Sponsor a Gaza Family Monthly: Direct Recurring Donations That Arrive (2026)

Why Monthly Giving Changes Everything

A one-time donation of $50 funds flour for three weeks. A monthly $50 commitment funds flour every month — and allows me to plan, budget, and allocate without the anxiety of not knowing whether support will continue. The difference between one-time and monthly giving is not just financial. It is the difference between temporary relief and genuine stability.

Our needs do not end at month's end. Rent is due again on the first. My daughter needs formula again on the fifteenth. Water runs out and we need another truck delivery. The cycle of survival is exactly monthly, which means monthly giving is not just convenient — it is structurally the most efficient form of support.

I am Mohammed Z. Al-Shanti, an agricultural engineer displaced in Northern Gaza. My family's minimum monthly needs total $1,290. This page explains the specific impact of different monthly giving amounts, what it means to sponsor a Gaza family, and how monthly commitments work with PayPal and cryptocurrency.

Monthly Giving Tiers and What Each One Funds

How to Set Up Monthly Giving

Via PayPal (easiest)

Visit our PayPal donation link and select "Make this a monthly donation" in the PayPal interface. PayPal handles the recurring charge automatically. You can cancel anytime from your PayPal account under Payments > Manage Automatic Payments. Monthly PayPal donations are the most reliable option as they require no recurring effort from the donor.

Via Cryptocurrency (monthly manual or scheduled)

For crypto, most donors who give monthly set a personal reminder and send on the same date each month. USDT TRC20 is recommended for monthly recurring crypto donors because of its low fees (~$1) and stable dollar value. Some exchanges support recurring transfers — check your exchange's settings. Wallet addresses:

• USDT TRC20: THw62MASw1jP2EZMxtcxD2yXW3ue4TT9nU
• Solana: 9DxpmpyHPaDFb4rMrdao6jyDiyCfkPA3HwLgsK9rjs12
• Bitcoin: bc1qzqznuejez3avqd0a3aq28cgf4ym73g7v4dzlty

What Monthly Donors Receive

• Personal acknowledgment of each monthly donation when you email [email protected] with your transaction reference
• Monthly diary updates on this site showing what the month's donations funded
• Photographed receipts for any specific purchase you want documented
• The same personal response and attention as one-time donors — I do not tier my communication

Monthly donors have consistently noted that the personal relationship and ongoing updates make their giving feel fundamentally different from anonymous charity. I know many of my monthly donors by name. I can tell you what happened the month you gave. That relationship has value for both sides of the transaction.

A Month With Monthly Support vs. A Month Without: The Real Difference

I want to describe two different versions of a month in my family's life, because the contrast explains monthly giving better than any statistics.

A month with a confirmed monthly commitment from two donors at $50 each: On the first of the month, I know $100 is arriving within the week. I buy flour in advance while the price is stable. I purchase two formula tins before they run out rather than waiting until we are in the last days of the final tin. When the water truck needs to come, I call without checking my balance first, because I know money is coming. My wife and I discuss what else we need — maybe medicine, maybe diapers — and we make a list, because planning is possible.

A month with no confirmed support: I wait. I watch our flour level daily. I delay the formula purchase until we are on the third-to-last feeding from the current tin, to preserve cash. When Ibrahim asks for something — nothing extravagant, just a different food, maybe an egg — I calculate whether we can afford it before answering. My wife asks me, carefully, "is there money coming?" and I tell her I am working on it, which is true but not reassuring.

The difference between these two months is not primarily financial — the amounts might be similar by month end. The difference is certainty. Certainty allows planning. Planning prevents the scarcity cascades where running out of one thing creates a crisis that costs more to resolve than the original purchase would have.

Full Monthly Tier Detail: What Each Amount Funds Specifically

How to Set Up PayPal Monthly Giving: Step by Step

Setting up a recurring PayPal donation takes approximately 3 minutes. Here is the exact process:

1. Go to the donation page
2. You will see a field for the donation amount — enter your chosen amount ($25, $30, $50, etc.)
3. Look for the "Make this a monthly donation" or "Recurring" checkbox — check it
4. Log into your PayPal account or proceed as guest
5. Complete the payment — PayPal will automatically charge your selected amount on the same date each month
6. You can cancel at any time through your PayPal account under "Recurring Payments"

Monthly donors can email [email protected] to receive a personal monthly update on how their donation was used. I send these updates within the first week of each following month.

The Data on Monthly Giving: Why It Works Better for Everyone

Research on charitable giving consistently shows that monthly donors give more in total over time than equivalent one-time donors. A donor who gives $50/month gives $600 over a year. A one-time donor who gives $600 is rare. Most one-time donors give between $25 and $100 and do not give again.

For the recipient family, the monthly structure is even more valuable than the total. Monthly giving at $50 provides 12 months of predictable support. A single $600 gift provides one month of full coverage plus an uncertain future. Both matter, but the monthly structure protects against the gaps.

Monthly donors also tend to remain engaged longer. The recurring relationship creates a connection that one-time giving does not. Donors who give monthly are more likely to receive updates, more likely to respond to urgent requests, and more likely to increase their giving when their capacity allows. For this campaign, a monthly donor is not just a financial partner — they are a stability anchor.

