The CYD Center · Montréal
Let’s save our center.
Our community built a home for our youth and families right here in Montréal. Of the $1.8M it cost, we still owe $1,200,000. Help us pay it off and keep our doors open.
Paid off so far
$1,800,000 still to raise.
is what we still owe on the building our whole community built. Every donation goes straight onto that balance, and brings us closer to owning our home outright.
Our story
A home of our own.
Just over two years ago, our community took a leap of faith. We had spent years in rented rooms and borrowed spaces, our programs moving whenever a lease ran out. Our youth deserved somewhere permanent, so together we secured a $1.8M building to be that home.
Since then, this space has come alive. Thousands of youth and families walk through our doors for more than 250 programs a year: Qur’an classes and daily prayers, mentorship and tutoring, sports, halaqas, and community events.
Together we have already paid down $600,000. That is no small thing. But $1,200,000 still remains on the loan we took to secure it.
This isn’t a story about drowning. It’s a story about a finish line. We’re asking the community that built this place to help us finish paying for it, and own our home for good.
What your donation protects.
A prayer space that’s ours
Five daily prayers, Jumu’ah, taraweeh in Ramadan, in a home no landlord can take back.
Qur’an for the next generation
Kids learning to read the Book of Allah, from first letters to memorization, week after week.
Somewhere for the youth to belong
A door that’s open when the streets are the only other option: mentorship, sports, halaqas, community.
Lose the building, and we lose all of it. This is the moment to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The plan
We know exactly how this ends.
This isn’t open-ended. There’s a clear, three-step path from where we are to a building we own outright.
Pay down the $1,200,000
Every dollar given goes straight onto the outstanding loan on the building, nothing else.
Hold the doors open
While we pay it down, the center keeps running every program, every prayer, every class.
Own our home, debt-free
The center now collects $400,000 to $500,000 a year. On that footing, we clear the rest of the debt over the next four years, and never owe a dollar again.
Sadaqah Jariyah
مَنْ بَنَى مَسْجِدًا لِلَّهِ بَنَى اللَّهُ لَهُ مِثْلَهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ“Whoever builds a place of worship for Allah, Allah will build for him the like of it in Paradise.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 450 · Sahih Muslim 533
Every prayer prayed here, every child who learns the Qur’an, every soul this place shelters. The reward keeps returning to those who built it, long after they’re gone. This is our shared trust, and if enough of us answer, we all share in it.
Give today.
The fastest way to help. 100% of your donation goes to the center. Zeffy charges us no fees.
- $50Give a Pulse
3 sq ft of the building, enough for a Qur’an stand.
- $100Keep the Heart Beating
6 sq ft, enough for a desk to study at.
- $250Invest in the Next Generation
15 sq ft, enough for a place to pray.
- $500Set the Standard
30 sq ft, enough for a halaqa circle.
- $1,000Leave Your Legacy
60 sq ft, enough for a room where our youth gather.
Want a tax receipt?
Register your pledge
Donations made here through Zeffy are not tax-receiptable. For an official tax receipt, donate through our charity partner, then register your pledge here so we can apply it toward the building and keep you updated.
Register your pledgeCan’t give it away?
Lend it: Qard Hasan
مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا“Who will lend to Allah a goodly loan, so He may multiply it for him?” (Qur’an 57:11)
An interest-free loan, repaid in full over up to four years on a signed schedule. You get your principal back, to the dollar, and the reward of the most praised loan in the Qur’an.
Every dollar to the building
Funds raised in this campaign go straight to the outstanding loan on the center. Nothing else.
Riba-free by design
Qard Hasan loans are repaid principal-only, with a signed agreement. No interest, ever.
Run by your neighbours
The CYD Center is led by community members and a volunteer board you can meet and ask anything.
Questions, answered
Are donations here tax-receiptable?
Donations made on this page through Zeffy are not tax-receiptable. For an official Canadian tax receipt, donate through our charity partner, then register your pledge using the button above so we can apply it toward the building and keep you updated.
What exactly is a Qard Hasan?
A qard hasan is an interest-free, benevolent loan, the only kind of loan the Qur’an praises. You lend the center a sum, and we repay you in full, to the dollar, over a term you agree to (up to four years), with a signed written agreement. You keep the reward of having helped, and we return your principal. It lets people who cannot give a large amount away still move it to where it is needed.
How do I know the loan will be repaid?
Every qard hasan is backed by a signed agreement naming the amount and a repayment schedule tied to our real plan. The center collects $400,000 to $500,000 a year, which is what makes a four-year payoff realistic. In genuine hardship, terms can be extended, as the Qur’an itself commands leniency to a debtor in difficulty (2:280).
Can I use my Zakat?
Please don’t assume the building fund is Zakat-eligible. Most scholars hold that Zakat cannot simply be used to build or maintain a mosque. There is a narrower, debt-based discussion (the gharimin category). If you intend to give Zakat, contact us first so we can handle it correctly, with scholarly guidance, and track it separately.
Where does my money go?
Straight to the building. Every dollar raised in this campaign goes toward the outstanding loan on the center, nothing else.
$1,200,000 to go. Together.
This home was built by hundreds of people giving what they could. Keeping it will take the same. Be one of them.