Case study · Rizq · Food justice, Lahore

From one Facebook post to a social enterprise with six work areas.

In 2015 three university friends invited people in Lahore to donate excess food. Eleven years later Rizq runs programmes across food access, agriculture, relief, youth and research, reports 20 million meals fed, and has to explain all of it, and take donations for all of it, from one website.1 Esipick took Rizq online: we built its first website and the whole system behind it, in partnership with Rizq, and Rizq’s own team maintains it today.

Rizq was founded by Huzaifa Ahmad, Musa Aamir and Qasim Javaid, who are its co-founders; Qasim Javaid is its CEO.215 Rizq is its own registered Trust, based in Lahore. Esipick does not own it and did not found it.

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FOR NONPROFITS · FOOD BANKS · FOUNDATIONS · SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

rizq.org · homepage, captured 8 October 2026
The rizq.org homepage: a Donate Now button in the top bar, the headline 'Sustaining Human Lives, Fulfilling Its True Potential' and an embedded mission video
Screenshot of the public rizq.org homepage. Note the Donate Now button, present in the top bar on every page.
20 million
Total meals fed, as shown on rizq.org1
800,000+
Total beneficiaries, as shown on rizq.org1
$5.3 million
Worth of donations channelized, as shown on rizq.org1
6
Thematic work areas, each with its own programmes1
The organisation

The kitchen came first. Then came the systems.

Rizq’s own account of its beginning starts with a kitchen, not a strategy. For about two decades, a founder’s mother had opened the gates of her home every day and invited hungry people to lunch. At university, Huzaifa Ahmad noticed that food was being thrown away while millions went hungry. He shared the thought with Musa and Qasim. They looked for an existing solution, found none, set up a Facebook page and put their phone numbers on it, inviting people to donate excess food. By Rizq’s telling, the page spread overnight, and soon the three were driving around Lahore collecting and handing out food. The same account says that mother suggested the name.2

Rizq’s pages also credit Rukhsana Izhar, Chairperson of Rukh Foundation, as part of the inspiration behind the movement: she is listed under Advisors on Rizq’s team page, received the 2023 Pride of Pakistan award representing Rizq, and was part of Rizq’s 2026 delegation to Social Business Day in Dhaka.21715 Read the Rukh case study.

What happened next is the lesson. Rizq did not stay a food-rescue group. Its own description of its approach is that it operates through two models, donations and social businesses, and has moved from a food-based organisation to a farm-to-fork one, across projects, programmes and social business ventures.2 That is a very different organisation from the one a simple "about us" page was designed to describe.

Volunteers in green Rizq vests serving people seated in rows on a grass verge beside a road in Lahore

Photograph from Rizq’s own website (Special Projects). Used here because Rizq publishes it; Esipick did not take it.

A decade, 2015 to 2026

From Rizq’s own timeline, with 2021 and 2026 detail from its programme and news pages.210121415

  1. 2015
    A Facebook post invites food donations. A student society launches at LUMS.
  2. 2016
    Incubated at the LUMS Social Innovation Lab. Rizqshaw, an end-to-end food redistribution model, and RizqIt school lunches begin.
  3. 2017
    First community food banks. Co-founder Musa Aamir receives the LUMS Alumni Achievement Award.
  4. 2018
    Named in the Top 20 Social Enterprises of South Asia by SPRING Accelerators. Joins the Global FoodBanking Network.
  5. 2019
    Partners with the Punjab Food Authority to introduce Pakistan’s first Excess Food Disposal Regulation.
  6. 2020
    COVID-19 relief campaigns. Commonwealth Points of Light Award for co-founders.
  7. 2021
    Joins the Acumen Network. Food bank opens in Lyari, Karachi. On 8 October the first Rizq Khana cart opens near Shaukat Khanum Hospital, Lahore.
  8. 2022
    Nationwide flood relief. Rizq becomes World Central Kitchen’s official partner in Pakistan. Coca-Cola Pakistan campaign with QR codes on bottles.
  9. 2023
    Sustainable Agriculture Division starts, with programmes such as Kissan Dost.
  10. 2024
    Rizq Khana officially launched. CEO represents Pakistan at COP29 in Baku. Housing Innovation Lab established.
  11. 2025
    Rizq turns 10. Leads Pakistan’s first official delegation to Social Business Day. Pride of Pakistan award to the three co-founders.
  12. 2026
    18 May: scholarship MOU with LUMS. 27 to 30 June: leads a 24-member delegation to Social Business Day, Dhaka. 8 July: Khanewal farmer partnership.

