The official GuideStar India blog

Welcome, NGOs and all those interested in NGOs in India!

If you are running an NGO or working for one, you will find opportunities and resources for your organisation.

If you or your organisation want to direct your time, money, products or services to NGOs that can can make the most effective and efficient use of your donations or grants, you will find this blog and http://www.guidestarindia.org/ useful to announce your offer to NGOs.

You will also get to read about statistics and issues concerning transparency & accountability of the Indian voluntary sector.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Help us to serve NGOs in your network

Join our Friends of Friends Campaign.
Refer at least 5 NGOs and become a supporter of promoting NGO transparency in India!

When we started our journey of organising information on NGOs in India in 2009, there were only about 500 NGOs that figured on the list of most foundations and donors. It has taken us close to 5 years to take that number to nearly 5000! We now have a robust platform in www.guidestarindia.org that can easily cater to the needs of thousands of NGOs.

In spite of studies quoting the NGO population of India to be anywhere between 20 lacs to 33 lacs, basic information required to make a donation is available on the internet for just about 5,000 NGOs. We still find numerous cases of individuals and institutions unable to find NGOs working for their favourite cause, in locations of their choice. We have over 70,000 NGOs on our raw database but not all of them have their IT PAN, and many of them are perhaps not so confident of putting their information in the public domain. Should we deny millions of people served by NGOs, the opportunity to get connected with givers simply because the NGOs working for them are not searchable on the internet? Should we wait for another 5 years for these NGOs to gain confidence to share their details on the internet?


What can we collectively do to expand the pool of NGOs in the philanthropy  marketplace to 25,000? If you care strongly about increasing the impact of the NGO sector, do join us in our Friends of Friends Campaign to reach out to 25,000 NGOs of India by word of mouth. Use your power to influence your NGO friends to be confident about demonstrating their transparency online and start getting connected with opportunities for capacity building, recognition and resources.


We have embarked on an ambitious journey to expand the number of verified NGOs featured on our portal to about 25,000 NGOs, so that:
-       donors do not refrain from giving, because they are unable to find reliable NGO partners serving their favourite cause in locations of their choice;
-       every philanthropic resource flows to organisations that are most transparent, effective and efficient;
-       resources reach millions of needy living in difficult to reach parts of India, through NGOs serving remote areas, and for worthy causes that are not popularly known.

Expanding the reach of the online philanthropy eco-system to 25,000+ NGOs is possible only with your support and your reference. If each of you refer 5 or 50 NGOs from your network, and encourage them to join www.guidestarindia.org with confidence, this goal can be collectively achieved quite easily!

How we can do this
1.     Please arrange to email a list of NGOs along with name of contact person, email id and contact numbers. The list can be in any format! The list can be as small as 5 NGOs or could run into several hundred NGOs.
2.     We will send an invitation mailer to NGOs on the list you provide, stating that the organisation was referred by you. In case multiple NGOs refer an organisation, we will mention names of all those who referred.
3.     You may thereafter encourage/ help the NGOs you refer to us, to complete their registration. You may also like to send them a mail sharing your experience, you may want to speak with them over phone, you may want to invite them for a cup of tea and talk about transparency or include a small session in your training programmes/ meetings/ AGM.


What we will do for you
As a token of our gratitude, we will recognise your support in the following ways:
Those who refer 50 or more NGOs and at least 50 of them complete their GuideStar India registration:
1.     We will feature your name among the list of GuideStar India Champion Supporters for NGO Transparency on our website for one year.
2.     We will send you a certificate recognizing your support as a GuideStar India Champion Supporter promoting the cause of transparency and public accountability.
3.     We will share with you a standardized data template we have developed in MS Excel for maintaining your NGO contacts along with a help guide.
4.     We will invite you to be a network partner for workshops and campaigns we do in your area.

Those who refer 5 or more NGOs and at least 5 or more NGOs complete their GuideStar India registration:

1.     We will feature your name among the list of GuideStar India  Supporters for NGO Transparency on our website for one year.
2.     We will send you a certificate recognizing your support as a GuideStar India Supporter promoting the cause of transparency and public accountability.


What is the last date

We will include all NGOs referred by you and who complete their GuideStar India registration by October 31, 2014 in this Friends of Friends Campaign. Please send immediately your list of NGOs to partnerships@guidestarindia.org.

Thank you in advance for your support!