Alquds Fund and Endowment is an independent, nongovernmental organization aiming to serve and uplift Jerusalem’s civil society. Its work involves, but is not limited to, development and empowerment of various sectors such as youth, entrepreneurship, sports, women, home renovations, and education. The organization is humanitarian and is driven by maintaining the steadfastness of Palestinian Jerusalemites, protecting their presence, the land, and the city’s holy sites, which are all under relentless threat of Israelization and Judaization. Its initiatives ultimately strengthen Jerusalemites’ economic and social realities, as the board of directors believe in the city’s central role in Palestine’s political, economic, and cultural life. They call for mobilization to keep Jerusalem in everyone’s financial decision-making.

Alquds Fund was established in 2013 by Palestinian businessman Munib al-Masri, who initially donated $5 million to the fund before bringing other businesspeople in Palestine and the diaspora on board. The idea crystallized with the help of a few individual donations but remained limited in capacity in the face of Palestinian Jerusalem’s vast needs.2 Nonetheless, in the first seven years, Alquds Fund was able to renovate 80 shops and 150 homes in and out of the Old City, fund the education of 3,000 students, and buy five properties and place them under the Islamic waqf. Notably, the property of the American Consulate in Jaffa Gate in East Jerusalem was bought by Alquds Fund and then endowed under waqf after it faced a risk of expropriation by settlers.3

Recognizing the project’s impact on the community, the board decided to institutionalize it to ensure its continuity and expand its capacity. In 2021, they placed all humanitarian aid initiatives under an endowment fund within the Islamic Development Bank and called it Al-Quds Empowerment Fund. Michel Sayegh, Munib al-Masri, Munir al-Kalouti, the Welfare Association (Taawon) organization, and the Islamic Development Bank placed $100 million into this endowment fund. It has an annual revenue of about $6 to $7 million, an amount that has been directed at projects for Jerusalem each year.4 The board then founded a new institution called Qudsona Association for Development and Empowerment to act as the Empowerment Fund’s executive body.

As soon as the Empowerment Fund was established, $37 million worth of funding requests were received,5 reflecting the dire need for such an entity. In East Jerusalem, 80 percent of the population is unemployed; 35 percent of residents live below the poverty line; there is a shortage of 1,800 classrooms; and by 2027, the Palestinian population will suffer a shortage of 70,000 housing units.6

Home demolitions, expensive housing licenses, school and business closures, rising cost of living, and unnumerable other hardships have impacted virtually every household in Jerusalem. These violations of life and rights manifest in massive financial need, which no individual Jerusalemite can withstand on his or her own, Imad Abu Kishek told Maan News in an interview. Abu Kishek added that a well-established coalition of donors who guarantee the availability and sustainability of funds is necessary to the continuity of Palestinian life in Jerusalem. In light of this, Alquds Fund hosted the Jerusalem Donor Network Conference in 2023, establishing a solid network of people—from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and beyond—who are committed to stand with the city and supporting Alquds Fund’s noble mission for the long-term.7

Qudsona has four fixed programs:

• Educational grants
• Community development
• Economic empowerment
• Jerusalem reconstruction program

Table 1 details the aims of each program.8

Alquds Fund and Qudsona’s work extends beyond the four programs. Donors often fund a specific mission of interest. For example, Dr. Suad al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti economist, writer, and poet, funded the Emergency Support Project and provided 100 scholarships for university students, took care of 30 health-related cases, and distributed food parcels to families in need.9 Alquds Fund is also involved in over 70 partnerships with Jerusalem-based organizations, meeting their respective needs with customized programs.10 Alquds Fund partners with organizations to deliver specific services as well, such as the Welfare Association—specialized in renovation and restoration—which implemented the Qudsona-funded project for improving Jerusalemites’ housing conditions.11

In 2024, the Empowerment Fund signed off on massive projects in service to Jerusalem, and Qudsona was a lead partner in several: financial support for 24 small businesses, vocational training for 57 students, reviving and restoration of the historic bazaar market, and job creation for Jerusalemite residents. Qudsona alone agreed to fund 250 university scholarships, valued at $600,000. It also sponsored volunteer programs for student engagement and implemented capacity-building programs to enhance employability, dedicating $1,618,550 for these purposes.12

Diaa Shweiki, director of Hilal al-Quds Football Club, reflected on Alquds Fund’s impact on his community: “Jerusalem, in its institutions, always feels like an orphan. Alquds Fund and Endowment paved us a path toward standing with our people and maintaining continuity in our activities.”13

Palestinian civil institutions in East Jerusalem have relied on international nongovernmental organizations for much of Jerusalem’s development since Israel occupied the rest of the city in 1967. These institutions often apply for grants from Western entities such as the European Union or the United Nations. This funding, however, has become increasingly conditional since 2019, when an anti-terrorism clause was added to EU donor agreements, pushing institutions to choose between politically conditional funding or potentially collapsing due to lack of funds.