SCROLL SIDEWAYS FOR THE FULL TIMELINE →

The numbers, with their sources

Rizq publishes its headline figures on its homepage. We quote them as Rizq states them and have not audited them.1

20 million
Total meals fed
PER RIZQ.ORG
800,000+
Total beneficiaries
PER RIZQ.ORG
$5.3 million
Worth of donations channelized
PER RIZQ.ORG
10,000+
Acres of agricultural land improved
PER RIZQ.ORG HOMEPAGE
2 million+
Kgs of excess food saved
PER RIZQ.ORG
10,000+
Youth mobilised
PER RIZQ.ORG
Rizq Ration

Structured food assistance

  • 600,000+ individuals impacted
  • 120,000+ rations distributed
  • 25+ cities, 20+ partner food banks
PER RIZQ’S RATION PAGE13
Rizq Khana

Low-cost meals from food carts

  • 18 carts operational
  • 3,000 meals sold daily
  • Meal price Rs 60 (July 2025 press)
PER RIZQ’S KHANA PAGE AND PROPAKISTANI911
Kissan Dost

Zero-interest input loans for farmers

  • 11,200 acres improved over 7 cycles
  • 1,000+ farmers financially secure
  • 98% loan recovery
PER RIZQ’S 10 JULY 2026 POST12
Why this work is hard

People are generous. Organisations still have to be visible, trusted and easy to give to.

Giving is not the scarce thing. The Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy’s study of individual giving found that nearly 98 percent of households reported giving for social causes, with total household giving estimated at Rs 239.7 billion in 2014.17 Dawn’s report on the research describes that as more than 1 percent of GDP.18 The same study splits that giving between Zakat (13 percent of the total), other monetary donations (32 percent) and the monetary value of volunteered time (21 percent).17

Trust

A first-time donor has no way to inspect you in person. Credentials, named leadership and a track record have to be visible in one click.

Low-friction giving

People give in different ways: Zakat, sadqa, a one-off gift, a bank transfer, a QR code on a bottle in a shop. Each has to work on a phone.

Transparency

Saying you are transparent is easy. Publishing audited reports, an allocation statement and how restricted funds are handled is the proof.

Partnerships

Corporates, foundations, universities and volunteers each arrive with a different question. They need a route in that answers theirs.

109thPakistan’s rank in the Global Hunger Index, as cited by Rizq
8.6 millionPeople in Pakistan facing acute food insecurity, as cited by Rizq
23.41%Pakistan’s food inflation in 2024, as cited by Rizq

CONTEXT FIGURES ARE RIZQ’S OWN, SHOWN ON ITS HOMEPAGE (SOURCE 1). WE HAVE NOT INDEPENDENTLY RE-DERIVED THEM.

Now add the complexity Rizq carries. Six work areas. Social businesses that sell meals alongside donor-funded programmes. Seasonal campaigns for Ramadan, Qurbani, Muharram and Arba’in. Corporate partners, a farmer-finance programme, a youth network, research partnerships. A website for an organisation like that is not a brochure. It is the place where every one of those audiences decides whether to trust you.

What Esipick did

We took Rizq online.

Esipick built Rizq’s first website and the whole system behind it, in partnership with Rizq.19 Rizq now has an in-house team that maintains and develops it, which is how it should be: we build it so the organisation can run it. Below is what the site does for a complex organisation today, and why it works.