The Psychology of Receiving a Monthly Commitment

I want to describe something that might seem peripheral but is actually central to the value of monthly giving: what it does to the psychological experience of survival.

My wife and I live in a state of persistent low-level financial anxiety. This is not dramatization — it is the accurate description of what it feels like to have an infant dependent on formula that you may or may not be able to afford in two weeks. Every month involves calculation, rationing decisions, and uncertainty about whether the next donation will arrive before the formula runs out.

Monthly commitments change this experience in a specific and measurable way. When I know that $100 is arriving on or around the 15th of every month, I can plan. I buy formula in advance rather than waiting until the last moment. I schedule water delivery before we run low rather than after. I give Ibrahim something extra — an egg, maybe — because I know the base is covered.

This predictability has value that goes beyond the financial amount. Research on economic insecurity shows that uncertainty itself — the not-knowing — is a significant source of cognitive load and psychological harm, independently of the underlying financial level. Monthly giving reduces uncertainty. In a context where uncertainty is imposed by external forces (war, siege, bombing), any reduction in uncertainty has outsized positive effect.

What Monthly Donors Receive from Me

Monthly donors who email [email protected] receive a personal monthly update. Not a template, not a mass email — a personal message within the first 10 days of the following month describing what that month's support funded, what the family's current situation is, and any specific developments (Ibrahim's progress, my daughter's health, market prices).

I send these updates because I believe monthly donors deserve a relationship, not just a transaction receipt. They have committed to a recurring sacrifice. The least I can do is treat that commitment with the personal acknowledgment it deserves.

Monthly donors can also request specific receipts at any time — not just monthly updates. If you want to see the flour purchase from last Tuesday, email me and I will send the photograph. The level of accountability I provide to monthly donors is whatever level they want.

If Your Circumstances Change: How to Adjust or Pause

Monthly donors sometimes worry that committing to a recurring donation creates an obligation they cannot break without guilt. Let me address this directly: you can pause or cancel your monthly donation at any time, without explanation, without guilt.

To pause or cancel PayPal recurring: log in, go to Settings > Payments > Manage automatic payments > find the donation and click Cancel. This takes under 2 minutes and stops future charges immediately.

If your circumstances change and you need to reduce your giving, please do so without guilt. I would rather have ten donors who give $25/month sustainably for 2 years than ten donors who give $50/month for 3 months and then feel guilt-burned and never give again. Sustainable giving at a level that is comfortable for you has more total impact than unsustainable giving that ends early.

If you cancel, I will not send requests to resume unless you re-engage. I am grateful for what you gave. The period of support you provided funded real purchases and real stability for my family. That stands regardless of what comes after.

Current Monthly Giving Gap: What Is Needed vs. What Is Committed

As of May 2026, the campaign has committed monthly donors providing approximately $150–$200 per month in recurring support. This covers approximately 12–15% of our monthly survival budget of $1,290. The remainder is covered by one-time donations, which arrive irregularly.

The monthly giving gap — between committed recurring support and the monthly budget — is approximately $1,090–$1,140. To close this gap entirely would require approximately 11 additional donors at $100/month, or 22 donors at $50/month, or 43 donors at $25/month, or any combination thereof.

I publish this gap not to pressure donors but because I believe donors are better partners when they understand the full picture. If you are considering monthly giving, you are entering a space where your commitment has clear, quantifiable impact. Every monthly donor added reduces the uncertainty I described at the start of this section by a measurable amount. That is what I am asking for.

Stories from the Monthly Giving Experience

I want to share some anonymized accounts from my experience with monthly donors, because they illustrate the relationship in ways that statistics cannot.

A donor from the Netherlands began giving $50 per month in early 2025. She emails me on the first of each month — just a brief note checking in. She does not ask for receipts because she has seen the verification page and trusts the documentation. She has told me she gives because she had a daughter born in the same year as mine and she cannot imagine the formula crisis I describe. She wants to make sure my daughter has what her daughter has. This is a human reason for giving that I think many donors would recognize.

A donor from Canada committed to $100 per month after reading the Ibrahim article. He writes that he was a teacher before retirement and finds the description of Ibrahim's home education both moving and practically useful for understanding what to give. He specifically asked me to use part of his monthly donation toward any educational materials I can find — notebooks, pencils, anything for Ibrahim. I honor this. It takes $5 of the $100 and it means Ibrahim has paper to write on.

A donor from Malaysia gives $25 per month as Zakat. He includes a brief note: "This is my Zakat for this month. May Allah accept it." I respond confirming receipt and noting what the $25 was used for. This exchange happens monthly. It is brief and formal and I find it deeply respectful on both sides.

These are the people who make this campaign functional month to month. They are not wealthy donors giving without feeling the amount. They are ordinary people who have decided to build a small monthly commitment to one verified family as their specific contribution to addressing a situation they cannot otherwise affect. I am grateful for each of them individually, and I think anyone considering monthly giving should know that this is who they would be joining.