Bonyad

Bonyads (Persian: بنیاد "Foundation") are charitable trusts in Iran that play a major role in Iran's economy. They control an estimated 20% of Iran's GDP, and are second only to the oil industry in manufacturing, trading, and real estate development in Iran. As of 2010, the largest bonyad is the Mostazafan Foundation, worth approximately $10 billion. In addition to large national bonyads like the Mostazafan Foundation, there are numerous bonyads affiliated with local clerics in "almost every" Iranian town. All are answerable only to the Supreme Leader of Iran. As of 2008, bonyads employ somewhere between 400,000 and 5 million Iranians.

Technically religious charitable organizations, they have evolved into "giant private monopolies with no governmental oversight", and are now described as channeling revenues to groups supporting the Islamic Republic, while providing limited and inadequate charity to the poor. Exempt from taxes and benefiting from "huge subsidies from government," they have been called "bloated," and "a major weakness of Iran's economy," that siphons off production to the lucrative black market.