Is it permissible for volunteers who collect zakah funds and distribute them to those entitled to receive it to take from the zakah, based on the saying of Allah, the Exalted:

The questioner : My master, since approximately the early 1980s, zakah committees have been established in the Kingdom, here in Jordan. Among them is the committee... These are practical experiences, and although the social situation now differs from that of the righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them), we face many problems. First: of course, a zakah committee cannot exist without being licensed by the Zakah Fund; that is, by the Ministry of Awqaf; that is, by the ruler. Second: all those working on zakah affairs are volunteers; meaning, they are employed in the morning in their jobs—teacher, pharmacist, administrator, and the like—then in the afternoon and evening hours they come and strive to collect and distribute zakah, or during holidays and the like.
First: Is it permissible for them, as volunteers, to take something from the share of those entrusted with its collection, from the share of those entrusted with its collection?
And second: Is it permissible to spend some of the zakah funds on charitable projects that benefit the poor primarily; such as: a clinic that treats the poor for free, or—for example—a small project whose revenue is redistributed to the poor—an investment, I mean; zakah funds are invested in well-studied projects, and they yield revenue that is reinvested and distributed to zakah; I mean, do the volunteers fit the description of those entrusted with its collection? And they perform all the duties of those entrusted with its collection, such as collecting, distributing, verifying poverty and destitution, and the like?
And second: Is it permissible to spend zakah funds on service projects, such as clinics and kindergartens, that benefit orphans and the poor and the like?

The Shaykh : Yes. As for the first issue, it is not permissible for them to take from the zakah funds in their capacity as workers; and that is for two reasons, or perhaps the more accurate expression is one of the two reasons. One is that they are employees, as I said, in the morning, and when they finish their work for which they receive a salary, they work in this cause voluntarily. The second reason—and this is important—is that no one may appoint himself as a worker in the path of good, and then impose upon himself a share of this good that he collects from people in the name of the poor and the needy. This matter belongs to the one in authority; that is, to the Muslim ruler who rules by what Allah has revealed. In that case, this type of worker can be included in the general meaning of the saying of Allah, the Exalted: . Those entrusted with its collection means those appointed by the Muslim ruler, and not so-and-so or so-and-so who appointed themselves first in the path of drawing near to Allah voluntarily, as I said. And second, that here a door is opened for exploiting funds that were collected with a specific intention, to be spent with a different intention, even if this other intention helps—as I said in the second question, and the answer will follow—helps in achieving the first intention. Therefore, it is not permissible for these employees who appointed themselves in the path of collecting zakah funds to make a share of these funds for themselves.
As for the answer to the second question, I say: If the funds collected are only obligatory zakah, then it is not permissible to spend them except in cash to the poor and the needy, and it is not permissible to dispose of them, even in the paths of good to which you referred some. This can be achieved with the second type of zakah, which is voluntary zakah, and not obligatory zakah. Therefore, we advise the committees responsible for collecting funds to have two funds: a fund for obligatory zakah, and a fund for voluntary zakah or non-zakah; that is, a gift, a present, an endowment, and so on.
This second fund is allocated for those projects you referred to. As for establishing these projects with zakah funds, whose original purpose is that the poor own them in their hands, that they are given to them as money as it came, given to them, and each one of them then disposes of this money within the limits of his need; this one needs food, that one needs drink, another needs clothing, a fourth needs—for example—housing, and so on; it is not permissible to dispose of zakah funds in any benefit, ever. Rather, they are given to the poor hand to hand.
This is what I have as an answer to this question.

The questioner : In a question to our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : No, can you finish your question?

The questioner : A completion.

The Shaykh : A completion.