The goal of MACA is to build a community which is active, educated, prosperous and open. We plan to accomplish this by building a membership base in the community in order to raise funding and recruit volunteers, which can be directed into projects that fill holes in our social fabric while enhancing existing Islamic institutions.

The answer is a definitive NO. MACA is not a mosque, does not have an imam, and will never become/have one. The first generation of Muslim immigrants setup mosques throughout America, and this was an important step in establishing our communities. MACA wants to take the next step in building an umbrella organization which can unify efforts to strengthen the community while leaving mosques their traditional responsibilities.

Kids are not in charge of MACA. In fact MACA has a Strategy Board which approves major decisions, budgets, strategic targets, and initiatives undertaken by MACA. This board is comprised of adults, many of whom are married with children and are in charge of local organizations including My Deen, CAIR, Masjid Badr etc. The “children” are actually college and high-school students who are given an opportunity to take leading roles in the Cabinet (the working team) of MACA, allowing them to serve their communities and build useful skills while doing so.

Fortunately, there is no grand conspiracy or secret cabal which funds MACA. All of our funds come from donors like you! Jazakullahu Khairan! To be more specific MACA has memberships, or regular donations which comprise a major source of funding, in additional to that, ticket sales, merchandise sales, and other incomes from programs that MACA runs, bring in substantial revenue. Finally to fill any holes in the budget or fund major projects, MACA holds fundraisers and/or contacts donors directly to get sponsorships. We release annual financial reports as well.

What makes MACA sustainable is the membership system. Having a large base of members, something that MACA is continually working on expanding, gives hundreds of people a stake in MACA, providing reliable funding and a source of volunteering which keeps the gears running in many of our programs. As the operational costs grow MACA plans to establish a Waqf, or Foundation/Endowment which would provide regular income reducing the burden on the community.

This one is easy. Simply put, MACA Fresno works for all Muslims in Central California. Our initiatives are geared towards finding solutions to problems faced by you, and it is no coincidence that both the money and manpower to run those programs comes from yours truly as well. In terms of who the individual team members of MACA report to, that is a more complicated affair with each team member having a supervisor going to the President/CEO at the top who reports to the Strategy Board.

Decisions in MACA are made on the bases of the prophetic tradition of “Shura” or consultation and consensus. In MACA the Cabinet or the working staff make day-to-day decisions regarding monthly targets, weekly goals, and tasks delegated to position-holders and volunteers. Larger decisions are made by the Strategy Board with the President presenting the current situation in the organization, and experienced board members steering the ship.

The most important question of all. MACAs track record can speak for itself. We are a registered 501(c)3 organization, meaning all donation are tax-deductible, and that we are regularly filing reports and tax statements to the IRS. Internally we are rigorous in our tracking of every penny, and present this information in compiled formats annually at our Anniversary Socials. If you ever have any questions regarding where your donations go, feel free to contact our team.

A very common question we get. MACA stands for Muslim-American Community Association, while MSA stands for Muslim Student Association. The key difference being Community & Student in the names. Unlike MSAs, MACA is not underneath a high school or college, and is an independent 501(c)3 organization. Additionally MACA has a team mixed with students and experienced adults including physicians, engineers, mothers, fathers, and more. In can be confusing since the MACA offers funding to local MSAs, and there is significant overlap (purposefully) between their boards and our team. MACA is planning a name change (name was originally MCA, we have rebranded to MACA) in the future to solve this confusion hopefully once and for all :)