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1. INTRODUCTION:

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a citizen-based association


that operates independently of government, usually to deliver resources or
serve some social or political purpose. The World Bank classifies NGOs
as either operational NGOs, which are primarily concerned with
development projects, or advocacy NGOs, which are primarily concerned
with promoting a cause

NGOs are difficult to define and classify due to the term’s inconsistent
use. NGO, non-profit organization (NPO) and private voluntary
organization (PVO) are the most used terms and are used interchangeably
despite differing definitions. Classifying non-governmental organizations
within defined boundaries excludes NGOs that fall outside each specific
boundary. Additionally, it is beneficial for NGO networks to create a
classification that allows similar organizations to exchange information
more easily. To attempt a classification of NGOs requires a framework,
that includes the orientation and the organization's level of operation. An
NGO's orientation refers to the type of activities an organization takes on.
These activities might include environmental, development, or advocacy
work. An NGO's
level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization

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works on, like the difference in work between an international NGO and
community or national NGO.

One of the earliest mentions of the term "NGO" was in 1945 when the
UN was created. The UN introduced the term "NGO" to distinguish
between the participation of international private organizations and
intergovernmental specialized agencies. According to the UN, all kinds of
private organizations that are independent from government control can
be recognized as "NGOs." "NGOs" cannot seek to diminish a nation's
government in the shape of an opposing political party; NGOs also need
to be non-criminal and non-profit. Professor Peter Willets, from the City
University of London, argues the definition of NGOs can be interpreted
differently by various organizations and depending on a situation’s
context. He defines an NGO as “"an independent voluntary association of
people acting together on a continuous basis for some common purpose
other than achieving government office, making money or illegal
activities." In this view, two main types of NGOs are recognized
according to the activities they

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pursue: operational and campaigning NGO’s. Although Willets proposes


the operational and campaigning NGOs as a tool to differentiate the main
activities of these organizations, he also explains that they have more
similarities than differences. Their activities are unrestricted; thus
operational NGOs may need to campaign and campaigning NGOs may
need to take on structural projects.

NGOs are defined by the World Bank as "private organizations that


pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor,
protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake
community development".

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2. NPOS AND NGOS

Common usage varies between countries - for example NGO is commonly


used for domestic organizations in Australia that would be referred to as
non-profit organizations in the United States. Such organizations that
operate on the international level are fairly consistently referred to as
"non-governmental organizations", in the United States and elsewhere.

There is a growing movement within the non-profit organization/non-


government sector to define itself in a more constructive, accurate way.
The "non-profit" designation is seen to be particularly dysfunctional for at
least three reasons:

1) It says nothing about the purpose of the organization, only what it is


not;

2) It focuses the mind on "profit" as being the opposite of the


organization's purpose;

3) It implies that the organization has few financial resources and may
run out of money before completing its mission.

Instead of being defined by "non-" words, organizations are suggesting


new terminology to describe the sector. The term "social benefit
organization" (SBO) is being adopted by some organizations. This defines
them in terms of their positive mission. The term "civil society
organization" (CSO) has also been used by a growing number of
organizations, such as the Center for the

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Study of Global Governance.The term "citizen sector organization" (CSO)


has also been advocated to describe the sector — as one of citizens, for
citizens. These labels, SBO and CSO, position the sector as its own entity,
without relying on language used for the government or business sectors.
However, some have argued that CSO is not particularly helpful, given
that most NGOs are in fact funded by governments and/or profit-driven
businesses and that some NGOs are clearly hostile to independently
organized people's organizations. The term "social benefit organization"
seems to avoid that problem, since it does not assume any particular
structure, but rather focuses on the organization's mission.

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3. HISTORY

International non-governmental organizations have a history dating back


to at least 1839. It has been estimated that by 1914 there were 1083
NGOs. International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement
and the movement for women's suffrage, and reached a peak at the time of
the World Disarmament Conference. However, the phrase "non-
governmental organization" only came into popular use with the
establishment of the United Nations Organization in 1945 with
provisions in Article
71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter[16] for a consultative role
for organizations which are neither governments nor member states—see
Consultative Status. The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is first
given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27, 1950: it is
defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an
international treaty".

Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western


countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state.
Further globalization of that process occurred after the fall of the
communist system and was an important part of the Washington
consensus.

Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of


NGOs. Many problems could not be solved within a nation. International
treaties and international organizations such as the World Trade
Organization were centered mainly on the interests of capitalist
enterprises. In an attempt to counterbalance this trend,

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NGOs have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental


aid and sustainable development. A prominent example of this is the
World Social Forum, which is a rival convention to the World Economic
Forum held annually in January in Davos, Switzerland. The fifth World
Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January 2005 was attended by
representatives from more than 1,000 NGOs. Some have argued that in
forums like these, NGOs take the place of what should belong to popular
movements of the poor. Others argue that NGOs are often imperialist in
nature, that they sometimes operate in a racialized manner in third world
countries, and that they fulfill a similar function to that of the clergy
during the high colonial era. The philosopher Peter Hallward argues that
they are an aristocratic form of politics. Whatever the case, NGO
transnational networking is now extensive.

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4. NGOS AND THEIR INDEPENDENCE FROM

GOVERNMENTS

The most difficult question about the independence of NGOs is whether


they come under governmental influence. Individual governments do at
times try to influence the NGO community in a particular field, by
establishing NGOs that promote their policies. This has been recognized
by quite common use of the acronym GONGO, to label a government-
organized NGO. Also, in more authoritarian societies, NGOs may find it
very difficult to act independently and they may not receive
acknowledgment from other political actors even when they are acting
independently. Beyond these unusual situations, there is a widespread
prejudice that government funding leads to government control. In the
field of human rights, it would damage an NGO for such a perception to
arise, so Amnesty International has strict rules that it will not accept
direct government funding for normal activities. On the other hand,
development and humanitarian relief NGOs need substantial resources, to
run their operational programs, so most of them readily accept official
funds. While these NGOs would like the security of a guaranteed budget
for their administrative overheads, governments generally only want to
support field costs for projects.

Nominally NGOs may appear to be independent, when they design


their own programs, but government influence can arise indirectly if the
program is designed to make it more likely that government grants or
contracts will be forthcoming. On the other

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hand, confident experienced NGOs can appeal for funding for new
approaches and in so doing cause government officials to re-assess
policy. The best example of this is the way in which NGOs, particularly
the International Planned Parenthood Federation, dragged governments
into adopting population programs. There is no obvious method to
identify the direction of influence, without detailed knowledge of the
relationship between an NGO and a government. Environmental NGOs
may have either type of funding relationship. Conservation and research
groups may happily obtain government funds to support their programs:
some are innovative and some are not. Beyond these situations, radical
campaigning groups may be unwilling and unable to attract government
funds.

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5. LEGAL ASPECTS

NGOs have a wide diversity of structures and purposes. For legal


classification, there are, nevertheless, some elements of importance:
¾ Economic activity.
¾ Supervision and management provisions.
¾ Representation.
¾ Accountability and Auditing provisions.
¾ Provisions for the dissolution of the entity.
¾ Tax status of the foundation.

Some of the above must be, in most jurisdictions, expressed in the charter
of establishment. Others may be provided by the supervising authority at
each particular jurisdiction.