1

A front door with a place for every audience

The top bar has five items: Who We Are, What We Do, News and Stories, Awards, Contact Us. A persistent Get Involved menu and a Donate Now button sit beside them. Under What We Do, six work areas hold programmes such as Rizq Ration, Rizq Khana and Kissan Dost, each with its own page.1

What it lets Rizq do
  • Show a donor, a volunteer, a journalist and a corporate partner the same organisation, each starting from a different door
  • Add a programme without redesigning the site
  • Give seasonal campaigns their own pages without losing the permanent structure
Relevant if you run more than two programmes and your menu has started to read like a filing cabinet.
rizq.org · the six work areas
Section of the Rizq homepage introducing three of its six work areas with photographs and Learn More links: Food Access and Nutrition, Agriculture and Livestock, Relief and Resilience
The homepage introduces the six work areas as a carousel, each linking to a full section.
2

Giving that matches how people actually give

The Donate page is a three-step form: amount and initiative, personal details, payment. Step one asks for a category (General, Sadqa or Zakat), a specific initiative or the general fund, and an amount, with four preset gifts and a custom option. A Student Chapter Code field lets campus fundraising be attributed. A separate page lists other ways to give, including bank transfer and mobile wallet.422

What it lets Rizq do
  • Keep Zakat apart from general funds from the first click, which Rizq’s Zakat page says it does in a separate bank account5
  • Let a donor restrict a gift to a programme, as its FAQ states3
  • Issue an invoice as soon as a website donation is made, for tax purposes3
Relevant if you take donations through a link in a message or a PDF, and every extra step costs you a donor.
rizq.org/donate · step 1
Step one of Rizq's donation form: choose General, Sadqa or Zakat, pick an initiative, choose PKR 1000, 5000, 15000, 25000 or a custom amount
The same donation form on a 390 pixel wide phone screen, in a single column

Desktop and phone view of the live form. Cropped to the form only.

3

Transparency as a navigation item, not a footer

Financial Reports & Audits sits in the Who We Are menu, one click from anywhere. The page states that 90 percent of donations go to selected programmes and 10 percent to administrative costs, shows that split as a chart, and then links the paperwork: audited reports for 2021 to 2024, annual reports including a Decade of Impact edition, financial statements for 2019 to 2023, and six certificates and legal documents.3

What it lets Rizq do
  • Answer the donor’s first question ("where does my money go?") with documents rather than adjectives
  • Hand a corporate partner’s due-diligence team one URL
  • Show the certifications Rizq cites: Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy, Punjab Charity Commission, Zakat eligibility3
Relevant if you already produce annual reports and audits but they live in an email attachment or a folder nobody can find.
rizq.org/financial-reports
Rizq's Financial Reports page: Audit Reports, Annual Reports and Financial Statements listed by year, then a grid of six certification and legal document cards
Reports and certificates, grouped by type. The allocation chart sits just above.
Inside the build

How a complex organisation was organised for visitors.

This map shows how the live site is organised. Each column is a job the site does for a different visitor.1

rizq.org

Who we are

  • About UsStory, belief, approach, decade timeline
  • Our TeamBoard, advisors, executive, departments
  • Financial Reports & AuditsReports, certificates, FAQ

What we do

  • Food Access and Nutrition
  • Ration, Dastarkhwan, Khana, Bachao
  • Agriculture and Livestock
  • Kissan Dost, GroRizq, Rizq Breeds
  • Relief and Resilience
  • Education, Advocacy and Volunteerism
  • Research and Policy
  • Yunus-Rizq WEFNEX Hub
  • Special Projects
  • Ramadan, Qurbani, Muharram, Arba’in

News and stories

  • Blogs & StoriesBy topic and by type: guest submissions, insights from the ground, opinion, success stories
  • News & EventsEvents and updates, relief, press releases, Rizq in the news

