Consortium funding for the Non-profit organisations – it’s about time…

The new law coming in force for mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending by Corporate India is likely to make available largesse in excess of INR 13,000 crore for the non-profit organisations, every year. This is a large sum of money – to ‘give’, and to ‘absorb’, considering the manner in which businesses operate and many of the 3 million strong Indian non-profit organisations operate. The challenge that the Givers might face could include:
  • identifying the right cause
  • identifying the right operator (the non-profit organisation)
  • Deployment process, monitoring
  • Assessment, evaluation (ensuring impact)
For the Givers, it is of prime importance that the moneys are given to the right organisation(s), utilised for-the-purpose intended, yielding the targeted impact. Act of Kindness Aesop As many of the challenges and parameters to be managed are beyond the realm of things that the businesses do on a day-to-day basis, the end-to-end process might require additional (expert) resources within or outsourced from external agencies. That means additional management costs (for the Giver). This opens up a new possibility for collaboration – Collaboration amongst the Givers. When the Givers intending to support a common cause come together, leverage their manpower resources and management processes as a ‘Consortium’ (akin to the consortium funding practices in the for-profit sector), management of functions such as identifying the right recipient, deployment, monitoring, assessment, evaluation etc. becomes centralised and shared. Together, it would mean conserving precious money – that could be (additionally) made available to further the cause! Opportunities for collaboration in the Indian non-profit sector – even at the Giver level – are real. Possibilities are endless. It’s about time we do. Can we?

Daughters Of Corporate Responsibility

“I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is education. And I am afraid of no one” – Malala Yousafzai The decline in child sex ratio (defined as the number of girl per 1000 boys in the age group of 0 to 6 years) in India is overwhelming. The ratio saw a decline from 945 in the year 1991 to 927 in the year 2001. Its further decline to 918 in 2011 is disturbing as it’s symptomatic of the state of women’s disempowerment in the country. Rigorous and collaborative effort towards the protection and empowerment of girls across the country is the need of the hour. The present government, lead by PM Narendra Modi, has announced the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ initiative with the following objectives:
  1. Prevention of gender biased sex selective elimination
  2. Ensuring survival and protection of the girl child
  3. Ensuring education and participation of the girl child
That said, the government doesn’t claim monopoly over this cause. Corporates too can embody its ideology in their CSR activities. In section 135 of The Companies Act of 2013, schedule VII mentions a list of initiatives that a company can cover under its CSR program. Here are three relevant points of focus that an organization can include in their CSR efforts:
  1. Promotion of education
  2. Promoting gender equality and empowering women
  3. Reducing child mortality and improving maternal health
The trend of focusing on female health, education, and empowerment is prevalent in the CSR culture of many organizations. These companies have either conceived their own programs or have associated themselves with various NGOs that are actively involved in the cause. Some of these programs take an indirect approach to bettering the lot of the girl child. Strong female figures in their lives go a long way towards ensuring that girls grow up to be self-reliant, independent, and empowered. Let’s have a look at some of the successful programs that companies have executed in this sphere.

Colgate-Palmolive and Maria Sharan

Colgate-Palmolive sponsors education for girls rescued by Maria Sharan. The project helps young girls abandoned on streets, in slums, and stations in Pune, Maharashtra by providing them with accommodation and education in an effort to nurture their growth.

Shakti Initiative Of Unilever

Unilever’s Shakti initiative is a micro-organization which creates opportunities for women to sell its product from door to door in rural areas. The household incomes of these self-help entrepreneurs, called Shakti Ammas, double because of this collaboration. In 2011, around 45,000 women were associated with this initiative and were selling products to 3 million households in 100,000 villages.

ACC AHEAD

A micro-organization of ACC, the Association for Health, Education, and Development (AHEAD), is a CSR initiative that is headed by the wives of the company’s manufacturing units’ heads. Each unit has a separate chapter that imparts vocational training to women who live in villages surrounding the units.

Parivartan – The Whisper School Program

This initiative by P&G aims to provide education to adolescent girls about feminine hygiene practices to help them stay healthy and in school. The program ensures that girls do not miss school as a result of their periods, and have a sense of gender equality. It is in effect across 15,000 schools in India, impacting the lives of over 2 million girls.

ITCs Women Empowerment Initiative

ITC provides sustainable economic opportunities to women in rural areas by assisting them in setting up microcredit self-help groups (SHG). This initiative affects 24,000 women through 2155 SHGs. These women, through the SHGs, help promote human development. The revenue generated by these SHGs is spent on health, nutrition, and the education of children, making these empowered women a key factor in human development. Government bodies and corporates are both reaching out to the underprivileged women of Indian society in an effort to empower them. These incentives, alongside and hand-in-hand with ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, will have a discernible positive impact on our society. References: Image courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_microcredit