While affiliations will not affect a legal status, they may be taken into
consideration by legal proceedings as an indication of purpose.

Most countries have laws which regulate the establishment and


management of NGOs, and which require compliance with corporate
governance regimes

Both not-for-profit and for-profit entities must have board members,


steering committee members, or trustees who owe the organization a
fiduciary duty of loyalty and trust. A notable exception to this involves
churches, which are often not required to disclose finances to anyone,
including church members.

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6. NGOS AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH BUSINESS


AND COMMERCE

A few intergovernmental economic organizations do allow an individual


company to have access under their provisions for NGOs, but this is only
in cases where there are loose ad hoc procedures and there are no formal
institutional arrangements. However, as with political parties, non-profit-
making federations of companies, established for industry-wide
collaboration and to act as lobbies, are widely accepted. From the earliest
days of the UN, bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce,
the International Organization of Employers and similar organizations for
particular economic sectors have been included among the NGOs. Until
the 1990s, they were not of much significance in the UN itself, but they
have always been important in the specialized agencies. The more
technical the question under discussion, the more the policy-making
process will draw on their expertise.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 1999, the UN
Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, explicitly called upon companies to
widen their social responsibilities by entering into a Global Compact
with the UN. Companies that do so agree to endorse nine principles,
covering promotion of a set of core values in the areas of human rights,
labour standards and protection of the environment. Soon afterwards,
global business organizations, several hundred companies and the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions responded positively,
but only a handful of human rights, environment and development NGOs
did so. There
remains a deep suspicion among many such NGOs about the

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possibility of companies implementing commitments to social


responsibility.
Despite the suspicion of business, some NGOs have chosen to engage
directly in collaborative arrangements to formulate and monitor
statements of business ethics. This has been done both on an industry-
wide basis and with individual companies. For example, WWF (known as
the Worldwide Fund for Nature until July 2000) took the lead in forming
the Forest Stewardship Council in 1993 and the Marine Stewardship
Council in 1996. Each Council works to promote sustainable practices,
with participating companies gaining the benefit of having their products
endorsed by the NGOs as being environmentally friendly. Similarly,
various companies are having environmental and/or social audits
undertaken on an annual basis, by independent assessors.

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7. ACTIVITIES

There are also numerous classifications of NGOs. The typology the


World Bank uses divides them into Operational and Advocacy:

Operational NGOs Operational NGOs seek to "achieve small scale change


directly through projects”. They mobilize financial resources, materials
and volunteers to create localized programs in the field. They hold large
scale fundraising events, apply to governments and organizations for
grants and contracts in order to raise money for projects. They often
operate in a hierarchical structure; with a main headquarters staffed by
professionals who plan projects, create budgets, keep accounts, report, and
communicate with operational fieldworkers who work directly on projects
Operational NGOs deal with a wide range of issues, but are most often
associated with the delivery of services and welfare, emergency relief
and environmental issues.

Operational NGOs can be further categorized, one frequently used


categorization is the division into relief-oriented versus development-
oriented organizations; they can also be classified according to whether
they stress service delivery or participation;

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or whether they are religious or secular; and whether they are more
public or private-oriented. Operational NGOs can be community-based,
national or international. The defining activity of operational NGOs is
implementing projects.

Campaigning NGOs Campaigning NGOs seek to "achieve large scale


change promoted indirectly through influence of the political system."
Campaigning NGOs need an efficient and effective group of professional
members who are able to keep supporters informed, and motivated. They
must plan and host demonstrations and events that will keep their cause in
the media. They must maintain a large informed network of supporters
who can be mobilized for events to garner media attention and influence
policy changes. The defining activity of campaigning NGOs is holding
demonstrations.

Campaigning NGOs often deal with issues relating to human rights,


women's rights, children's rights. The primary purpose of an Advocacy
NGO is to defend or promote a specific cause. As opposed to operational
project management, these organizations

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typically try to raise awareness, acceptance and knowledge by lobbying,


press work and activist events.

Operational and Campaigning NGOs It is not uncommon for NGOs to


make use of both activities. Many times, operational NGOs will use
campaigning techniques if they continually face the same issues in the
field that could be remedied through policy changes. At the same time,
Campaigning NGOs, like human rights organizations often have programs
that assist the individual victims they are trying to help through their
advocacy work.

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8. THE RISE AND ROLE OF NGOS IN SUSTAINABLE


DEVELOPMENT

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a major role in


pushing for sustainable development at the international level.
Campaigning groups have been key drivers of inter-governmental
negotiations, ranging from the regulation of hazardous wastes to a global
ban on land mines and the elimination of slavery.

But NGOs are not only focusing their energies on governments and
inter-governmental processes. With the retreat of the state from a number
of public functions and regulatory activities, NGOs have begun to fix their
sights on powerful corporations - many of which can rival entire nations
in terms of their resources and influence.

Aided by advances in information and communications technology, NGOs


have helped to focus attention on the social and environmental
externalities of business activity. Multinational brands have been acutely
susceptible to pressure from activists and from NGOs eager to challenge
a company's labour,
environmental or human rights record. Even those businesses that

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do not specialize in highly visible branded goods are feeling the pressure,
as campaigners develop techniques to target downstream customers and
shareholders.

In response to such pressures, many businesses are abandoning their


narrow Milton Friedmanite shareholder theory of value in favour of a
broader, stakeholder approach which not only seeks increased share value,
but cares about how this increased value is to be attained.

Such a stakeholder approach takes into account the effects of business


activity - not just on shareholders, but on customers, employees,
communities and other interested groups.

There are many visible manifestations of this shift. One has been the
devotion of energy and resources by companies to environmental and
social affairs. Companies are taking responsibility for their externalities
and reporting on the impact of their activities on a range of stakeholders.

Nor are companies merely reporting; many are striving to design new
management structures which integrate sustainable development concerns
into the decision-making process.

Much of the credit for creating these trends can be taken by

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NGOs. But how should the business world react to NGOs in the future?
Should companies batten down the hatches and gird themselves against
attacks from hostile critics? Or should they hold out hope that NGOs can
sometimes be helpful partners?

For those businesses willing to engage with the NGO community, how
can they do so? The term NGO may be a ubiquitous term, but it is used to
describe a bewildering array of groups and organizations - from activist
groups 'reclaiming the streets' to development organizations delivering aid
and providing essential public services. Other NGOs are research-driven
policy organizations, looking to engage with decision-makers. Still others
see themselves as watchdogs, casting a critical eye over current events.

They hail from north and south and from all points in between - with
the contrasting levels of resources which such differences often imply.
Some are highly sophisticated, media-savvy organizations like Friends of
the Earth and WWF; others are tiny, grassroots collectives, never destined
to be household names.

Although it is often assumed that NGOs are charities or enjoy non-profit


status, some NGOs are profit-making organizations such as cooperatives
or groups which lobby on behalf of profit-driven interests. For example,
the World Trade Organization's definition of NGOs is broad enough to
include industry lobby groups such as the Association of Swiss Bankers
and the International Chamber of Commerce.

Even then, the NGO community remains a diverse constellation.

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Some groups may pursue a single policy objective - for example access to
AIDS drugs in developing countries or press freedom. Others will pursue
more sweeping policy goals such as poverty eradication or human rights
protection.

