Program standards and administrator training
Baznas Deputy Chair Zainut Tauhid Sa'adi outlined the cooperation in a statement issued in Jakarta on November 1. He said it supports the board's efforts to improve how it manages Zakat, Infaq and Sadaqah (ZIS), with an emphasis on achieving greater impact.
The agenda includes applying international standards for measuring social impact to programs such as ZMart, livestock farming centers and scholarships. It also calls for training zakat administrators, known as amil, and expanding their professional networks through exchanges of international philanthropic management practices. A third priority is advocating for Islamic philanthropy's role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the Asia-Pacific region.
Sa'adi said Baznas is open to new approaches to governance and cooperation with global networks such as AVPN. Alongside international impact standards and stronger administrator capacity, the board wants to expand poverty alleviation programs through ZIS impact investment.
He described Baznas' work as extending beyond short-term charitable assistance to empowerment programs intended to produce measurable, systemic change consistent with the SDGs. The board also wants faith-based philanthropy to play a more mainstream role in addressing climate change, access to education and inclusive economic empowerment.
AVPN's faith-based investment work
Kurt Peleman, AVPN's executive director of philanthropy, welcomed the collaboration as an opportunity to connect faith-based social capital with modern approaches to philanthropy. In his view, Indonesia occupies a strategic place in Asia-Pacific social investment, and zakat, or obligatory almsgiving, could be an important tool for sustainable development.
AVPN already runs an ongoing initiative called "Faith and Giving." It describes the initiative as a neutral, inclusive platform for social investors across Asia, regardless of whether their investing is aligned with a faith. Its publications examine the influence of values and beliefs on giving and include "How Faith-Aligned Capital is Tackling Poverty in Asia" and a climate-action toolkit.
The initiative's page cites Pew Research Center's 2017 estimate that 85 percent of people worldwide follow a religious or spiritual tradition. It also cites a 2022 figure from the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School putting the net assets held by four major religious groups globally at $5 trillion.
Indonesia's collection gap and 2027 target
The partnership follows national discussions about the gap between Indonesia's estimated zakat potential and actual collections. At a Baznas-Bappenas meeting in Jakarta on April 7, 2026, National Development Planning Minister and Bappenas Head Rachmat Pambudy put that potential at Rp327 trillion. Collections, he said, amounted to only about 10 percent of the estimate.
Pambudy noted that increasing the collection rate from 10 percent to 20 percent would mean a 100 percent increase. He also said BPS and Baznas would revise the estimate of zakat potential through a survey or census in 2026.
For 2027, Baznas has set a nationwide collection target of Rp70 trillion for ZIS and other religious social funds, collectively known as ZIS-DSKL. It covers Baznas offices at the central, provincial and district/city levels, as well as all Amil Zakat Institutions (LAZ) nationwide.
Baznas Chairman Sodik Mudjahid announced the target at the board's 2026 National Coordination Meeting, or Rakornas, held in Jakarta on October 13-15. The target is tied to the organization's 2026-2031 Strategic Plan.