The 5 Common Elements Of Every Top-Notch CSR Program

From its inception as basic charity and social work, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved into one of the top priorities of organizations in today’s corporate world. Now, consumers are more likely to do business with an organization if it’s actively involved in CSR. Examples like the Google Green have shown that businesses are willing to cut to the core of the problem with their social responsibility initiatives. In India, certain companies even go out of their way to spend more than the mandatory 2% of profits to do society some good. It’s fairly obvious that any business that aspires to become successful and stay that way must implement a strong CSR program. Here, we take a look at the common elements of most successful CSR programs. By implementing these into your organization’s initiative, you can guarantee a reasonable level of success. 1.The Standard And Intensity Of Research Many companies find a social need and seek to solve it by simply pumping money into the problem, but this is not enough. A good CSR program, one that intends to have a significant impact, involves in-depth research through case studies, white papers, ground-level human interaction, and other channels relevant to the problem. For example, IBM has a CSR program called Smarter Planet, created to develop an intelligent and enlightened world. As part of it, IBM helps in the development of various new solutions to issues in the field of medicine and sustainability. The efficacy of this approach goes to show that a thorough research process makes for a great CSR program. 2.Clarity About The Change To Be Implemented In the business world, Corporate Social Responsibility has found many takers. However, most organizations’ CSR programs seem indistinguishable from each other. If you want your CSR program to be a successful one, you’ll need to ensure that your organization takes a proprietary and unique approach to effect measurable social improvement. 3M Canada’s Healthy Communities Program, for instance, was formulated to bring about change in education, health, and the environment. Image Source: 3m.com By clearly stating its objectives, this program went on be extremely successful and has even won accolades. 3.A Single-Minded Focus On The Objectives People tend to do best when they focus on one thing at a time. Organizations, which are effectively large numbers of people working together, don’t get very far with CSR programs that seek to tackle disparate social issues. There are exceptions, of course, but most organizations that lead the pack in CSR usually focus all their manpower and resources on a singular issue. Set up in 1996 by Anand Mahindra, Nanhi Kali is a Mahindra & Mahindra CSR initiative that supports the education of over 11 lakh girls across ten states. Image Source: http://www.nanhikali.org Through the supply of material and academic support, Nanhi Kali has achieved both an increase in enrolment of girls in schools as well as reducing dropouts to about 10%. 4.Playing To The Company’s Strengths Too many CSR programs take off on a tangent completely unrelated to what the company does. The best CSR schemes always directly play off what the business is and what it does. Campbell’s Soup, a Canadian organization, developed the Nourish program that makes long-lasting shelf-stable meals for the sole purpose of feeding the world’s hungry. For an effective CSR program, ensure that your organization’s business strengths aren’t completely ignored. Larsen & Toubro, one of India’s biggest construction organizations, committed to building 50 dams in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. This is in line with what L&T does, and also benefits over 75,000 people in the area. 5.Form Partnerships With Experts The best CSR schemes need to have credibility in the public eye. To this end, partnering with local non-profit organizations and social work experts is a great idea. Starbucks’ ‘Cup Summit’ saw the company join hands with municipalities, suppliers, recyclers, cup manufacturers, NGOs, and academic experts to develop more easily recyclable cups. CSR programs are here to stay, and by following these top CSR trends, you can ensure that your organization’s social efforts aren’t in vain. References: Image References: https://flic.kr/p/4eorj6

3 Tips To Foster NGO Sustainability

Any organisation looking to continue expanding its operations needs to build a sustainable business model. NGOs, in particular, find it difficult to fulfil their mission and meet the needs of their key stakeholders over time without a well-structured growth plan. A sustainable NGO is one that is able to periodically achieve its strategic goals and steadily continue its work through the years. Sustainability needs to be seen as an ongoing process that involves the interaction between different strategic, organisational, programmatic, social, and financial elements of an organisation. This article is meant to provide a little more insight into fostering NGO sustainability. Building and Maintaining Relationships Sustainable NGOs build strong relationships with their key stakeholders, like donors, supporters, volunteers, staff, and beneficiaries. This helps to promote internal cohesion and makes operations a lot smoother. Because of the nature of the work, these relationships tend to be relatively more personal, which fosters a sense of trust between the parties involved. This helps the decision-making process and ensures accountability. A relationship built on personal rapport and open dialogue is absolutely essential for an NGO to strengthen its operations. Improvement of Techniques Even if an NGO does not plan on expanding operations significantly, there is always a necessity to improve internal processes. Growth gives donors and other stakeholders a reason to invest their money in the organisation. Most donors choose to support NGOs that are working for a cause which aligns with their beliefs. If they notice that the organisation is growing, it’s sure to spark their interest and help the organisation secure a reliable source of money. Figuring out a Source of Finance The most important factor that determines the sustainability of an NGO is the source of its funds. Gift-based A vast majority of NGOs are gift-based, and receive their funds in a variety of ways, including one-off gifts, personal donations, and by hosting fundraising events. While it’s difficult to obtain funds through this method, the main advantage is that the organisation receives what’s called ‘free money’ or unrestricted funds. This means that they’re free to use the funds in any way they please, for the development of the NGO and its projects. If an NGO’s model is based on monetary gifts, it’ll need to take certain steps to ensure a steady supply of money to carry out their operations. The foremost of these is building strong personal relationships with a variety of people. Promoting its name and brand to ensure that it has the widest public reach possible also helps. As a cautionary measure, excess funds should be set aside as reserve, in case the organisation encounters a dry spell. Direct Official Aid Some NGOs rely on direct official aid to fund their projects. The benefit here is that they’ve got a steady flow of income to rely on throughout the year. But there’s a drawback: most official donors specify the purpose for which their funds need to be used, and that may not always be in alignment with the NGO’s mission. So, organisations looking for official financial aid need to strike a balance between procuring funds and sticking to their mission statement. These are just a few steps that NGOs can use to bring about a more sustainable future. It’s essential that NGOs conduct their processes with a long-term vision in mind, because without a plan, the organisation will perish. References: Image References: