Ottawa, 1980
It started with a question nobody in Canada had answered yet
By the late 1970s Canadian Muslims were sending money overseas the only way they could — cash handed to a relative, a cheque to an address someone vouched for, a suitcase carried by a friend flying home. It worked, sometimes. There was no receipt, no accounting, and no way to know whether the money had reached anyone at all.
In 1980 a small group in Ottawa decided to build the thing that did not exist: a registered Canadian charity, run to Canadian standards, that Muslims could give to with the same confidence they gave to any other. Human Concern International became the country's first Muslim relief organization. There was no template to copy. They wrote one.
Forty-six years later the mechanics have changed beyond recognition — audited statements, field monitoring, local partner agreements, a published five-year strategy. The question has not. Someone gives. Someone in need receives. Everything in between is our responsibility to prove.
- Founded
- 1980, Ottawa
- Status
- CRA registered charity
- Governed by
- A volunteer board
Why we do this
Those who spend their wealth in charity day and night, secretly and openly — their reward is with their Lord, and there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve.Surah Al-Baqarah 2:274
Forty-six years
From one office in Ottawa to forty countries
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1980
HCI is founded
Canada's first Muslim relief organization is registered in Ottawa. Verified.
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1990s
First long-term programs
Relief work broadens from emergency response into orphan sponsorship and schooling.
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2000s
Water and livelihoods
WASH and income-generation programs join the portfolio alongside disaster response.
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2010s
Scaling emergency response
Larger, faster deployments through local partners in conflict and disaster zones.
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2022–2026
Strategic Plan published
A five-year plan setting out what we fund, where, and how we measure it. Verified. read it
Our cause
Where we are going, and how we get there
Our vision
The world we are working towards- A world without poverty and injustice
- A lofty ideal, and deliberately so. We are God's vicegerents on earth; aiming for anything less would be aiming too low.
- Dignity, not dependence
- Aid that ends. The measure of a good program is that the family no longer needs it.
- Communities that hold
- Water that still runs in ten years. A school that still teaches. A trade that still earns.
Our mission
What we actually do about it- Move families from crisis to sustainability
- We arrive during the emergency and stay past it — food and shelter first, then the well, the classroom, the income.
- Work through local partners
- People who already live there know what is needed and can reach it faster than we can. We fund, train and monitor; they deliver.
- Show our work
- Audited financials, annual reports and project-level impact reports, published in full. Trust is not claimed. It is evidenced.
Guiding principles
Four values, and what they cost us to keep
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Inclusive and empowering
Every person has a place in this work — on our team and in the communities we serve. In practice: programs are designed with the people they are for, not for them.
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Dignity and love
Every human being is of equal value and deserves to be loved in order to reach their potential. In practice: no photograph, no appeal, no report that trades someone's dignity for a donation.
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Justice and equality
Diverse perspectives, equal opportunity and fair treatment — inside the organization as much as outside it. In practice: aid goes by need, never by faith, ethnicity or politics.
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Accountable and transparent
Openness and honesty, whether or not the news is good. In practice: audited statements published every year, and a five-year plan you can hold us to.
Change for generations
Forty-six years, counted
- 0 in aid distributed since 1980
- 0 countries reached over that time
- 0 years of continuous operation
Cumulative figures since our founding in 1980 — not current-year totals. For what your giving did last year, see the 2025 annual report.
Our model
Why we work through local partners
Flying in outsiders is slower, costlier and worse. Almost everything HCI funds is delivered by people who already live in the community — which is exactly why the monitoring has to be ours.
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Assess
We survey the need with people on the ground and decide whether we are the right organization to meet it.
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Partner
A local implementing partner is vetted, contracted and trained. They know the terrain; we set the standard.
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Deliver
Food, water, shelter, healthcare, schooling — whatever the assessment called for, at the speed the situation demands.
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Verify and report
Distributions are checked, costs are audited, and the result is published where any donor can read it.
Governance
The people accountable for your gift
Board of Directors
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Ishtiaq SalimChair -
Dr. Fahamia KoudraVice Chair -
Sheneeza KanjiTreasurer -
Dr. Faruk Rezaul MannanDirector
Senior Leadership
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Mahmuda KhanGlobal CEO -
Taskeen RehmanCFO
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Hassan WadiFund Development Director -
Mehreen BukhariHead of Marketing
Accountability
Forty-six years of showing our work
- 0 delivered in aid since 1980
- 0 years of continuous operation
- 0 countries reached over the years
- 1980 Canada's first Muslim relief organization
Human Concern International is a registered Canadian charity, No. 107497125 RR 0001, governed by a volunteer board and audited annually.
Forty-six years in, the work is not finished
Give once, or give every Friday. Either way it lands with a partner who is already there.