However, one characteristic these diverse organizations share is that their


non-profit status means they are not hindered by short-term financial
objectives. Accordingly, they are able to devote themselves to issues
which occur across longer time horizons, such as climate change, malaria
prevention or a global ban on landmines. Public surveys reveal that NGOs
often enjoy a high degree of public trust, which can make them a useful -
but not always sufficient - proxy for the concerns of society and
stakeholders.

Not all NGOs are amenable to collaboration with the private sector. Some
will prefer to remain at a distance, by monitoring, publicizing, and
criticizing in cases where companies fail to take seriously their impacts
upon the wider community. However, many are showing a willingness to
devote some of their energy and resources to working alongside business,
in order to address corporate social responsibility.

To learn more about what these partnerships look like, go to 'Opposites


attract' using the menu on the left. There,
NGO-business relations expert Jem Bendell explores several
NGO-business relationships and explains how the new wave of
partnerships differs from old-style corporate philanthropy.

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9. TYPES OF NGOS

NGO type can be understood by orientation and level of co-


operation.

NGO type by orientation

Charitable orientation;

Service orientation;

Participatory

Empowering orientation;

NGO type by level of co-operation

Community- Based Organization; City

Wide Organization;

National NGOs;

International NGOs;

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10. DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRUCTURES AMONG


NGOS

There is a great variety of ways in which NGOs are structured. The classic
model is of a membership organization, co-ordinated in a geographically-
defined hierarchy. Individual people work in local groups, which co-
ordinate in provinces and then have a headquarters in the capital city for
the country as a whole. Such country-wide organizations are called
national NGOs. Frequently, the national NGOs combine in an
international NGO, or INGO, which may consist of regional groups of
countries and be capped by a global body. Not all the levels of the
hierarchy need exist. Many countries are too small to have provincial
structures. Smaller specialist NGOs may simply enroll individual
members at the national level, without having any local branches.
Occasionally, individuals are enrolled at the international level. On the
other hand, in large organizations, the international level often seems
relatively remote and attracts little attention, even among the NGO's own
members. The group running a local family planning clinic does not
necessarily know about the work of the International Planned Parenthood
Federation (IPPF) at the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Nevertheless, such global organizations with their membership measured
in millions do maintain a democratic policy-making process. While some
may hold direct elections for key posts at the national level, the
responsibility to the membership at the global level is always indirect, via
some international council or assembly of national representatives.

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Linguistic usage in the legal atmosphere at the UN used to be


somewhat different. When the UN was formed, any involvement of
private individuals or groups in its work constituted deviation from the
norm of diplomacy being the exclusive preserve of "states". Thus, a
national organization, as mentioned in Article 71 of the UN Charter, was
any NGO based in a single country. No distinction was made between
an organization that covered a large constituency, over
the whole country, and an organization based solely in a local
community or a small section of the population. The lack of any
distinction did not matter, as participation by either country-wide or
more limited national NGOs was so rare in the permanent UN organs.
Participation began on a small scale in the 1970s at UN conferences,
on an ad hoc basis. When the ECOSOC rules were changed
in 1996, to admit "national NGOs" to consultative status as a matter of
routine, the presumption became that a national organization
was a country-wide membership organization or a
federation of local groups or an umbrella group, that is a coalition of
NGOs operating in different fields. As is common at the UN, practice
has not been consistent: a few local NGOs have been admitted as
"national NGOs" to consultative status. The Rio conference also produced
a term that has only been used in environmental politics at the UN.
"Major Groups" refers to a system of categorizing NGOs from all levels,
for the purposes of participating in UN policy-making processes.
Hereafter, use of NGO alone will imply that any or all levels are
included, while local, national or global will be used when the meaning
must be restricted to that level. Terms such as CBOs and Major Groups
will also be used in the appropriate political context.

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Changes in Terminology Covering NGOs

Level of From 1945 to Early 1990s


Organisation Early 1990s Onwards

National NGO, at
the UN Grass-roots, community based or civil society
Local Not discussed organization, or local NGO
elsewhere

National NGO, at
Provincial
the UN Civil society organization
(USA -
Not discussed or local NGO
state)
elsewhere

National NGO, at
the UN NGO or national NGO or civil society
National
NGO, outside the organization
UN

Regional International NGO NGO or civil society organization

Global International NGO NGO or Major Group or civil society organization

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11. THE GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD OF NGOS

It used to be widely argued that NGOs were predominantly a feature of


Western societies. This false proposition was derived from a mixture of
ignorance, Western presumptions of their superiority in the Cold War and
nationalist rhetoric from authoritarian regimes. All societies in modern
times have had large numbers of NGOs at least at the local level. Under
the most authoritarian regimes or in the least developed countries there are
still self-help co-operative groups, community welfare associations,
religious groups, professional and scientific associations, sports and
recreational bodies, etc. Even Romania during the dictatorship of
President Ceausescu was host to the International Federation of
Beekeepers' Associations. The presence or absence of a democratic
political culture is one of the major variables determining the number of
NGOs, but the size of a country, its ethnic, religious and cultural diversity,
the complexity of its economy and the quality of its communication
infrastructure are also of crucial importance. Thus there are tens of
thousands of NGOs in countries such as Bangladesh and India, while there
are relatively few in Iceland or Finland.

A particular source of controversy is the idea that the major NGOs are
"Northern". Many people are still trapped by the mental prejudice that
organizations have to be situated in geographical space. It might be a
practical necessity for an international NGO to have a headquarters office
in a particular building, but the location of the office in a North American
or a European city does not convert a global NGO into a Northern NGO.
Equally, the historical

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origins of an organization being formed in a particular country does not


mean it is currently a Northern rather than a global organization. The
proper criteria for assessment whether an organization is global are the
location of its membership, the staffing of its headquarters, the sources of
its funding and the content of its programs. An organization, such as
Amnesty International, with 56 National Sections, groups in some 40
other countries, an International Secretariat from over 50 countries and an
African Secretary-General is a global NGO, even if it started in Britain
and has its headquarters in London. Due to the spread of democracy and
the improvements in communications, many international NGOs that
started in individual countries became global at the end of the twentieth
century.

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12. REGISTRATION OF NGO’S

In India non-profit / public charitable organizations can be registered as


trusts, societies, or a private limited non profit company, under section-25
companies. Non-profit organizations in India (a) exist independently of
the state; (b) are self-governed by a board of trustees or ‘managing
committee’/ governing council, comprising individuals who generally
serve in a fiduciary capacity;
(c) produce benefits for others, generally outside the membership of the
organization; and (d), are ‘non-profit-making’, in as much as they are
prohibited from distributing a monetary residual to their own members.

Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act – which is applicable uniformly


throughout the Republic of India – defines ‘charitable purpose’ to include
‘relief of the poor, education, medical relief and the advancement of any
other object of general public utility’. A purpose that relates exclusively to
religious teaching or worship is not considered as charitable. Thus, in
ascertaining whether a purpose is public or private, one has to see if the
class to be benefited, or from which the beneficiaries are to be selected,
constitute a substantial body of the public. A public charitable purpose has
to benefit a sufficiently large section of the public as distinguished from
specified individuals. Organizations which lack the public element – such
as trusts for the benefit of workmen or employees of a company, however
numerous – have not been held to be charitable. As long as the
beneficiaries of the organization comprise an uncertain and fluctuating
body of the public answering a particular description, the fact that the

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beneficiaries may belong to a certain religious faith, or a sect of persons of


a certain religious persuasion, would not affect the organization’s ‘public’
character.

