Podcast Summary: "Faith, Generosity, and Justice: Dilnaz Waraich on Muslim American Giving"

Giving Done Right by The Center for Effective Philanthropy
Hosts: Grace Nicolette and Phil Buchanan
Guest: Dilnaz Waraich, President of the WF Fund
Date: October 9, 2025

Overview

This episode explores the intersection of faith, philanthropy, and social justice through the lens of Muslim American giving. Dilnaz Waraich shares her personal journey and insights on family-driven philanthropy, narrative change, and the importance of building coalitions across communities and faiths. The conversation delves into the unique traditions and practices of Muslim philanthropy, its impact in the wider American context, and the enduring necessity of generosity and storytelling in promoting both justice and unity.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Personal and Family Roots in Philanthropy

• Early Influences: Dilnaz traces her philanthropic drive to her parents’ kitchen table conversations about supporting family and community both in the U.S. and their homeland.
  • “I used to hear about... my mom needed to give $10 to an aunt that needed a sewing machine, or my dad needed to give a hundred dollars to someone that was potentially having open heart surgery. I had no idea that was philanthropy.” – Dilnaz [01:41]
• Continuing the Tradition: As a parent, she and her husband integrated these values of giving into their own family, involving their children directly.
  • “When we started thinking about our allocations, our sadhaka, which is giving, we started having those conversations with our own two boys.” – Dilnaz [02:08]

2. The WF Fund – Purpose, Approach, and Structure

• Catalyst, Not Giant: The WF Fund, a family-founded LLC, focuses on civic engagement, religious pluralism, and human services. It operates with long-term partnerships and trust-based philanthropy.
  • "We have three year gift agreements. We really want to be in partnership with our non profits... Before we even knew what trust based philanthropy was, we were doing this." – Dilnaz [03:16]
• Narrative Change Arm: Recent work includes challenging mainstream narratives by sharing authentic stories of Muslim American generosity, both from everyday acts to larger, high-impact investments.
  • “The narrative change work… is more recent … what does it mean to tell the Muslim American story of generosity from the bottom up … to top down?” – Dilnaz [03:38]

3. From Inheritance to Purposeful Philanthropy

• Navigating Wealth and Focus: Dilnaz describes how inheriting family wealth propelled her to seek strategic, values-driven philanthropy, learning from historic and modern philanthropic leaders.
  • “For me, the moment the transfer of wealth occurred, I had a purpose, and I was very driven towards that purpose.” – Dilnaz [06:29]
  • “Coalition building was really important right away. So getting other people to the table, asking them questions, being super curious, reading books…” – Dilnaz [06:55]

4. Muslim American Giving: Roots, Narratives, and Impact

• Religious Justice and Storytelling: Following high-profile events (e.g., George Floyd’s murder), Dilnaz underscores the lack of public narratives around religious justice and Muslim philanthropy.
  • “A certain justice that I still don’t hear about is religious justice... How come we hear about, like Christian giving … but we don’t hear about Muslim giving?” – Dilnaz [08:37]
• Muslim Philanthropy by the Numbers:
  • “About $4 billion is giving from Muslim giving. And to be only 1.2% of the population in America, we’re really punching above our weight.” – Dilnaz [09:28]
• Islamic Tenets of Giving: She explains zakat and its eight categories, highlighting how these drive intentional, needs-based giving.
  • “The word saga is very similar to … tzedakah for the Jewish traditions. So zakat is a tenant that every Muslim needs to follow...” – Dilnaz [10:32]

5. Family Practices and Raising Philanthropic Children

• Engaging Kids: The Waraich family involves their children in both volunteering and decision-making for gifts.
  • “The boys had to find organizations, … check out the website and sell it to my husband and I, say, ‘Hey, this is where we want to give to.’” – Dilnaz [12:46]
• Youth-led Fundraising: Their sons started bowling fundraisers for Pakistan floods, raising between $3,000–$21,000 annually for a decade.
  • “In that first year, we raised $3,000 for this flood… It just became really infectious.” – Dilnaz [13:42]

6. Trust-Based Funding and Nonprofit Partnerships

• Deep Engagement: Dilnaz stresses partnerships that go beyond writing checks, participating directly in programs and opting for unrestricted funding.
  • “We’re not just writing an allocation and walking away. We are doing this work hand in hand with our organizations.” – Dilnaz [17:21]
• Humility and Learning from Nonprofits: A transformative moment came when a grantee challenged her assumptions about fundraising barriers, highlighting funder privilege.
  • “She listened to me probably a good five or ten minutes… ‘You want me to walk into a room and just ask someone for $25,000? Guess what? I don’t even know anyone that could write a $1,000 check.’” – Dilnaz [18:27]

7. Root Causes vs. Immediate Needs & The Role of Advocacy

• Both/And Approach: Dilnaz rejects the false choice between direct service and systemic change. General operating support and coalition advocacy are both needed.
  • “It has to be a symbiotic relationship... So, number one, … general operating expenses. … The second thing is making sure that we are advocates in this work…” – Dilnaz [21:43]

8. Navigating Donor Vulnerability and Building Trust

• Advice for New Philanthropists: Emphasizing self-reflection, humility, and not being punitive when mistakes happen on either side of the partnership.
  • “I get up, I love watching the sunrise. So every time I watch the sunrise, I just say, you know what, what did I do well yesterday and what did I learn...” – Dilnaz [25:07]
  • “If you don’t ask the question, the answer is always no… I’m kind of constantly pushing people, and … always asking.” – Dilnaz [26:50]

9. Bridge-Building and Interfaith Activism

• Personal Faith Deepened by Other Faiths: Dilnaz’s advocacy for interfaith dialogue shapes her own Muslim identity, and encourages others to be more engaged in their own faiths.
  • “Whenever I’m at synagogues and churches and temples, I actually feel and believe God is present there. And I’m a better Muslim because of those conversations.” – Dilnaz [28:16]
• Embracing Difference and Difficult Conversation: The value is not in “Kumbaya” unity but in candid, sometimes uncomfortable engagement.
  • “We want to make sure we see the similarities in each other, but also the differences. And not this Kumbaya type differences, but the difficult conversations…” – Dilnaz [28:52]

10. Changing the Narrative on Muslim Giving

• Telling Their Own Stories: There's a pushback against Islamophobia and external narratives, calling for a reclamation of Muslim American histories and contributions.
  • “I’d love to see Muslim Americans able to tell their own story and not an entire industry called, you know, anti Muslim hate or Islamophobia. Tell our story for us.” – Dilnaz [30:10]
• Reclaiming the Title “Philanthropist”:
  • “In 2018, my sister said to me, why don’t you just tell people that you’re a philanthropist? And I was like, why is she insulting me? … And I had to reclaim that word.” – Dilnaz [31:35]

11. Faith, Orthodoxy, and Justice

• Countering the False Divide: Dilnaz connects orthodoxy and active engagement with justice, citing the Prophet as a model for outward action and humility.
  • “It wasn’t … about, like, sitting down and saying, here’s the tenants of Islam. … But it’s just by role modeling good behavior, by being a truth teller, by being bold, by being humble, by being generous.” – Dilnaz [32:49]
• Everyday Generosity Across Faiths: Ordinary acts of kindness are emphasized as core to religious ethics and American values.
  • “Americans are just some of the most generous people. And generosity is the bedrock of America. So how do we keep telling generosity stories of American Muslims, of American Christians and Jews and people of other faiths?” – Dilnaz [34:07]

12. A Message to Hesitant Donors

• Encouragement to Act: For those afraid or wavering, Dilnaz urges immediate, courageous action, affirming donors are “enough” now.
  • “You’re just enough. You have just enough information. You have just enough courage. You have just enough proximity to the problem. So stop waiting for tomorrow. So go ahead and write that check and do it today…” – Dilnaz [36:37]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Coalitions:
  “I was like, that’s what I want to do. But I can’t really do that on my own, but I can do that with others. So coalition building was really important right away.” – Dilnaz [06:49]

• On the True Power of Story:
  “The shortest distance between two people is a story.” – Dilnaz [16:43, quoting Patty Ding]

• On Navigating Philanthropic Partnership:
  “We need to be humble and we need to sit quietly and ask questions and listen and listen and listen. Opposed to thinking that we know all the answers.” – Dilnaz [19:16]

• On Generosity and Urgency:
  “You’re just enough today.” – Dilnaz [36:56]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early influences and family philanthropy: [01:10–02:40]
• WF Fund’s mission and approach: [02:43–04:07]
• Navigating family, purpose, and coalition-building: [04:17–07:51]
• Raising visibility of Muslim American giving: [07:51–10:06]
• Islamic tenets of giving (zakat): [10:32–12:17]
• Family philanthropy practices and youth fundraising: [12:23–14:29]
• Trust-based giving and learning from grantees: [15:40–19:35]
• Root causes vs. immediate relief, role of philanthropy & advocacy: [21:43–24:00]
• Advice for emerging donors: [24:51–27:36]
• Interfaith bridge-building: [27:36–29:32]
• Changing national narratives about Muslims and philanthropy: [29:32–32:00]
• Orthodoxy, justice, and combining faith practice with activism: [32:00–35:11]
• Final thoughts on generosity and call to action: [35:11–37:00]

Conclusion

This episode offers a vibrant blend of lived experience, practical advice, and passionate advocacy for inclusive philanthropy. Dilnaz Waraich’s story, woven with humility, self-reflection, and faith, challenges listeners to widen their lens, build bridges, and see themselves as "enough" to make a difference—right now.