Is it permissible to pay the expiatory alms (fidyah) for delaying the making up of missed Ramadan fasts and Zakat al-Fitr in money to charities, taking into consideration that the charity might not purchase food with it, due to the difficulty of finding a direct poor person, and because there are fatwas that permit paying in money due to need?

Dispensing the value in expiations (kaffarat) is a matter of scholarly disagreement, and it is permissible to follow those who permit dispensing its value out of need. Therefore, it is not required to verify whether the charity organization distributes it as food. However, it is more cautious to distribute it as food to avoid disagreement, by explaining this to the organization or by appointing someone else to do so. As for zakat al-fitr, there is a well-known disagreement regarding dispensing its value.