Whether a trust, society or section-25 company, the Income Tax Act


gives all categories equal treatment, in terms of exempting their income
and granting 80G certificates, whereby donors to non-profit organizations
may claim a rebate against donations made. Foreign contributions to non-
profits are governed by FC(R)A regulations and the Home Ministry.

CAF would like to clarify that this material provides only broad
guidelines and it is recommended that legal and or financial experts be
consulted before taking any important legal or financial decision or
arriving at any conclusion.

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) can be


registered in four ways:
1. Trust
2. Society
3. Section-25 Company
4. Special Licensing

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Registration can be done with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

The following laws or Constitutional Articles of the Republic of India


are relevant to the NGOs:

¾ Articles 19(1)(c) and 30 of the Constitution of India


¾ Income Tax Act, 1961
¾ Public Trusts Acts of various states
¾ Societies Registration Act, 1860
¾ Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956
¾ Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976

4. Special Licensing

In addition to registration, a non-profit engaged in certain activities might


also require special license/permission. Some of these include (but are not
limited to):

A place of work in a restricted area (like a tribal area or a border area


requires a special permit – the Inner Line Permit – usually issues either
by the Ministry of Home Affairs or by the relevant local authority
(i.e., district magistrate).

To open an office and employ people, the NGO should be registered


under the Shop and Establishment Act.

To employ foreign staff, an Indian non-profit needs to be registered as a


trust/society/company, have FCRA registration and also

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obtain a No Objection Certificate. The intended employee also needs a


work visa.

A foreign non-profit setting up an office in India and wanting staff from


abroad needs to be registered as a trust/society/company, needs
permission from the Reserve Bank of India and also a No Objection
Certificate from the Ministry of External Affairs.

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13. CONCERNS ABOUT NGOS

NGOs were intended to fill a gap in government services, but in countries


like India, NGOs are gaining a powerful stronghold in decision making. In
the interest of sustainability, most donors require that NGOs demonstrate
a relationship with governments. State Governments themselves are
vulnerable because they lack strategic planning and vision. They are
therefore sometimes tightly bound by a nexus of NGOs, political bodies,
commercial organizations and major donors/funders, making decisions
that have short term outputs but no long term affect. NGOs in India are
under regulated, political, and recipients of large government and
international donor funds. NGOs often take up responsibilities outside
their skill ambit. Governments have no access to the number of projects or
amount of funding received by these NGOs. There is a pressing need to
regulate this group while not curtailing their unique role as a supplement
to government services.

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14. FUNCTIONS OF NGO’S

i. PUBLIC RELATIONS

Non-governmental organizations need healthy relationships with the


public to meet their goals. Foundations and charities use sophisticated
public relations campaigns to raise funds and employ standard lobbying
techniques with governments. Interest groups may be of political
importance because of their ability to influence social and political
outcomes. A code of ethics was established in 2002 by The World
Association of Non Governmental NGOs.

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ii. PROJECT MANAGEMENT

There is an increasing awareness that management techniques are crucial


to project success in non-governmental organizations. Generally, non-
governmental organizations that are private have either a community or
environmental focus. They address varieties of issues such as religion,
emergency aid, or humanitarian affairs. They mobilize public support and
voluntary contributions for aid; they often have strong links with
community groups in developing countries, and they often work in areas
where government-to-government aid is not possible. NGOs are
accepted as a part of the international relations landscape, and while they
influence national and multilateral policy-making, increasingly they are
more directly involved in local action.

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iii. STAFFING

Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are


volunteers.

There is some dispute as to whether expatriates should be sent to


developing countries. Frequently this type of personnel is employed to
satisfy a donor who wants to see the supported project managed by
someone from an industrialized country. However, the expertise these
employees or volunteers may be counterbalanced by a number of factors:
the cost of foreigners is typically higher, they have no grassroot
connections in the country they are sent to, and local expertise is often
undervalued.

The NGO sector is an important employer in terms of numbers. [citation


needed] For example, by the end of 1995, CONCERN worldwide, an
international Northern NGO working against poverty, employed 174
expatriates and just over 5,000 national staff working in ten developing
countries in Africa and Asia, and in Haiti.

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iv. FUNDING

Almost every voluntary or non-profit organization requires money either


to support its existing activities or to expand and improve it services.
Fund raising has no option other than hard work, but if the voluntary
agencies have a cause or programmes that deserve support and it is willing
to really work at it, it can raise considerable awareness, goodwill and
money.

We have been seen that all the traditional methods of fund raising cannot
produce satisfactory results in the modern era. Though we prefer
traditional techniques of fund raising, such as raising funds from
government, trusts etc, now we need to more concentrate on various new
methods and techniques of fund raising that ensure an efficient and
effective process of fund collection and produce the better result that
lead to sustainability as well. Following are the diverse methods and
techniques of fund raising that explains you about how to do it. Here, we
also share some case examples of reputed NGOs who have adapted these
techniques in their fund raising activities and achieved a great success.

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METHODS OF FUND RAISING

(1) THROUGH FUNDING AGENCIES

There are many funding agencies in India to whom NGO can approach
easily. Bilateral agencies in 2009-10 have invested 2.5 billion dollars in
India. Before preparing a proposal for any funding agency, it is important
for the voluntary agency to have a clear written vision and mission
statement (for examples of vision and mission statements see another
module of “How to construct Vision & Mission statements”)

NGOs need to be fit in to the criterion given by funding agencies. Each


funding agency has their own thematic area for which they fund.
Voluntary organizations should first understand these areas for which
funding can be sought.
Organizations should prepare & submit concept note. If Agency is
satisfied with the design of project proposed, then only you can submit
detailed project proposal (Refer the Module of Proposal Writing).

You need to present your idea very specifically and clearly. Funding
agency will ask for objectives and outcome expected.
NGO should also abide to some conditionalities laid by FA about
evaluation, documentation and reporting, budget etc.
Funding agencies assess basically the impact of work done by NGO,
what kind of expertise does NGO have, what is the objective that you
posses to work in community. Also they will look for how innovative
your project is. (said by Rati Misra – Resource Alliance)

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(2) THROUGH INDIVIDUALS

Most of the time this is directly face to face solicitation. This is, by far, the
best method of fund raising.
Before meeting the prospective donor, send him / her written letter or
appeal giving necessary information about the activity for which you
intend to raise the funds.
Try to gather all possible information about him/her. If necessary, take a
colleague along with you. Having someone with you may make you feel
more comfortable and confidant.
Do not rush into the solicitation – interested try to steer the conversation
to the need that requires to be addressed.
When requesting a specific sum of money, do not think in terms of
what the donor may give. Think in terms of what the donor could be or is,
capable of giving.
A technique of Direct Appeal:
It also includes sending public appeal through post / courier. In such case,
you usually require a cause that has a broad appeal. It is also important
to select the target group with the utmost care. Prepare the list of names
and addresses of potential individual donors. Since it involves the
expenditure of posting, you need to do careful scrutiny of available
contacts.
The stationary, including the envelope, should be of good quality. You
should send additional printed return envelop stating name and address
and contact number of your executive office attached with the appeal so
that it will be easy for donor to send a Cheque / DD directly at you
address.

