Glossary of community fund terms

The same arrangement goes by half a dozen names depending on who is talking. Here they all are, plainly.

Terms

Committee (kameti, BC)

A rotating savings group. A fixed set of people pay the same amount each month, and each month one member takes the whole pot until everyone has had a turn. Nobody gains or loses in total; only the timing differs.

ROSCA

Rotating Savings and Credit Association — the academic name for a committee. The same arrangement exists worldwide under many local names.

Chit fund

A commercial version of a committee, usually run by a company, often with bidding for an early turn and a fee to the organiser. Distinct from an informal committee, which has neither.

Dues

Recurring contributions members owe to a fund — monthly, quarterly or annual. Distinct from a one-off collection, which is optional.

Chanda

A contribution given to a shared or charitable purpose — a mosque, a school, a community project. Usually voluntary, often collected against a stated target.

Sadaqah

Voluntary charitable giving in Islam, distinct from zakat, which is obligatory and has its own rules on who may receive it.

Zakat

An obligatory annual charitable payment in Islam, calculated on qualifying wealth. Funds holding zakat normally keep it in a separate account because its permissible uses are narrower.

Maintenance charges

Recurring payments by residents of a building or society towards shared running costs — security, cleaning, lifts, common electricity, repairs.

Welfare fund

A fund collected from members to assist members in difficulty — medical costs, funerals, emergencies — usually with a small approving committee.

Treasurer

Whoever keeps the record of what came in, what went out, and what is left. The role, not necessarily a formal title.

Collection

In Laqfiz, one thing being collected for. A monthly collection recurs; an extra collection is a one-off with its own target and deadline.

Part payment

Less than the full amount due, recorded as such with the balance still outstanding, rather than as a full payment or as nothing.

Excused

A period a member is not expected to pay, recorded as a decision by a named person — distinct from an unpaid month, which is a debt.

Approval

The step where somebody checks a payment against its proof before it counts towards the balance.