We’re already well into Ramadan 2026. It’s been over a week of fasting, night prayers, and almsgiving. For the first time in 2 decades, Christians and Muslims will be celebrating Ramadan and Lent together. This brings together about 3.5 billion people worldwide to simultaneously fast, pray, reflect and give.

Muslims pay zakat, an obligatory alms of 2.5% of the earnings over the last 12 months, during Ramadan more than any other time. 60% of Muslim charities receive 60% of all their donations during Ramadan. This month alone, the zakat that will be paid by Muslims all over the world is estimated at $550–600 billion globally. This is four times the entire G7 aid budget. That’s the staggering scale of the generosity during this period when hearts turn toward giving.

But with so many appeals on us to give, one question we have to ask is: Where is our zakat actually going? Is it truly helping people in need? Or will it disappear into the pockets of those for whom it is not intended?

Here’s a simple but powerful way many smart givers think about this: the Value of a Statistical Life (VSL).

In other words, how much is a life worth in cold cash? 

To be sure, a human life is priceless. To put a figure on it is both impossible and morally wrong. VSL is just a practical number that shows how much money people are collectively willing to spend to make a tiny risk of death or serious harm a little smaller. Policymakers, charities, organizations like the WHO, development banks, etc, all use the VSL in one way or another, as do courts when deciding how much to award in damages resulting from wrongful deaths or safety violations.

Imagine 10,000 people each paying ₦150,000 to lower their chance of dying or going hungry by a tiny amount so that, on average, one fewer person suffers or dies. That total gives you the VSL. 

Economists calculate it in two easy ways: by watching what extra pay workers demand for risky jobs, or by asking people in surveys, “How much would you pay for a safer option?”

In rich countries, like the USA, the number is around $13–14 million (roughly ₦20 billion+). In places like Nigeria, it’s lower because incomes are lower. However, the idea is the same: small actions that reduce hunger, sickness or death have enormous value when added up across thousands of people.

This thinking is exactly why groups like GiveWell use similar tools to rank charities. They ask: Is saving one life (or protecting many from hunger) worth more than giving cash that doubles someone’s income for a year? Real surveys with poor families in Africa and Asia say yes, often 100 times more. In other words, feeding the hungry scores very high because hunger doesn’t just cause pain today, it leads to stunting, illness and early death tomorrow.

That’s the context for your zakat this Ramadan. Nigeria is facing one of its worst hunger crises in years with 35 million people at risk of severe food insecurity in 2026, including 15,000 in the north who could face famine-like conditions. Every meal you help provide isn’t just kindness; it carries massive real-world value in lives protected and suffering reduced.

This year, Imaanity has partnered with a programme that lets you see that value in action with total clarity.

NASFAT’s Feed-A-Mouth programme is in its 20th year. Their target for 2026: 60,000 full iftar and suhoor meals. Each meal costs just ₦1,500. That means 2,000 meals served every single day for the 30 days of Ramadan. Last year, they fed 47,316 real people across communities that needed it most.

Right now, Imaanity is working with NASFAT to give you something rare in charity: full real-time transparency. Every single donation you make is tracked on a live dashboard. You’ll see exactly how many meals your money bought, which families received them, and the difference it made. No guesses. No annual reports months later. Just impact you can watch hour by hour.

→ Support Feed-A-Mouth with Imaanity

Your ₦1,500 could make a difference

₦90 million, that’s exactly what it will take to deliver all 60,000 meals through NASFAT’s Feed-A-Mouth this Ramadan. Your ₦1,500 buys one nourishing plate. Your ₦15,000 feeds ten people for a full day. Your ₦150,000 can feed 100 people. In a country where 35 million face hunger this year, every naira multiplies into real protection.

Calculate Your Zakat in Under 60 Seconds

Imaanity.com has a digital Zakat calculator that covers everything from liquid cash to illiquid assets to help you arrive at your precise obligation without guesswork or omission.

• It is free.

• You can save and track your Zakat calculations

• It allows instant access to your calculation history

• And you get personalized recommendations

👉 Full Guide here: Calculate your exact zakat in under 60 seconds

How Much Zakat Do I Owe? A Step-by-Step Guide for Nigerians in 2026

Which of my assets count as zakatable? What can you subtract? Is my pension zakatable? In short, how much zakat do I owe? Here are your answers.

👉 Full Guide here: How Much Zakat Do I Owe? A Step-by-Step Guide for Nigerians in 2026

Imaanity: A New Way of Giving for a New Generation

For most of modern history, charitable giving was organized around institutional trust. You gave to your church, your mosque, a reputable charity organization, or a government-backed charity. There was an unstated contract that the institution would decide where your money went and how it was used. Your role as a donor was largely passive: just give and trust.

The Internet has changed this by providing a practical way for people to know what happened to their money after it left their hands. This has given rise to effective altruism and evidence-based giving.

Imaanity is bringing evidence-giving and effective altruism to a new generation of African givers.

👉 Full Story here: Imaanity: A New Way of Giving for a New Generation

Imaanity: An Evidence-Based Way to Pay Zakat and Tithes

Inspired by effective altruism, Imaanity is providing African Muslims and Christians a way to make more impact with their zakat and tithes.

👉 Full Guide here: Imaanity: An Evidence-Based Way to Pay Zakat and Tithes

Imaanity: Evidence-based Giving For A New Generation

Evidence-based giving is directing one’s charities toward interventions that have demonstrated using rigorous data that they produce the outcomes they claim to produce for the causes they claim to support.

This matters because the distance between a charity’s intention and its actual impact is often wider than donors know. An organisation can be sincerely motivated, competently managed, and genuinely popular with its beneficiaries. But yet fail to produce meaningful change in the specific metrics that matter.

Without a way to measure these metrics, this failure is invisible. Evidence-based giving insists on that answer.

👉 Full Story here: Imaanity: Evidence-based Giving For A New Generation

Ramadan and Lent Giving That Counts

For the first time in nearly two decades, Ramadan and Lent have arrived together. About 3.5 billion people worldwide will simultaneously observe fasting, prayer, reflection and giving.

Such moments invite both Muslims and Christians to examine whether the generosity we show in this season is actually producing the change we intend.

👉 Full Story here: Ramadan and Lent Giving That Counts

Till Saturday,

May Allah accept every fast, every prayer, and every naira you give this blessed month. May He make your wealth a means of purification and your giving a shield for those in need.

Jazakumullahu khairan for reading, for caring, and for acting.