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(3) GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Receiving Government support may bring a degree of recognition and


credibility to the organization. Government funding is substantial in terms
of volume and it is a great source of fund. However, dependence on
Government could also make the organization vulnerable to government
control or political pressure. The Central and the State Governments,
however, have several schemes for assistance to voluntary agencies in
areas of human resource development, welfare of women, children and
marginalized communities; health, family welfare etc As Rati Misra
(Resource Alliance) said NGOs should realize that government funding
will add value to the profile of their NGO and they should put their focus
in communicating their work to concerned government department. In the
year 2008-09, Government has spent 2.5 billion dollars in social sector.

(4) CORPUS OR ENDOWMENTS

It is a “capital receipt” and therefore not treated as income. Donor must


express the intent in writing that the donation is towards corpus.
Corpus donation should preferably be invested in long-term deposit and
only the interest used

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Through Cause Related Marketing:


The process involves allowing a small percentage of the profit on any
consumer item to be designated towards a charity.
This system has a three-pronged effect, benefiting the manufacturer, the
consumer and the charity.
The consumer feels inclined to buy the product because he has the added
advantage of buying a good (cause-related) product and being
philanthropic at the same time. This naturally boots the sale of any cause
related product and the manufacturer is able to make more profit in spite
of being philanthropic.
And last, but not the least, the charity earns the valuable income without
much effort.
Search the companies which would like to tie-up with NGOs that are
sync with their CSR objectives matching with the objectives of the NGO.

(5) E- FUND RAISING:

An online Payment System allows you to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days


a week and 365 days a year.
Not only is this is an important convenience for your donors and individuals;
it also means more revenue for you.
An online system also helps you to reduce your overhead costs. The
most important part of online is accepting donations from your donors
ranging from a single transaction to a series of transactions from a
donor.

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Online payment processing offers a donor the convenience of submitting


their credit card or other forms of payment on your Web site, and for you
to actually receive the money from this transaction.
You can also go for e- marketing of your products which finally aims at
raising funds through selling the products online.

(6) THROUGH EVENTS

Special events include organizing a film premier or a dance/musical


programme or a fashion show or a gala dinner or a carnival.

Special brochures or souvenirs can be brought out on such occasions


and advertisements solicited for inclusion in the same.
Banners and other forms of display advertisements bring in good revenue
as well.
Special events require a lot of hard work, planning, teamwork and
organizing.
Often, organizations spend months in preparing for just an evening’s
programme. General experience indicates a low return from such events in
terms of money. However, in terms of launching the organization,
awareness-building about the cause and general goodwill and visibility,
the returns are high.
It requires corporate sponsorships to cover the fixed costs.
If your organization decides to organize such events with specific
frequency (once in two years), you should have a permanent good
planning team. You should acknowledge all you funders at this

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occasion.
NGO may organize any event where all the beneficiaries are invited and
also arrange any celebrity, so that credibility of your project or work will
be demonstrated to society.

(7) PAY ROLL GIVING

Pay roll giving is nothing but deduction of certain percentage of amount


of total salary of employee. This is the strategy which is decided at board
level and directly implemented in organization. Many IT companies and
corporates adapt these strategies of donating certain amount especially in
the time of certain natural or manmade disasters. Philanthropic
organizations with a broad and visible cause should first approach the
chairman of Managing Director of a company and get him sufficiently
interested in the cause. Payroll giving is not the easiest way to raise
money. Personal solicitation is a must.

(8) CORPORATES

As an NGO we have to realize that the funds are required for what our
programs stand for. They are the product we sell. In the year 2008-09,
corporates have contributed approximately 6
billion dollars (nearly 30,000 crores) in social
sector. (Ref: Pooranchandra Pandey, Times Foundation)
It is important to understand what a company focuses on as part
of its CSR, or might have product synergies towards owing to their business.

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It is important to research well and make a more focused approach in


identifying corporates.
A corporate in most cases is open to funding various aspects as long as
your program matches the broad outline with their CSR focus. As long as
the need can be justified, the output well defined
- funding from corporate will always be easier to click.
Corporates expect reports, tax exemptions and their own visibility in
NGO programmes.
Confirm the pattern of documentation, reporting and monitoring and
adhere to those formats with less flexibility.
(Inputs given by Lalita Sachdeva, UNICEF)

(9) IN KIND DONATIONS

An in-kind donation is also very important way of raising funds. Many


people / companies wish to write off their furniture and equipments after
some period or they may prefer to donate brand new equipments to NGO
instead of donating plain amount.
NGO should respect these donors also as they play very
important role in giving something useful to NGOs.
NGO should maintain relationships with these people who always like to
donate in kind.
Many people donate brand new laptop, fax machine, telephone
instruments, printer, some stationary etc.

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(10) FUND RAISING AT LOCAL LEVEL

Direct Mailing Application:


Direct mailing application process (DMA) is a very vital aspect of fund
raising techniques available for NGO sector. It is a direct marketing
activity by which you take your appeal to the people & individualizing
your appeal to your target Population. To make donation easy, a donor
should be given following facilities
(1) Business Reply Envelope (BRE)
(2) Modes of payment i.e Cheque/ DD/ Cash/ Credit Card/ Bank
transfer/Swift Code etc.
Donation Boxes:
NGO can place donation boxes at various profitable locations. A Donation
Box not only creates visibility of the NGO but also generate some money.
School Awareness cum sponsorship Programme:
School fundraising is one of the wide spectrum of fundraising methods by
which the funds are raised from the community through the medium of
school students by educating them about the cause.”

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v. MONITORING AND CONTROL

In a March 2000 report on United Nations Reform priorities, former


U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in favor of international
humanitarian intervention, arguing that the international community has a
"right to protect" citizens of the world against ethnic cleansing, genocide,
and crimes against humanity. On the heels of the report, the Canadian
government launched the Responsibility to Protect R2PPDF (434 KiB)
project, outlining the issue of humanitarian intervention. While the R2P
doctrine has wide applications, among the more controversial has been
the Canadian government's use of R2P to justify its intervention and
support of the coup in Haiti. Years after R2P, the World Federalist
Movement, an organization which supports "the creation of democratic
global structures accountable to the citizens of the world and call for the
division of international authority among separate agencies", has launched
Responsibility to Protect - Engaging Civil Society (R2PCS). A
collaboration between the WFM and the Canadian government, this
project aims to bring NGOs into lockstep with the principles outlined
under the original R2P project.

The governments of the countries an NGO works or is registered in may


require reporting or other monitoring and oversight. Funders generally
require reporting and assessment, such information is not necessarily
publicly available. There may also be associations and watchdog
organizations that research and publish details on the actions of NGOs
working in particular geographic or program areas.

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In recent years, many large corporations have increased their corporate


social responsibility departments in an attempt to preempt NGO
campaigns against certain corporate practices. As the logic goes, if
corporations work with NGOs, NGOs will not work against corporations.

