Shefali Anand of Wall Street Journal says "GuideStar
India's website is a one-stop-shop to look up financial statements, annual reports and in some cases tax returns of more than 1,000 non-profits", in her article urging people to use online tools that are now available to make it easier for you to donate.
We are happy to share the
WSJ article with you.
This Diwali, Stop Hesitating and Donate
Don't let laziness or ignorance hold you back from making this Diwali a day
of giving to those less fortunate than you.
Gifts for your maid and driver or office boys are all good, but you can
afford to be more generous. We are in a country where nearly 400 million people
live on less than what it costs you to buy a can of
Coca-Cola, or popcorn
at a multiplex.
Recent studies have
shown
that we give away a much smaller percentage of our wealth than our counterparts
in Western countries.
Don't be a part of this statistic. What's more, you can get tax breaks for
your charitable giving.
Charitable experts in India say that individuals often hesitate in giving
because they are not confident if a particular organization is legitimate and if
their money will be put to good use. Also, while individuals sometimes have a
cause in mind that they would like to support, they don't know how to find a
legitimate organization which works in that sphere.
With more than a million non-profit organizations in India, that can be a
tough task. But several online tools are now available to make it easier for you
to share goodness.
To begin with, several large non-profit organizations like
Child Rights and
You (CRY),
Smile Foundation, and
HelpAge India
allow you to donate money online using your debit or credit card, or through
online banking.
If you want to help the smaller guys, websites of non-profit organizations
like Mumbai-based
GiveIndia and
Samhita, and Delhi-based
Charities Aid Foundation India, provide a range of options of
charities that work in various fields.
These sites allow you to search by a cause – say education or children or the
environment – and, based on your budget, you'll get a list of specific programs
that you can fund. You can also narrow down options by region or by the tax
benefits of the donation.
For instance, a search on GiveIndia.org for donation options under the broad
umbrella of "Health" throws up choices like funding a month-long tuberculosis
treatment center for poor patients in a slum by donating 7,000 rupees ($140) to
Operation Asha, or paying 1,300 rupees ($26) for the cataract surgery of a poor
person, administered by a non-profit named Jan Manas Vikas Sansthan.
GiveIndia currently has around 200 non-profits listed on its site. Chief
Executive Officer Dhaval Udani says that charitable giving through their site
has grown 30% to 40% over the last five years. "It's still very low compared to
the potential," says Mr. Udani.
Samhita.org, launched in 2010, follows a model similar to GiveIndia and
currently has around 100 non-profits on its website.
All these aggregators -- GiveIndia, Samhita and Charities Aid Foundation
India -- do some basic due diligence into the legitimacy of the non-profits
listed on their sites, primarily by assessing their financial and legal
documents.
GiveIndia and Samhita also take care of a common question donors have: "Hey I
gave the money – whatever happened to it?" says Priya Naik, chief executive
officer at Samhita. Donors are provided a progress report on the specific
project or non-profit they are funding.
Such feedback gives donors the security that "the money is being utilized
well," says Mr. Udani of GiveIndia.
If you want to look for other non-profit options or want to donate on a
larger scale, look up the websites of
Credibility Alliance and
GuideStar India, which
work toward increasing accountability and transparency in the non-profit
world.
Credibility Alliance, set up in 2004, gives accreditation to non-profits
which meet certain financial, governance and transparency standards. Credibility
Alliance verifies these standards based on the non-profit's financial
statements, annual reports and other documents, as well as on-site visits.
Non-profits either meet "minimum" norms or go a level higher of meeting
"desirable" norms, by having a more independent board of directors and by
publicly sharing details about staff salaries.
If a non-profit is accredited by Credibility Alliance, donors can have "a
basic assurance that their money is not going to any wrong hands," says S. P.
Selvi, executive director. See
here the list of 250 accredited members. Ms. Selvi says 140
more are under review.
Meanwhile, GuideStar
India's website is a one-stop-shop to look up financial
statements, annual reports and in some cases tax returns of more than 1,000
non-profits. This is all self-reported data and GuideStar doesn't do detailed
due diligence on the listed non-profits. For now, GuideStar is meant to "act as
a repository of information," says Chief Executive Pushpa Aman Singh.
Ms. Singh and her team often work with large donors and companies, connecting
them with specific non-profits and charitable programs.
Ms. Singh says that in recent years the option of "payroll giving" – in which
some money is deducted every month from an employee's paycheck – has become
popular. If your company provides such an option, sign up for it.
If you would rather help a charitable organization in your neighborhood and
want to get some comfort about its activities, you can do your own due diligence
by asking to see the organization's audited accounts, financial statements, and
annual report detailing their activities. You might not understand all the
financial stuff but if they are open to sharing the information, it should give
you some confidence that they are willing to be transparent.
Whichever route you take to giving, it's more important you take action
now.
I'm betting Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, whom we invite into our homes on
Diwali, will be more generous if we share her bounty with others.
Happy Diwali to all!
