Developing Performance Measurement Framework For Waqf Institutions: Beyond The Financial Measures

The interest on the subject of Waqf is on the rise at the global and national levels especially among stakeholders in the Islamic world. The Waqf institution has great potential to support for employment creation, provide educational opportunities, and to reduce dependence on government funding. The development of Waqf projects has become an agenda to enhance the economy of the Bumiputeras through the allocation of development grants under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) and the Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015). This is because the great potential of Waqf needs to be well managed and developed. However, several problems do exist regarding Wagf, such as asset maintenance, management and mobilization of Wagf assets. Several past studies show there were no specific guidelines in preparing and maintaining Wagf report to promote the accountability and transparency. The unstandardized reporting has become a bottleneck in promoting accountability and transparency of Wagf institutions. To ensure the credibility of the institutions through the reports, performance evaluation is needed. As a charitable institution, the performance of a Waqf institution may not be determined by certain financial ratios, but how it mobilizes Wagf assets effectively and how it contributes towards the welfare of ummah. Therefore, a performance framework for Wagf institution seems desirable. This conceptual study aims to develop performance measurement framework for Wagf institutions.