In 2004, a group of Muslim families in Boston faced a challenge: Islamic schools existed in the suburbs, but nothing served families who lived and worked in the city. Children in urban Boston deserved access to quality Islamic education too.
So they built it themselves.
Malik Academy opened its doors in 2005, bringing something Boston’s urban Muslim families had long hoped for. Over the decades, dedicated communities had built Islamic schools in the area — including the Sister Clara Muhammad School and others — but for many reasons, few had persisted. Malik Academy started in converted office space, rented and temporary but filled with purpose, with the goal of building something lasting.
Twenty years later, Malik Academy has a permanent home. And their AMCF endowment played a critical role in making it happen.
The Challenge: Building for the Long Term
Like many small nonprofits, Malik Academy faced the tension between immediate needs and long-term sustainability. Rent needed to be paid. Teachers needed salaries. Programs needed funding. But leadership also knew that renting forever wasn’t a path to permanence.
They wanted to build an endowment — a permanently invested fund that would grow over time and provide financial stability. But they worried they wouldn’t qualify without significant assets already in hand.
Then a contact referred them to AMCF.
Starting the Endowment: Easier Than Expected
As Malik Academy’s leadership describes it:
“We realized an endowment could help Malik grow financially. A contact referred us to the American Muslim Community Foundation, but we worried we would not be eligible without enough assets. Establishing our endowment was easy and fast — we started with only $10,000.”
That’s the reality many small nonprofits don’t realize: you don’t need millions to start an endowment. You need a commitment to long-term thinking and a partner who makes the process simple. Your donors can also give assets directly to the endowment, making it a straightforward experience — especially for organizations without a brokerage account already in place.
AMCF handles the investment management, record keeping, and administration. Organizations like Malik Academy focus on their mission.
The Payoff: A Multimillion Dollar Building Purchase
Years passed. The endowment grew. And when the moment came, those assets made a difference leadership never anticipated.
“Years later, the endowment has grown, serving us at a critical time documenting assets that helped qualify our loan for a multimillion dollar building purchase. Our endowment funds helped complete the 2025 purchase of a building to house Malik Academy.”
This is the power of patient, strategic planning. A $10,000 starting investment, growing steadily over time, became part of the financial foundation that made a permanent facility possible.
The Blackstone Islamic Education Collaborative
The new building at 58 Circuit Street in Roxbury isn’t just a school. It’s the home of the Blackstone Islamic Education Collaborative — a hub of community programming that will serve children, families, and adults across New England.
The name “Blackstone” carries meaning. When the Ka’bah was being rebuilt in Mecca, a dispute arose over who would have the honor of placing the sacred Black Stone. The young Prophet Muhammad ﷺ proposed a solution rooted in unity: he placed the stone on a cloth and invited leaders of each tribe to lift it together. Division became collaboration.
Blackstone is founded in the same spirit — families, educators, and community members coming together to build something sacred.
What Blackstone will offer:
- Full-time Islamic school (K–4, expanding one grade per year)
- Early childhood center (toddlers through Pre-K)
- Qur’an Hifz program for all ages
- Weekend Islamic school (PK–12)
- After-school enrichment with tutoring, Qur’an memorization, and extracurriculars
- Youth empowerment programs with leadership development and mentorship
- Family programs including workshops and retreats
This is what it looks like when a community invests in its future.
Why This Matters
Malik Academy’s story illustrates something important about endowments: they’re not just about generating annual income. They’re about building institutional credibility and financial stability that opens doors you couldn’t have anticipated.
An endowment told lenders that Malik Academy was built to last. It documented assets that helped qualify a loan. It provided a foundation of permanence that made a multimillion dollar building purchase possible.
For an Islamic school Boston families founded two decades ago in rented office space, that’s a remarkable transformation.
Support Malik Academy’s Future
Give to the Malik Academy Endowment
The endowment that helped Malik Academy secure its permanent home continues to grow. Your gift is invested permanently, with returns supporting Islamic education in Boston for generations. This is sadaqa jariya — ongoing charity. Your contribution today funds programs for children who haven’t been born yet. When you give, you’ll receive a tax receipt for your records. All gifts to AMCF-hosted endowments are tax-deductible, and your donation is fully documented for zakat and charitable giving purposes.
Give to the Malik Academy Endowment →
Support the Blackstone Campaign
To bring the full vision of Blackstone to life, Malik Academy is raising $4 million for the new community hub in Roxbury. The project is being funded through a combination of Islamic financing ($2 million) and community qard hassan — interest-free loans from supporters who believe in the mission. To date, $1.1 million has been raised and $150,000 has already been repaid. Malik Academy aims to repay the remaining $950,000 within five years.
Learn about the Blackstone campaign →
Through your DAF
If you have a Donor Advised Fund with AMCF, you can recommend a grant directly to Malik Academy.
A Lesson for Every Nonprofit
Malik Academy’s journey offers a lesson for any organization thinking about long-term sustainability:
Start now. They began with $10,000. The process was easy and fast.
Be patient. The endowment grew over years, not months.
Think beyond annual income. The endowment’s value wasn’t just in distributions — it was in demonstrating financial stability when it mattered most.
Partner wisely. AMCF handled the complexity so Malik Academy could focus on educating children.
If your organization is considering an endowment, Malik Academy’s story is proof of what’s possible.