being allowed to contribute to the latter (those Baha’is who
> have been deprived of their ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTS were not allowed the bounty of
> contributing to the funds). The monies available to Baha’is are limited extent in extent, and
> the assemblies should ensure that the funds under their control are expended wisely and
> carefully. Heavy budgets should not be imposed on weak Baha’i communities. CC1: 529-50.
> 
> Since 1963 the Universal House of Justice has specified various matters of detail regarding
> fund-raising and disbursement (e.g. ruling that raffles and ‘garage sales’ were inappropriate
> means), and has stated that governmental and other public funds could be applied for to
> support the Baha’i humanitarian ventures. It has also appealed for ‘universal participation’
> in giving; prepared guidelines for treasurers and study materials on TRUSTWORTHINESS; and
> directed that assemblies adopt proper measures of auditing and expenditure control. LG
> 249-65; MUHJ 10 no. 2.11, 26-7 no. 13, 650-2 no 419, 676-9 no. 435.
> 
> Other funds.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi designated the monies under his control as head of the faith as the
> International Fund. This was used for the international projects of the faith including the
> programme of building and land acquisition of the BAHA’I WORLD CENTRE, international
> CONFERENCES, and the subsidy of activities and property acquisitions in poorer parts of the
> Baha’i world. Individuals and local and national assemblies were all encouraged to
> contribute to it. In 1954 instituted five continental funds to support the work of the HANDS
> OF THE CAUSE and the newly established AUXILIARY BOARDS (MBW 59, 63). Under the
> Universal House of Justice the demands of on the international fund have increased
> enormously (almost doubled from 1963 to 1967 alone), both because of the increasing
> range of activities and projects at the World Centre and the EXPANSION of Baha’i
> communities in poorer countries which needed subsidy. All local and national communities
> have been urged to become self-supporting, but this is evidently all but impossible in some
> poorer countries. A number of crises have therefore developed, the most serious in the
> wake of the Islamic revolution in Iran (1979), when the sufferings of the Iranian Baha’i
> community drastically reduced what had been the major source of international funding.
> Nevertheless, these crises have been overcome, and an ever-increasing range of activities
> undertaken. The House has also established an International Deputization Fund to support
> PIONEERING (1965) and an Arc Fund to fund the extensive building projects of the Ark.
> MUHJ 26-7 no. 13, 62 no. 24.11, 97-8 no. 40, 178-9 no. 87, 412 no. 223.
>
> — *Funds (Used by permission of the curator)*