In December 2007, The United States Department of Defense Assistant


Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) S. Ward Cass cells established an
International Health Division under Force Health Protection & Readiness.
Part of International Health's mission is to communicate with NGOs in
areas of mutual interest. Department of Defense Directive 3000.05, in
2005, requires DoD to regard stability-enhancing activities as a mission of
importance equal to combat. In compliance with international law, DoD
has necessarily built a capacity to improve essential services in areas of
conflict such as Iraq, where the customary lead agencies (State
Department and USAID) find it difficult to operate. Unlike the "co-
option" strategy described for corporations, the OASD(HA) recognizes
the neutrality of health as an essential service. International Health
cultivates collaborative relationships with NGOs, albeit at arm’s-length,
recognizing their traditional independence, expertise and honest broker
status. While the goals of DoD and NGOs may seem incongruent, the
DoD's emphasis on stability and security to reduce and prevent conflict
suggests, on careful analysis, important mutual interests.

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15. LEGAL STATUS

The legal form of NGOs is diverse and depends upon homegrown


variations in each country's laws and practices. However, four main
family groups of NGOs can be found worldwide

Unincorporated and voluntary association Trusts, charities and


foundations Companies not just for profit Entities formed or registered
under special NGO or nonprofit laws NGOs are not subjects of
international law, as states are. An exception is the International
Committee of the Red Cross, which is subject to certain specific matters,
mainly relating to the Geneva Convention.

The Council of Europe in Strasbourg drafted the European Convention on


the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-
Governmental Organizations in 1986, which sets a common legal basis for
the existence and work of NGOs in Europe. Article 11 of the European
Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of association,
which is also a fundamental norm for NGOs.

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16. CRITIQUES

Stuart Becker provides the following summary of the primary critiques of


NGOs: "There’s a debate that, NGOs take the place of what should belong
to popular movements of the poor. Others argue that NGOs are often
imperialist in nature, that they sometimes operate in a racist manner in
Third World countries and that they fulfill a similar function to that of the
clergy during the colonial era. Philosopher Peter Hallward argues that they
are an aristocratic form of politics."

Issa G. Shivji is one of Africa's leading experts on law and development


issues as an author and academic. His critique on NGOs is found in two
essays: "Silences in NGO discourse: The role and future of NGOs in
Africa" and "Reflections on NGOs in Tanzania: What we are, what we are
not and what we ought to be". Shivji argues that despite the good
intentions of NGO leaders and activists, he is critical of the "objective
effects of actions, regardless of their intentions". Shivji argues also that
the sudden rise of NGOs are part of a neoliberal paradigm rather than pure
altruistic motivations. He is critical of the current manifestations of NGOs
wanting to change the world without understanding it, and that the
imperial relationship continues today with the rise of NGOs.

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17. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

1. They have the ability to experiment freely with innovative approaches


and, if necessary, to take risks.

2. They are flexible in adapting to local situations and responding to


local needs and therefore able to develop integrated projects, as well as
sectoral projects.

3. They enjoy good rapport with people and can render micro-assistance
to very poor people as they can identify those who are most in need and
tailor assistance to their needs.

4. They have the ability to communicate at all levels, from the


neighborhood to the top levels of government.

5. They are able to recruit both experts and highly motivated staff with
fewer restrictions than the government.

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DISADVANTAGES

1. Paternalistic attitudes restrict the degree of participation in


program/project design.

2. Restricted/constrained ways of approach to a problem or area.

3. Reduced/less replicability of an idea, due to non-representativeness


of the project or selected area, relatively small project coverage,
dependence on outside financial resources, etc.

4. "Territorial possessiveness" of an area or project reduces cooperation


between agencies, seen as threatening or competitive.

5. Top-down models of development minimize the role of local


knowledge and ownership to submit or conform to international norms
and expectations.

6. Dependency on external assistance decreases the pressure for local and


national governments to provide for their citizens.

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18. CONCLUSION

The discussion so far might appear to imply that all NGOs are
politically active. This is obviously not the case, irrespective of the
political situation or the issue under consideration. At any specific point
in time, an NGO may have little contact with those who are not
members. On the other hand, a change in society that is salient to the
group can motivate an introspective NGO to engage in sustained
political action. It is certainly not true that all NGOs are active in global
politics. It is not even true that all NGOs attempt to influence politics at
the country level, in the narrow sense of direct engagement in the debate
over public policy.

Many NGOs will not see themselves as engaging directly in public


policy, but their activities are always a social expression of values.
Hence, NGOs are very likely to be political in the broadest sense of
affecting social discourse and can often have an indirect effect on politics
in the narrow sense of shaping public policy.

We have seen that there is often an assumption that NGOs are


operating for the general public good or even that they are
"progressive".

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SMILE FOUNDATION NGO- A CLASSIC EXAMPLE

Smile Foundation is one of the leading NGOs of India which acts as a


Social Venture Philanthropist. It promotes the universal education among
underprivileged children and plays instrumental role in creating the
process for embracing these children into mainstream society. It looks to
facilitate the children into becoming productive assets, and generate the
groundwork for nation building. Some of the programs run by Smile
Foundation NGO are mentioned below.

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MR. SANTANU MISHRA ABOUT SMILE FOUNDATION:

Smile Foundation believes in empowerment of underprivileged children


and youth through education. Smile Foundation follows a working module
named social venture philanthropy. The organization identifies and builds
the capacity of grassroots level NGOs. At present Smile Foundation is
reaching out to 100000 underprivileged children and youth through more
than 130 welfare projects on subjects like education, health-care,
livelihood and advocacy across 22 states of India. Very soon Smile
Foundation will be expanding their activity, basically the knowledge
based activity across south-Asia also. As far as the vision of the
organization is concerned, we want to support 1,500 organizations in
coming 3 to 4 years.

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ABOUT US

GENESIS
"Sustainability, social equality and the environment are now business
problems. And corporate leaders can't depend on governments to solve
them." - Peter Senge, founder of the Society for Organizational Learning
(SOL). Senge's principles find an echo in the ideologies behind Smile
Foundation formed in 2002 by two investment bankers who, along with 8-
10 like-minded corporate professionals and technocrats, decided to
finance, handhold and support genuine grassroots' initiatives targeted at
providing education and healthcare to underprivileged children. In the
process, becoming the first ever grant maker and changing the face of
thousands of lives.

PHILOSOPHY
As a social venture philanthropist, Smile Foundation identifies genuine
local grass root initiatives doing exemplary work in promoting children’s
education and health and empowers them and extends financial support,
technical expertise and capacity building of these initiatives. By
amalgamating business practices and new economy values into social
landscape, Smile Foundation intends to initiate creative approaches
towards philanthropic endeavours. The management process of the
organization is in compliance with Good Governance norms —
sustainability, scalability, accountability, transparency, credibility and
effective leadership.

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PEOPLE BEHIND SMILE FOUNDATION


Smile Foundation is managed by a Board of Advisors which comprises of
individuals from diverse backgrounds and expertise. The body is formed
for a period of one year and a few independent members with eminence
and reputation are nominated each year. Members of this board meet once
every quarter.

Members of the board of advisors are as follows:


1. Mr. Santanu Mishra
2. Mr. Yogesh Jagia
3. Mr. Praveen Gupta

Mr. Santanu Mishra an Associate Member of ICSI (Institute of Company


Secretaries of India), is an Alumni of Indian Institute of Management
(IIM-A). Besides also holding a degree in law, Mr. Mishra specializes in
Enterprise Transformation, strategies and Scaling up.

