To whom is zakat given, and is it permissible to give it to charitable organizations and medical institutions that treat the poor, and is donating blood considered zakat?

Charity (sadaqah) has two meanings: a general one that includes every good deed, and a specific one limited to money. Monetary charity is of two types: obligatory zakat, which is given to the eight categories specified in the Quran, and supererogatory sadaqat, which can be spent on various charitable causes. It is permissible to pay zakat to charitable organizations and medical institutions if they are trustworthy and spend the zakat according to its Sharia-compliant channels for poor Muslim patients, even if it is in the form of in-kind items such as medicines. However, if the institution does not adhere to the zakat expenditures, it is not permissible to pay zakat to it.