The Road to the SDGs

PURPOSE X The Awqaf Properties Investment Fund (APIF) aims at investing, in accordance with the principles of Shariah, in waqfi (i.e. subject to Waqf or ‘endowment’) real-estate properties in MCs and other countries. X The Fund participates in operations and projects that have the potential to appreciate in value and/or whose returns could increase in the short, medium and long run. X As an impact investment fund with 15 institutional investors, APIF fills gaps in the financing needed to achieve the SDGs. APIF’s reach, visibility and model have transformed and risen in prominence over the past few years, with many innovative initiatives. X Through its mandate of establishing and developing real estate endowments using awqaf, APIF provides local welfare institutions and civil society organisations with sustainable sources of income, which allow them to make their own development decisions. X In helping organisations that wish to develop current Waqf land, renovate their Waqf property, or purchase property to be used as Waqf, APIF presents a unique model in the development world, with its focus on financing endowments. It has expanded to include promoting the establishment of new endowments, with a focus on intergenerational sustainability. X In the short term, APIF supports NGOs and local charitable organisations and aids them in their search for sustainable income. In the long term, it serves to grow social wealth via encouraging philanthropic giving and diverting domestic savings to serve society. METHOD X APIF aims at increasing its total returns to the maximum level possible, which is achieved through long-term financing and by using one of the customary Islamic modes of financing, such as Ijarah, instalment sale, Istisna’, diminishing participation, or equity participation. X To ensure the competitiveness of APIF’s financing conditions with those offered by other competitors, returns on such modes of financing are considered by using the customary indicators as guidelines, in addition to a profit margin to be determined in accordance with the period of financing and its underlying risks. Since the Fund is managed by IsDB, it offers the tax exemptions IsDB enjoys in its MCs. X With a financial contribution of at least 25% of the total project cost or a suitable plot of land (for a greenfield project) provided by the beneficiary, APIF finances the construction, renovation and/ or purchase of an income-generating real- estate asset. The minimum contribution Awqaf Properties Investment Fund I sDB’s Awqaf Properties Investment Fund supports MCs by participating in the financing of projects for the development of awqaf land and properties The Fund undertakes studies to ascertain the feasibility and technical, financial, economic and Shariah soundness of the projects selected for investment, as well as the chances of realising a good return to Awqaf [ 102 ] SDGs