Alquds Fund bypasses these funding issues by providing aid from individuals who are personally invested in the well-being of Jerusalem. Majdi Zughayer, a board member of Alquds Fund and Endowment, told Jerusalem Story, “In Jerusalem, anything short of independent will not succeed.” Alquds Fund created for the community an independent institution that is unrestricted by bureaucracy and politics.

Zughayer explained to Jerusalem Story that “if a donor gives you money one year, and then another year, the third year it might become burdensome, and then you’re left with no funds.” So, Alquds Fund adopted a creative design in fundraising for Jerusalem. Interested donors are directed to the Islamic Development Bank, where their money is placed into an endowment fund that virtually never runs out as it is constantly reinvested. This way, Alquds Fund ensures that $6 to $7 million are annually dedicated to Jerusalem, curtailing the stress of yearly fundraising efforts for institutions.14

What distinguishes Alquds Fund from other donor institutions, Zughayer told Jerusalem Story, is its immediate response to the needs of institutions and individuals in Jerusalem. Other funding channels often require a time-consuming grant process entailing meticulous paperwork, lengthy approvals, and up to two to three years to be approved and implemented. Alquds Fund operates with full transparency and in accordance with international regulations, setting clear criteria for budget requests and ensuring that the receiving institutions also operate within local and international legal guidelines. Yet, it manages to provide timely support to meet institutions’ needs, as that has been one of its primary objectives since its inception.15

Besides the monetary aspect, Alquds Fund hosts trainings directed at organization directors and employees to hone their leadership, programming, and management skills to build sustainability and capacity within their organizations.16 Although the impact of these trainings is not immediately measurable, Alquds Fund keeps the long term in mind and has proved that the trainings have tangible impact on the sustainability and success of Jerusalemite institutions, Zughayer said.

Jerusalemites afflicted with catastrophes such as house fires, home demolitions, or medical emergencies also find refuge in Alquds Fund’s rapid response to requests for support, whereas requesting relief through other entities means lengthy procedures.17

On April 20, 2025, Alquds Fund received a closure order signed by the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir—effective immediately for six months from the time of signing.18

The closure order claims that Alquds Fund is violating the 1994 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (“Restriction of Activity Law”), which prohibits any operation of the Palestinian Authority—whether on its behalf or under its auspices—within the area that Israel considers its sovereign territory. This is despite the organization’s apolitical nature, and the fact that many of its donors even reside abroad. Once a Jerusalemite institution receives a renewable military closure order, it is likely to remain closed. The Orient House, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) symbolic headquarters, was served an identical closure order in 2001, and its doors have shuttered continuously ever since (see The Orient House: The Heart of Palestinian Political Presence in Jerusalem).

Ben-Gvir’s closure order is another jab at Palestinian resilience in Jerusalem and is only one of hundreds of closure orders issued to Palestinian Jerusalemite institutions since 1967. However, on May 1, 2025, AlQuds Fund’s official Instagram page shared a photo that reads, “Our fund’s doors will not shutter.”19

In the same spirit, on July 9, 2025, in a celebratory gathering in Ramallah, Qudsona officially launched the empowerment and restoration projects it signed on in late 2024, five months before the closure order.20

According to Zughayer, the closure order against Alquds Fund will yield no tangible impact on its initiatives. Alquds Fund acts as the guiding body for the Qudsona projects; it evaluates programs and their respective applications, guides the funds in the appropriate directions, and manages networking efforts. Desks and chairs may be removed from the Jerusalem office, but the institution’s footprint and activity are expected to persevere. It is known to Israel, considering the institution’s legality and full transparency, that the money enabling these initiatives is sourced from people in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, and it sits in the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this closure order symbolizes Israel asserting its dominance and grasp on Palestinian civil society in Jerusalem, which it has intensified in recent years.

To safeguard funding from Israeli restrictions, Alquds Fund’s donors have also moved funds directly toward licensed institutions in Jerusalem (e.g., Burj al-Luqluq, Hilal Al-Quds Club, Silwan Club) who are trusted to directly funnel these funds to their target communities.21