Get involved

  • Make a DonationThree-step form, ways to give
  • Zakat Calculator
  • Become a VolunteerTeams, campus ambassadors, chapters
  • Partner With UsSix partnership routes

Proof

  • Awards
  • Impact numbersHomepage tiles and per-programme figures
  • CertificationsShown on the homepage and reports page
  • Contact UsEmail, phone, address
Every programme page follows one templateAn impact strip, a problem statement with context numbers, vision and mission, an "initiation story", what makes the programme distinct, links to the Sustainable Development Goals it supports, featured stories and partners. Rizq Khana, Rizq Ration and Kissan Dost all use it.913
Content is organised in categories, not one long feedBlog topics map to the work areas; news is split into events, relief, press releases and press coverage. A journalist and a donor can each find their own material.20

Donation friction, in the real world

In April 2022 Coca-Cola Pakistan put QR codes on its family-size bottles that led shoppers to Rizq’s donation portal, during Ramadan. At launch the campaign targeted over 3 million meals and reported more than 420,000 distributed, across more than 14 cities.16 Whatever a donor scans or taps, it has to land on a page that works on a phone, in a few steps.

1Scan the bottleA QR code on a family-size bottle
2Land on the portalRizq’s donation page, on the shopper’s own phone
3Choose and giveAmount, initiative, details, payment

One programme, honestly told: Rizq Khana

Rizq Khana is the clearest example of why the site has to carry more than a donate button. It is a social business: meals are sold at a low price, not given away, because many urban families, Rizq found, chose not to accept free food out of respect.9 The model as Rizq describes it:1011

Hub kitchen
Production moved from a home kitchen to a central hub for hygiene and consistency.
Fixed, simple menu
Carts
Sited near hospitals, public squares and transit hubs.
Pilot 8 Oct 2021: 100 to 500 meals a day
Micro-entrepreneurs
Local people buy meals from Rizq at a subsidised rate and sell at a fixed margin.
Fixed margin
Customers
Daily-wage earners, patient companions and others buy a plate of daal chawal.
Rs 60 a meal (2025 press)

The page also says what went wrong.

Rizq’s own case study names the problems it hit. Publishing them is a trust signal: it tells a funder you will report honestly.10

  • Sales were limited by cart locations
  • Local dhabas saw the subsidised cart as a threat, so Rizq tried supplying them instead of competing
  • Raising the price of a costlier dish cut sales, so cheaper dishes returned
  • Securing permitted locations meant dealing with bureaucratic hurdles

ON RIZQ’S KHANA PAGE: 18 CARTS OPERATIONAL AND 3,000 MEALS SOLD DAILY (SOURCE 9). THE PILOT FIGURES ARE FROM RIZQ’S APRIL 2025 CASE STUDY (SOURCE 10).

Customers standing at a yellow Rizq Khana food cart, seen from behind, with a Rs 60 sign visible

A Rizq Khana cart, photographed by Rizq and published on its site. Customers are shown from behind.

What the organisation can do now, and what comes next

Capabilities today. An offer for tomorrow.

The left column is what the live site lets Rizq do. The right column is what we can build next for an organisation like Rizq. It has not been built for Rizq and it is not a claim of results.

On the live site today

What Rizq’s front door does

  • Takes General, Sadqa and Zakat gifts in three steps, to a general fund or a chosen initiative4
  • Publishes audited reports, annual reports, financial statements and certificates3
  • Gives partners six ways in and a form with a stated response time6
  • Recruits volunteers into general teams, specialised teams (digital media, fundraising, outreach and advocacy), corporate groups and campus chapters8
  • Runs seasonal campaign pages and a news and blog feed with categories1
  • Collects newsletter sign-ups with a consent statement1
What we can build next. Not delivered.

