JEDDAH: A national campaign for charitable work received more than SR300 million ($79 million) in donations in the first 48 hours of its launch last Friday.

The campaign was inaugurated with a SR30 million donation from King Salman and a $20 million donation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

More than SR1.78 billion has been raised since the launch, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The campaign is being run through the Ehsan platform, which was developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority to promote and support charitable giving in the country.

This year's Ramadan campaign is expected to raise millions for those people facing financial hardship, including orphans, the sick, and the elderly.

During the first Ramadan campaign last year, the king and crown prince made multiple donations through Ehsan that pushed the platform’s total funds past the SR1 billion mark.

Launched in 2021, Ehsan aims to promote the values of charitable work in Saudi society and develop the country’s nonprofit sector by increasing its efficiency and reliability, encouraging donations through the transparency of charitable and development activities, and working with different government agencies and sectors.

It has been developed to be easily accessible to people living in the Kingdom by allowing them to donate to various causes such as giving food baskets to families, providing care for the elderly, helping medical patients, and covering education tuition and supplies for orphans.

Ehsan is monitored by a committee of 11 government agencies and a Shariah committee chaired by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Mutlaq.

It provides an opportunity for contributors to select which cause to donate to and follow the progress of their contributions in a digitally secure way.  

More than 4 million people have been helped since Ehsan first launched through more than 23 million donation transactions.