GuideStar India and the U.S.
Department of State held a “Philanthropy in India Roundtable” on December 21 in
Mumbai. Over 40 leaders from the Indian philanthropy sector discussed the
creation of a new online portal that will assist private donors seeking to
support Indian NGOs.
GuideStar India is an existing
portal of fully searchable information on over 1400 registered NGOs in India,
and will serve as the platform for the new portal which is designed to connect
private U.S. donors with Indian NGOs and organizations. The group agreed that
such a portal should also help address two critical needs:
The new portal will aggregate NGO certifications provided by independent third parties and present the information in a format easily searchable and accessible by potential donors. Neither GuideStar nor the U.S. Government will rate or certify NGOs. The portal will empower donors and allow them to make better informed decisions. Indian NGOs, intermediaries, facilitators, foundations and other organizations and individuals involved in philanthropy in India will benefit through enhanced visibility.
The roundtable participants provided input on the design of the portal to GuideStar representatives. The diverse group of leaders gathered at the roundtable reflected the shared desire of the private sector, civil society and the U.S. State Department to explore new and creative ways to support Indian NGOs.
 |
Mitul Desai, U.S. State Department Senior Advisor
to
South and Central Asia Assistant Secretary Robert O. Blake,
Opening the
Philanthropy in India Roundtable on December 21, 2011
|
GuideStar India is an existing
portal of fully searchable information on over 1400 registered NGOs in India,
and will serve as the platform for the new portal which is designed to connect
private U.S. donors with Indian NGOs and organizations. The group agreed that
such a portal should also help address two critical needs:
(1) empowering and
educating donors by introducing more information and transparency into the
sector; and (2) strengthening capacity-building amongst Indian NGOs.
 |
Consul General Peter Haas and others listening to
GuideStar India CEO, Pushpa Aman Singh speaking at the Roundtable
|
The new portal will aggregate NGO certifications provided by independent third parties and present the information in a format easily searchable and accessible by potential donors. Neither GuideStar nor the U.S. Government will rate or certify NGOs. The portal will empower donors and allow them to make better informed decisions. Indian NGOs, intermediaries, facilitators, foundations and other organizations and individuals involved in philanthropy in India will benefit through enhanced visibility.
The roundtable participants provided input on the design of the portal to GuideStar representatives. The diverse group of leaders gathered at the roundtable reflected the shared desire of the private sector, civil society and the U.S. State Department to explore new and creative ways to support Indian NGOs.
This is very good news. Are you working at all with
ReplyDeletehttp://ngosindia.com/
I refer to this web site regularly for information about NGOs in India.
Is there any effort to create a portal for people in India to volunteer for local NGOs? This is a frequently asked question on YahooAnswers and various other online communities - people in India wanting to do unpaid work, as volunteers or as interns, for NGOs, but having no idea how to get started. It's such a common question - and I'm so frustrated that all searched on Google for the words "volunteer" and "India" are focused on Westerners coming to India, rather than Indians volunteering themselves - that I blogged about it:
http://coyoteblog.posterous.com/volunteerism-ngo-resources-in-india-for-india
Great Work. Guide Star India is really reaching new horizons. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAll the Best
Santosh Panigrahi
Thank you, Santoshji! We hope all our initiatives help you and other NGOs do their work better.
ReplyDeleteNice work ...
ReplyDeleteHopefully this well open up more reliable channels for philanthropy.
All the very best.