Zakah on funds collected in charitable associations and the delay in their distribution

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, regarding the funds collected in charitable associations where a lunar year passes before they are distributed, and this is done by the workers in them to search for the eligible recipients, is zakah obligatory on them?

Answer:
By Allah, the issues of charitable associations truly contain good and benefit, but laxity, negligence, and carelessness may occur in them due to not adhering to the rulings of the Shari'ah. For example, they collect zakah, they collect zakah intending to distribute it to the eligible recipients, but they hold it with them for a period. Holding zakah is not permissible. Zakah must be delivered to the eligible recipients immediately. It is not permissible for the owner to hold it, nor for an agent of associations, which are considered agents. An agent is not permitted to hold zakah; he must execute it immediately, giving it to the needy present at that moment, and not wait for other needy people.
Rather, he gives it to those present at that moment and does not hold the zakah. The associations should know this.
The second matter is that the associations, may Allah guide them for their love of good and their eagerness for good, ask for zakat al-fitr and hoard it with them. That is, they ask people for zakat al-fitr and hoard it with them, or they ask people for money, and people give them money, and they buy zakat al-fitr with it. They may delay, and the day of the festival may pass, and days may go by while they have not bought anything, nor distributed the zakat al-fitr they have, nor bought zakat al-fitr. This means they have taken on the responsibility and not fulfilled it. Zakat al-fitr is on its day, one or two days before the festival, and its last day is the day of the festival. They may not adhere to this; they take it and hoard it with them, or they take it as money from its owners and do not buy food for zakat al-fitr. This is negligence, and it remains a debt on them, which they bear.
It is obligatory that if they are unable to execute the rulings of the Shari'ah at their proper time, they do not accept them and do not take on the responsibility. Also, some of them ask for the price of the udhiyah and say, "We will buy sacrifices with it in a needy country outside the Kingdom." This is contrary to what is prescribed regarding the udhiyah. The prescribed udhiyah is that it is slaughtered in the country of the one who sacrifices, in his home, and he eats from it, and his children eat from it, they rejoice with it, and he gives charity to his neighbors.
And they expand with it. The purpose of the udhiyah is that it is slaughtered in the home, in the home of the one who sacrifices, with his children and his neighbors. If it is sent to other countries, this purpose is not achieved. It becomes charity, not an udhiyah. It becomes charity with meat. Charity with meat, and giving charity with money is better than giving charity with meat.
It becomes charity, and charity with meat is not charity with money or with food. They should avoid the issue of udhiyah and not ask people for it, because this turns it from being udhiyah to being charity with meat outside the Kingdom, and the purpose is not achieved.
They should leave the udhiyah for people to sacrifice in their homes. And they should not change this ritual, the ritual of the udhiyah which is slaughtered in the country and in the homes. The one who sacrifices attends it, or attends its slaughter, or slaughters it himself, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) slaughtered. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the best of creation, slaughtered his udhiyah with his own hand, may Allah pray upon him and grant him peace. He did not say, "I am a Prophet, or I am a Messenger, and I am too elevated to slaughter the animals," because this is worship. This is worship. Slaughtering it is worship, and the owner slaughtering it himself in his home is what is required. It is not required that the meat be distributed in the East or in the West. This is not a great matter; this is charity.
It is obligatory that they avoid taking the udhiyah. And they should not burden people and change this ritual. Now the udhiyah has no status, and there is no one who says, "I paid three hundred riyals and that is it." These three hundred riyals that he paid, what is that? It is a substitute for the udhiyah. It does not have the meanings that exist in the udhiyah if it is slaughtered in the home.
And eaten from, and given in charity to the neighbors and to the friends. Do these meanings not exist?
Therefore, they must avoid this matter, and not take the udhiyah. They should let people sacrifice in their homes and in their countries so that this ritual appears in the country, and its owners slaughter it as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) slaughtered with his own hand. This is what is required. So I advise my brothers who are in charge of the associations to avoid these matters, because sins and responsibilities will befall them from them, and Allah has not tasked them with this. They accept donations from people, they accept donations from people in money, clothes, and food. This is a good thing, and they distribute it to the needy and transfer it to another country. As for the zakahs which are immediate, they are distributed immediately. And as for zakat al-fitr, which is limited to a specific time, and the poor of the country, zakat al-fitr is for the poor of the country. This is the default. And as for the udhiyah, they do not interfere in it. They leave it in the hands of its owners, and they execute it themselves. This is what I advise my brothers, the owners of the associations. They are on good, and they are doing good work, and they are performing good work. May Allah reward them with good. But the rulings of the Shari'ah, it is not permissible to interfere in them, and it is not permissible to change them on the pretext that this is kindness to the poor, and so on and so on. Yes.