Innovative endowment is a modern concept developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Centre for Endowment Consultancy (MBRGCEC), which provides an opportunity to a wide array of segments in the society to contribute to their society through endowments, and Awqaf. In the past, endowments and Awqaf were undertaken by the wealthy due to the required size of contributions. Similarly, the scope of endowment and Awqaf was focused on Islamic affairs and requirements such as mosques, religious schools, etc. Under Innovative Endowment, the contribution of the endowments and Awqaf are available to a larger group of the society and the scope is expanded to include social development and issues in health, education, housing, etc.
Innovative endowment can take the form of endowed assets and/or endowed funding.
Endowed assets: Granting any non-traditional asset (in kind or moral) owned by individuals or entities. These assets don’t have to be limited to real estate and land as is the case with traditional endowment/Awqaf. Asset types can vary from license to use services, IP, paid online applications, incubation centre for SMEs, consultation services, etc. The use of the asset can be decided by individual/entity on the condition that it serves a social cause. Below are some examples:
- Endowment newspaper advertisement: newspapers can dedicate endowment pages from advertisement.
- Endowment restaurant tables: restaurants can dedicate endowment tables.
- Endowment stadiums: sports clubs can dedicate endowment seats in their stadiums.
- Endowment taxis: taxi or car hire companies can dedicate endowment taxi fares or rental cars.
- Endowment hospital rooms: private hospitals can dedicate endowment rooms.
- Hotel endowment rooms: hotels can dedicate endowment rooms.
- Endowment shares: small projects can dedicate a percentage of their shares as endowment shares.
- Endowment hours: consultancy companies can dedicate endowment hours to be provided for free to some social segments as a social contribution.
- Endowment services: establishments can dedicate endowment services.
- Endowment gates: entertainment facilities can dedicate one of their gates as an endowment gate.
- Endowment screens: shopping malls can dedicate endowment advertisement screens.
- Endowment seconds: television and radio channels can dedicate endowment seconds from their advertising slots.
- Endowment parking: entities owning paid parking spaces can dedicate certain endowment spaces.
- Endowment shelves: retails stores can dedicate endowment shelves.
- Endowment equipment: establishments that collect fees for the use of their equipment (e.g. medical equipment at a private hospital) can dedicate endowment equipment.
Endowment funds: the scope of innovative endowment surpasses the limits of traditional endowment spending and focuses on social development issues. For instance, endowment spending can cater to:
- Medical research
- Science, technology and innovation
- Supporting youth projects
- Training and skills development
- Arabic language
- Any other field of development