Mr. Yogesh Jagia, a Lawyer by profession with specialization in


economic laws, practices in Delhi High Court & Supreme Court of India.

Mr. Praveen Gupta is a Masters in Business & Economics (MBE) from


Delhi University. He advices to the top corporate houses in India on
various strategic issues.

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee manages the Foundation’s operation directly
and it reports to the Board of Advisors. Members of this committee are
professionals working with Smile Foundation and usually it includes a
member from the Board of Advisors.
1. Mr. Santanu Mishra
2. Mr. H N Sahay
3. Ms. Indrani Roy

Mr. Santanu Mishra, an Associate Member of ICSI (Institute of Company


Secretaries of India), is an Alumni of Indian Institute of Management
(IIM-A). Besides also holding a degree in law, Mr. Mishra specializes in
Enterprise Transformation, strategies and Scaling up.

Mr. HN Sahay has a successful track record in the area of business


development at national level for over 28 years. He has served a number
of premier corporate houses like, Avery India Ltd., Usha International,
Bajaj Electricals, Royal Enfield Motors and Eicher Motors Ltd.

Ms. Indrani Roy, a Post Graduate from Jadavpur University (Kolkata),


worked with Help Age India as Deputy Director (Resource Mobilization–
North) for 22 years. She was working with Global Cancer Concern India
(GCCI) as Director, South-East [Resource Development] before joining
Smile Team in Bangalore as National Director. Indrani has also launched
Resource Generation Programmes in Northern Region, Southern Region
and
Eastern Region for GCCI.

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GOOD GOVERNANCE:

Governance is the need of the hour in the development sector in order to


ensure and promote application of best management practices, compliance
of law and adherence to best possible ethical standards. The entire
management processes and practices of Smile Foundation are in
compliance with the principles of Good Governance’.

I. MAKING POLICIES & DECISIONS


Smile Foundation, from the inception itself, works on a delegated work
environment. Each and every person in the organization is involved in the
process of decision making in a scientifically designed system.
Making Policy & Decision in the Foundation are done through a four tier
system.

a. Departments & Divisions


Monthly review meetings are held for each division and department
regularly.

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b. Executive Committee
The Executive Committee manages the Foundation’s operation directly
and it reports to the Board of Advisors. Members of this committee are
professionals working with Smile Foundation and it is mandatory to
include a member from the Board of Advisors.
The Executive Committee of Smile Foundation holds a meeting each
Quarter (every three months) and looks after day to day management.

c. Advisory Body
The Board of Advisors comprises of technically competent people from
diverse backgrounds and expertise. The body is formed for a period of one
year and a few independent members with eminence and reputation are
nominated each year. Members of this board also meet once every
Quarter.

The Board of Advisors advises the Trustees of Smile Foundation, taking


regular inputs from the Executive Committee.

d. Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees sets the vision and broad guidelines for the
Foundation and ensures good governance in liaison with the Board of
Advisors; although, the Board of Trustees is not involved in the day to day
operation of Smile Foundation.

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II. CREDIBILITY NORMS

Smile Foundation encourages its partners to follow Credibility norms for


ensuring good governance in the development sector. Smile Foundation
also follows norms of good governance itself.
The Foundation strives to build capabilities of its grassroots NGO
partners towards good governance.
The Governance & Credibility System includes a systematic set of norms,
which is administered and monitored by a qualified Company Secretary.

III. PROJECT MANAGEMENT & MONITORING SYSTEM


The project management & monitoring system in Smile Foundation
comprises of a systematic and well laid down processes. These are as
follow –

a) Selection of NGO Partners


Partners are invited selection of partners for required locations under
specified programme through advertisement in relevant forum, websites;
and also through reference from credible partners as well as perennial
‘submit a proposal’ section in Smile Foundation website. Also,
prospective partners keep on submitting proposals directly to the
foundation round the year. Initial selection is done on these bases.

b) Desk Appraisal
Prospective proposals are put through the desk appraisal process at
respective programme divisions.

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c) Field Appraisal
Short-listed proposals from desk appraisal are considered for field
appraisals by the programme departments located across India.

d) Monitoring
Once a partner is selected under a particular programme, an MoU is
signed, guidelines and initial trainings are imparted and the particular
project is started. The project is put under a systematic and periodic
monitoring system. The processes include the following steps:

IV.USE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE

a) Online Monitoring System


Smile Foundation advocates use of technology for ensuring impartial
monitoring and to cut down over head cost.
Smile Foundation has already started the system in a few of its national
level programmes. Gradually, all its projects will be compatible with this
system. The biggest challenges so far have been lack of access to
technology in remote project areas and lack of working knowledge among
grassroots NGO partners. The Foundation is taking up the task of building
capacities of all its NGO partners and project staffs.
Two separate and customized monitoring systems have been developed
for 50 Smile Twin e-Learning Programme (STeP) centres and 41 Mission
Education projects across India.

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b) Beneficiaries Management System


A successful beneficiary management system is operational across 100
projects in 21 states of India. This technology is helping Smile
Foundation in tracking the progress and development of all the
beneficiaries in two major national level programmes as of now.

c) Management Information System (MIS)


A monthly MIS is prepared and analyzed by the MIS Officers and it is
submitted and discussed in Executive Committee meetings for assessing
the operational activities and to do future planning.

V. PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
Our people are our assets.
Smile Foundation believes in a democratic and participatory work
culture.
Appraisal and review system is conducted twice a year in a democratic
way to identify the future leaders of the organization.

VI. EDUCATION SUPPORT


Smile Foundation encourages its employees to take up higher studies so
that they emerge as future leaders and grow individually as well as
professionally.

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SMILE FOUNDATION: PROGRAMMES

PROGRAMME FOCUS: EDUCATION

Mission Education is a national level programme from Smile Foundation


which focuses on basic education for underprivileged children and youth.
Smile Foundation believes that whether you are addressing healthcare,
poverty, population control, unemployment or human rights, there's no
better place to start than in the corridors of Education. Because education
is both the means as well as the end to a better life: means, because it
empowers an individual to earn his/her livelihood and the end because it
increases one's awareness on a range of issues – from healthcare to
appropriate social behaviour to understanding one's rights - and in the
process evolve as a better citizen.

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PROGRAMME FOCUS: SMILE ON WHEELS

"Smile on Wheels" is a national level project of Smile Foundation, with an


objective of providing comprehensive mobile health care services to
under-privileged community in urban slums, outreach and remote rural
areas. The underlying theme of the programme is to provide
comprehensive health care services (including preventive and promotive
health care) to under-privileged community in the needy areas, with a
special focus on health needs of children and women. 'Smile on Wheels'
(SoW) seeks to address problems of Mobility, accessibility and
availability of primary health care services to under-privileged population
living in urban slums and remote rural areas of the country.

Smile Foundation had established this initiative - Smile on Wheels, in


2006 to facilitate affordable, accessible and accurate health care services
to the underprivileged community. The programme is also
operational in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.

In addition to this intensive health programme, Smile has been


implementing health camp activities - multidisciplinary mega health
camps and general health camps.