For an organisation like Rizq

  • A donor and corporate-partner pipeline: every enquiry and gift lands in one place with an owner and a next step
  • Live impact dashboards: programme numbers that update from your own records instead of by hand
  • Automation of repetitive admin: receipts, thank-yous, partner follow-ups, volunteer onboarding
  • Content production: case studies, short video and updates produced from field material
  • Giving optimisation: reading where donors drop out of the form, and fixing it
Recognition and proof

What others say about the work.

All of the following is taken from Rizq’s own awards page, story page and news posts. A well-organised awards and partners page is itself a trust asset.

2017

LUMS Alumni Achievement Award

Presented to co-founder Musa Aamir for Rizq’s work on hunger and food security.7

2018

Top 20 Social Enterprises of South Asia

Named by SPRING Accelerators.7

2020

Commonwealth Points of Light

Awarded to Rizq co-founders by Queen Elizabeth II.7

COVID-19

Recognition in Punjab

Acknowledged by the Governor of Punjab and by the Government of Punjab for relief work during the pandemic.72

2023 and 2025

Pride of Pakistan

2023, representing Rizq; 14 August 2025, the three co-founders, for a decade of service.7

2024

COP29, Baku

Rizq’s CEO represented Pakistan.2

World Central KitchenGlobal FoodBanking NetworkAcumen NetworkCoca-Cola PakistanPunjab Food AuthorityLUMSYunus CentrePledgesSona Welfare Foundation

PARTNERS NAMED IN RIZQ’S OWN PAGES AND NEWS POSTS (SOURCES 2, 12, 14, 15, 16). LISTING A NAME HERE DOES NOT MEAN THAT ORGANISATION ENDORSES ESIPICK.

A large group of people standing and seated together in a meeting room for a group photograph

Photo published with Rizq’s post on its 2026 delegation: 24 members at the 16th Social Business Day in Dhaka, an event of nearly 1,700 participants from 33 countries.15

On 18 May 2026 Rizq signed an MOU with LUMS for a scholarship fund: one student a year, for four years, through LUMS’s National Outreach Program.14

What this means for your organisation

Eight questions every multi-programme organisation should be able to answer yes to.

If you run food banks, a foundation, a school or a social enterprise, you can score your own site against these. Under each is how we would deliver it. These are offers, not past work.

1

Can a stranger tell in ten seconds what you do and where they fit?

Rizq separates audiences by menu: donors, volunteers, partners, press.

How we would deliverMap your audiences and programmes, then design the navigation and homepage around them in Figma before any build.
2

Can someone give in a minute, on a phone, in the way they actually give?

One-off, monthly, Zakat, sadqa, transfer, wallet, QR.

How we would deliverAudit your current donation path, remove steps, add the payment and gift types your donors use, test on real phones.
3

Can a donor see where the money goes, with documents?

A percentage claim is a start; audited reports are the proof.

How we would deliverA reports and accountability page, with your allocation statement, audits and certificates organised by year and type.
4

Can you show your credentials without being asked?

Registrations, certifications and eligibility, one click away.

How we would deliverCredentials section on the homepage and on the giving page, linking to the original documents.
5

Does a corporate or foundation partner have a clear route in?

CSR, sponsor a programme, in-kind, knowledge, media: each is a different conversation.

How we would deliverA partnerships page with routes, an enquiry form that reaches the right person, and a response time you can keep.
6

Can volunteers and campuses organise themselves?

Teams, ambassadors and chapters grow when joining is easy.

How we would deliverSign-up flows for each role, with the data captured in a list you can actually work from.
7

Does every programme tell the same kind of story, with numbers?

Problem, mission, how it started, what it has done.

How we would deliverA repeatable programme page template in your content system, so your team can add a programme without a developer.
8

Can people find you by searching for what you do?

Good work that cannot be found cannot be funded.

How we would deliverOn-page and technical search optimisation, with a plain report on what we changed.
How we start with you

One practical improvement first.

