9:60  Charities are only for— the poor, and the needy, and the workers upon it, and those whose hearts are made to incline, and for the captives, and those in debt, and in the way of Allah, and the wayfarer: an ordinance from Allah.  And Allah is all-Knowing, most Wise.

9:60 Islam prescribes eight categories of people who are eligible to receive zakat (2:177). Islamic jurists have prescribed one-fortieth of one’s surplus wealth every year should be spent in zakat. Of the eight categories, the first two (i) the poor and (ii) the needy are, by definition, very different. The poor includes those who are in perpetual privation, having little or no money, food and shelter; living well below a standard poverty benchmark, if such benchmark is legally determined, or ordinarily observed. Whereas the needy person may not be perpetually poor, but they might be dire need for certain means at a particular time, e.g. need for medical help during a natural disaster. The other categories of people are: (iii) the workers, particularly the overhead expenses of those attending upon the collection and distribution of public fund or involved in management of welfare projects, (iv) those whose hearts are made to incline towards Islam, to help them establish particularly if they abandoned their property to come into the fold of Islam, (v) the captives, to maintain them in captivity for security reason or to ensure their release by paying ransom, and if they are held in remote places, indirectly towards overhead expenses to ensure their welfare and/or release, (vi) those in debt, particularly if the burden of debt is forcing them towards poverty, (vii) in the way of Allāh, spending in any noble cause and (viii) the traveler, who have fallen into travel related dire circumstances.