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PROGRAMME FOCUS: SWABHIMAN

A land having the distinction of boasting the world's largest number of


professionally qualified women is yet to ensure a life with dignity for the
majority of its womenfolk!

India’s male to female ratio is an alarming 1000:933. Women form half of


the country’s population, yet only about half of them are literate. Close to
1.5 lakh women become victims of various crimes annually, as per
reported cases. Further, an estimated 5 crore women face mental and
physical cruelty. Although, the legal marriageable age for a girl in India is
18 years, our girl child doesn’t have a say when she is going to be a
woman!

As a matter of fact gender-based discrimination and societal behaviour


leading to physical and psychological harassments, emotional violence
bordering on cruelty is never scant in woman’s basket of woes. Social
evils begin at the womb with female feticides, infanticides, sexual
harassments, rape and dowry related tortures putting an end to her misery
only at the tomb!

In order to make the women realize their inner strength and importance in
the society, Swabhiman has taken a pledge to illuminate their lives with
Pride and Dignity!

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PROGRAMME FOCUS: SMILE TWIN E-LEARNING

The youth comprises over 22% of the Indian population which in turn
constitutes a major part of the labour force of the country.

But according to the reports of the Financial Express “Only 15%of the
young graduates passing out of colleges are employable; the rest are
branded ‘unemployable’.”

It is not their lack of theoretical knowledge that causes this. Instead, it is


the lack of right skills and attitude. There is thus, an increasing concern
among the leading employers of the country, about the dearth of ready-to-
deliver employees.

In addition, the macro perspective affirms that, it is crucial for such young
energy to be channelized correctly in economic growth and nation
building to elude their addition to family woes, social stress and national
misery.

Smile Twin E- learning Programme (STeP) is such an initiative of Smile


Foundation that aims at creating a pool of young and independent people,
from the marginalized section, through skill enhancement in tandem with
market requirements. It is an effort towards bridging the gap between
demand and supply of skilled manpower in the fast emerging services and
retail sectors of modern India.

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PROGRAMME FOCUS: HEALTH

‘HEALTH with SMILE’ is a special programme initiated by Smile


Foundation with an aim to reaching out to underprivileged children across
India. Under this innovative approach, intensive health camps are being
organized across India, covering preventive, curative and referral services.

Smile Health Camps is one such special initiative of Smile Foundation to


provide health care services to meet the immediate health care needs of
the marginalized community in remote rural areas and slums through
standalone camps. Smile organizes customized health camps extensively
across the country offering comprehensive health services – curative,
preventive, promotive and referral, to a large number of people in selected
intervention areas.

Smile Health Camps aims at reaching out to at least 500 districts in 2


years time and expects to improve the health seeking behaviour among
the community. The uniqueness of the model lies in its comprehensive
approach where health promotion and prevention are given equal
importance while curative care is administered.

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PROGRAMME FOCUS: DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Smile Foundation, with a mission to lay a helping hand and brining Smile
back, responds to the call of humanity in times of emergencies like natural
calamities and disasters. Be it the Gujarat Earthquake, the Tsunami,
Mumbai Floods or the Kashmir Earthquake, Smile has been there. Smile
thus has come up with a Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation Policy,
wherein it ties up with local NGO's and institutions to enable genuine and
effective responses to critical local needs and realities.

Relief & rehabilitation for children and women during natural calamities
like Tsunami, Earthquake in Kashmir, Mumbai Flood, Bihar Flood and
Chikungunya.

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WORKSHOP & EVENTS

• Coca Cola India invites Smile Foundation for the launch of


22nd Limca Book of Records - New Delhi 29 March 2011

• Smile felicitates gymnast Ashish Kumar for his outstanding


performance in CWG 2010 – Allahabad 04 Feb. 2011

• First look at I am Kalam - New Delhi 12 Nov. 2010

• Beti Bhi Apni Hai, a success at Poster-Making at the Delhi


College of Arts - New Delhi 10 to 12 Nov. 2010

• Tata Teleservices employees train STeP students - New


Delhi 20 & 23 Sept. 2010

• NGO Connection Day on Life Skills and Education

- New Delhi May 26 & 27, 2009

• Ajay and Kajol play Valentine for Smile Kids- Mumbai -14
Feb. 2009

• Bachpan Bachao Andolan - Jaipur Sept 6, 2008

• SMILE for a SAFE Earth - Kolkata 22 April, 2008

• Canara Bank for Smile Kolkata Children - Kolkata 31


Jan., 2008

• Make a Difference this Children's Day - All India 14th


Nov., 2007

• Launch of Smile on Wheels - West Bengal 11 Aug., 2007

• Boogie Woogie - Mumbai 28 Oct., 2006

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• Li’l Champs from Smile in Zee TV - Mumbai 21 Sept 2006

• Woman Development Programme - Delhi & NCR 14 Jan


2006

• World Disability Day - New Delhi 03 Dec 2005

• Smile... For The Children - Mumbai 30 Aug 2005

• First Aid And Oral Health Care - New Delhi 22 Dec 2004

• Oral Health Workshop - Chhattarpur Pahari 24 Apr 2004

• Discovering Self 30 Aug 2003

• You Can Make A Difference 22 Feb–8 Mar 2003

• And many more......

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CELEBRITIES AND GUESTS

Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Amir Khan,


Arshad Warsi, Priyanka Chopra and cricketer Saurabh Tiwari
spreading smiles :).....

Salman Khan and Priety Zinta celebrates christmas with


childrens at smile foundation.

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Kajol and Ajay Devgan with childrens at smile foundation on


valentines day

Sameera reddy and ravi kishen at smile foundation

Anandi and Jagdish (star cast of t.v. series


"Balika vadhu") and Darshil Safari spreading
smiles :)...
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CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP

The very foundation of Smile was laid on the realization of a


group of young corporate professionals that it was their Social
Responsibility to give back to the society. In partnership with many
corporate bigwigs, it has brought sea changes in the lives of more
than 200,000 less privileged children and youth across 22 states of
the country through more than 150 welfare projects.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has acquired new


dimensions in the recent years. Today, companies are proactively
taking up this good hearted investment and giving a social value
to all their business endeavours.

In India, though corporates have a strong will to dedicate their


resources for a social cause, they find it difficult to reach the right
people considering the demography and diverse social problems of
the country.

The uniqueness of Smile Foundation lies in its working model –


Social Venture Philanthropy. SVP seeks sustainability, scalability,
accountability, transparency, credibility and effective leadership.
Smile’s governance structure has a 4 tier audit and evaluation
mechanism to ensure right use of money and ultimately contribute a
huge Social Return on Investment against traditional methods. Its
working model has made Smile Foundation one of the most sought
for charity brand today.

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SOME OF OUR PARTNERS

CRISIL

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BIBLOGRAPHY:

BOOKS REFERRED:

¾ “guide to fundraising and public relations for ngos and nonprofit


organizations”
By- V.K. Puri
¾ NGOs in India
By-R.Sooryamoorthy
¾ NGOs and socio-economic development opportunities
By-Kamta Prasad, Davinder Kumar Madaan,

INTERNET SOURCE:

¾ www.smilefoundation.org.in

¾ www.timesofindia.com

¾ www.rtiindia.org.com

¾ www.giveindia.org.com

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