You do not need a full redesign to begin. Esipick’s fixed prices start from $300 and work ships in days; that is our general offer, not a quote for this kind of project. Scope, timeline and cost are agreed with you in writing before work begins.

STEP 1

A conversation

You tell us what you run, who needs to trust you and where giving or partnerships stall today. We look at your current site against the eight questions above.

STEP 2

One thing, scoped

We agree a single improvement: a donation form, a reports page, a partner route, a programme template. You get the scope, the timeline and the cost in writing before we start.

STEP 3

Ship it, then decide

We ship it, show you what changed, and you decide whether to go further. Your team keeps editing the site themselves.

Outgrown "a page about us"?

When an organisation takes on more programmes, more funders and more scrutiny, its website becomes infrastructure for trust, giving and partnerships. If that is where you are, let’s talk about one practical step.

Book a call Visit rizq.org

Built by Esipick in partnership with Rizq.

Sources

  1. Rizq homepage and footer, impact figures, navigation, news feed. rizq.org (viewed 8 Oct 2026)
  2. Rizq, About Us (story, approach, timeline). rizq.org/our-story
  3. Rizq, Financial and Annual Reports (allocation statement, reports, certificates, FAQ). rizq.org/financial-reports
  4. Rizq, Donate (three-step form). rizq.org/donate
  5. Rizq, Zakat Calculator and FAQ. rizq.org/zakat-calculator
  6. Rizq, Partner With Us. rizq.org/our-partners
  7. Rizq, Awards. rizq.org/awards
  8. Rizq, Volunteer. rizq.org/volunteer
  9. Rizq, Rizq Khana programme page. rizq.org/our-work/.../rizq-khana
  10. Rizq, "Rizq Khana Food Cart Model: A Case Study in Dignified Nutrition Access", 23 April 2025. rizq.org/2025/04/23/...
  11. ProPakistani, "Rizq Khana Serves Hope for Just Rs. 60", 21 July 2025. propakistani.pk/2025/07/21/...
  12. Rizq, Khanewal farmer-rehabilitation partnership with Pledges and Sona Welfare Foundation, 10 July 2026 (MOU 8 July 2026). rizq.org/2026/07/10/...
  13. Rizq, Rizq Ration programme page. rizq.org/our-work/.../rizq-ration
  14. Rizq, Rizq Scholarship Fund MOU with LUMS (18 May 2026), published 30 May 2026. rizq.org/2026/05/30/...
  15. Rizq, delegation to the 16th Social Business Day, Dhaka (27 to 30 June 2026), published 8 July 2026. rizq.org/2026/07/08/...
  16. The Coca-Cola Company (Pakistan), "Coca-Cola and Rizq Work to Create a Hunger-Free Pakistan", 19 April 2022. coca-cola.com/pk/...
  17. Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy, The State of Individual Philanthropy in Pakistan 2016 (published January 2017). wings.issuelab.org/resources/26717
  18. Dawn, "The culture of giving in Pakistan", 30 January 2023. dawn.com/news/1734288
  19. Esipick, Websites & Digital Tools for Nonprofits (Rizq project entry). esipick.com/industry/nonprofits-foundations
  20. Rizq, News and Events and Blogs. rizq.org/news-and-stories
  21. Rizq, Our Team (Advisors). rizq.org/our-team
  22. Rizq, Make a Donation (other ways to give). rizq.org/donate-now

About these figures

Every Rizq figure on this page is quoted from Rizq’s own public pages as they stood on 8 October 2026, and attributed to the page it came from. We have not audited them. Where Rizq publishes more than one value for a figure, we use the homepage and the most recent news post. Screenshots and photographs are of Rizq’s public website and are shown with no private or beneficiary data; customers and beneficiaries are not shown in close-up. Esipick designed and built the rizq.org website in partnership with Rizq. Rizq is its own Trust with its own founders, CEO and trustees; Esipick does not own it. Sector figures come from the cited primary sources. We do not publish traffic, donation or conversion results for Rizq.