I pray that you and your loved ones are finishing this year healthy, safe, and hopeful.
It is not the type of letter I would have ever wanted to write to you. I write to ask for a few moments of
your valuable time for an urgent request to help us meet our needed funding goal of $250,000 before
2020 ends.
At the outset of 2020, our programming plans included the Annual Banquet, Muslim Day at the Capitol,
Muslim Youth Leadership Program, and Ramadan iftars among other things – but Allah’s plan was
very different. As you can imagine, the canceled fundraising events have taken a financial toll on our
organization. Alhamdulillah for everything.
COVID-19 shut down our office and in-person events, but it did not stop our work. CAIR-LA rose to the
new challenges to serve the increased needs of our community in the monumental year that 2020 has
become. Here are some highlights of what your support has helped us achieve:
- Our legal team responded by shifting priorities to focus on the pandemic and its consequences, bringing
back individuals who were stranded abroad due to travel restrictions and expanding legal advice regarding
unemployment, housing, and stimulus payments. - Our Policy team kept our community engaged in the 2020 Elections by holding virtual candidate forums
and proposition guide workshops, publishing our popular voter guide, and getting the message out to make
your vote count. - For the critical Census 2020 campaign, our team collected over 16,000 census pledges
in the Greater Los Angeles Area and organized phone banking that reached 730,000 Californians and
text campaigns that reached 340,000 members of the immigrant community, asking them to complete the
census. - We continued to keep our youth engaged despite being isolated at home by shifting to new virtual
programs such as Muslim Youth Live and the Muslim Youth Leadership Intensive, which trained and
challenged Muslim youth to be critical and active leaders. - Our Communications team called out the Islamophobic actions of elected officials on social media in
press releases, leading them to resign or give up their re-election. CAIR-LA was mentioned 120 times
in the media this year.
As we close the year, we need your generous support to help us reach our end-of year
goal of $250,000 to close our budget gap. Can you help us close this important year
with a much-needed gift?
Consider giving $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $25 or whatever you
can to help us meet our goal.
As 2020 closes with the hopes of a vaccine and the change in the political landscape, our fight for
justice will not be over. We need your help to continue the critical work of empowering American
Muslims, challenging Islamophobia, and protecting our rights.
Please visit Launchgood.com/CAIRLA2020 to support our work.
We thank you for your consistent support through the years and especially during the hardships of
this year. Our community relies on CAIR-LA’s services. I hope that we can count on your support.
Please keep us in your prayers.
Sincerely,
Hussam Ayloush, M.B.A.
CAIR-LA Executive Director