When to give
When to give to a zakat charity
When zakat is due, and when a charity passes it on, are two different questions.
When zakat is due
On your zakat day, a lunar year after your wealth reached the nisab (Sunan Ibn Majah 1792). Many keep a day in Ramadan.
When you are ready, pay your zakat openly and see where each pound goes. Some charities say every pound reaches the cause: see what a 100% donation policy means.
Timing with a zakat charity
Ask when it is passed on
Your zakat is due on your day; ask how long the charity then takes to give it out.
Late in Ramadan
Gifts pile up at the end of Ramadan. Giving earlier in the month gives the charity time.
Paying in stages
Setting zakat aside monthly is common; give the balance by your zakat day.
Paying early
Whether zakat can be paid before the year is up is answered differently by the schools; ask your scholar.
Zakat al-fitr is separate
Zakat al-fitr has its own deadline, the Eid prayer, and its own amount per person. Zakat al-Fitr has this year’s date.