Register for FREE IT training workshop in Mumbai (Jan 18-21), limited seats

To NGOs in Maharashtra:

After 5 ConnectIT Workshops in Pune, Nagpur & Sangli, GuideStar India (www.guidestarindia.org) is happy to announce that registrations are open for NASSCOM Foundation’s ConnectIT Workshops in Mumbai scheduled for 18-21Jan 2010.

Registration is FREE and each NGO can send 2 participants.

The ‘ConnectIT Workshop’ includes hands-on training in the use of MS Office applications. Sessions include advanced use of Microsoft Excel, Word, making presentations, newsletters, movie making, use of new media such as blogs, Twitter, etc. There is also a session on how to get featured on GuideStar India.

Participants who attend all 4 days sessions will receive a Certificate of Participation and a CD based user manual to help them use their learning after this workshop.

The 5 workshops held in Pune, Nagpur and Sangli attended by 178 NGO participants were found useful by many participants.
Ms Diana Peters from Habitat for Humanity India said, “Overall the training was educative, informative, effective, building upon the basics. Content was excellent and faculty was interactive, reaching out to everyone’s level of understanding”.

Mr Pandurang Solanke from Action For Agricultural Renewal in Maharashtra-AFARM had this to share:

“Very helpful, learnt additional features, shortcuts which will save time, learnt additional Power Point features like power point video, hyperlinks, etc which will help in presentations, got to know about online tools and how to do marketing online, also shall spread the learnings to colleagues which will help them in their daily activities. I will ask other NGOs from our network to register for Nagpur and Sangli.”

 Ms Sarita Walkar from Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi, one of the participants of the Nagpur workshop had this to say:
“ Overall very good learning workshop. Learnt additional features, better way of creation of report in excel and word. Learnt to create blog which will help the organization to do more creative work with online tools.”

The workshops are planned as four-days of hands-on and interactive activity-based training. Daily workshop starts at 9am and will be over by 6pm. Participation by the organisation on all days is compulsory.

Who can participate

The ConnectIT workshops are NOT for beginners, who want to learn to use basic applications in IT, but are for those who know the basics (already use MS Word, Excel) and are interested in learning to use common applications more effectively. Participants will receive a CD based user manual to help them use their learning after this workshop.

NGOs that have already attended any of the earlier ConnectIT workshops are not eligible to attend this workshop even if the participants are different.

Venue of workshop
Asha Kiran Hall
St Pius Complex
Gate no 2, Virwani Road
Near Udupi Restaurant
Goregaon (E)
Tel: 022-28732343

From Goregaon East station, Rs10 by auto or 15 minutes by walk.

Can you get low cost accommodation
Participants have to make their own arrangements for travel and stay. Limited accommodation is available at the venue at Rs200/ Rs250 per person, per night. For bookings, please contact Ms. Betty Ignatius on 022-28732343

How do you register
1. You can register online at http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/index.php/component/option,com_performs/formid,26/Itemid,88889002/ OR
Write for the Registration Form to connectit@nasscomfoundation.org AND info@guidestarindia.org and mail it back to the same ids.

2. If you have not yet submitted the Need Assessment Form, you need to fill the Need Assessment Form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2f_2bWqI3dD40GHTBILFuYMkQ_3d_3d

How will you know if your Participation is Confirmed

You will receive a mail from NASSCOM Foundation within 3 days of receiving your registration form. If you do not receive a mail, please feel free to call Lathika or Jitu at GuideStar India to verify your confirmation status.

GuideStar India is the Outreach Partner for ConnectIT workshops. If you have any questions regarding participation, please contact Lathika at GuideStar India on 022-26856900/99. All NGOs that register for ConnectIT workshops will be trained to showcase their work on www.guidestarindia.org, an online platform for NGOs to create and manage their own web pages.

Please apply at the earliest and await email confirmation of your registration from NASSCOM Foundation.

Feel free to inform other NGOs from your network to register for this Workshop. You may simply email their ids to us or use the Tell a friend link below.

GuideStar India wishes you a very happy New Year!

Not a single day passes without interacting with NGOs at the GuideStar India office. We learn something new every single day as we get to know you better and try to present your work truthfully and effectively. Thanks to each one of you, we got strength to take our baby steps...

We spent the last 8 months building our site and database. We expect to go live with the first set of NGO data early in the new year. Until we have significant stories of change to report, we thought of putting together our smiles for you.

I will let my light shine...Christmas celebrations at GuideStar India

Our team celebrated Christmas in a special way. Team members highlighted the "spark" in one another and wrote it down on "candles". We all pledged "I will let my Light shine" and noted down in our respective "candles", how we would spread  our light. Our office looks lovely with the decorations we made and it was great fun doing it together. We also screened a short film "I believe..."

We wish every one a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

Taiwan voluntary sector conference finds session on NGO Accountability in India, relevant

GuideStar India's CEO, Pushpa Aman Singh, was invited to speak about NGO Accountability in India at the International conference on NPO Accountability in Taipei, Taiwan. Pushpa could not go to Taipei due to last minute glitches at the Mumbai airport. However, she addressed the conference via Skype. Thanks to some smart use of technology by GuideStar India and the Taiwan NPO Self Regulation Alliance, the audience had a virtual presentation followed by Q & A. Seen in the picture is Mr Richy Li, Director (News Products, Media Products & Solutions) Yahoo responding to Pushpa's address.

Pushpa gave a brief introduction to the size and structure of the Indian voluntary sector. She pointed out that statutory requirements for NGO accountability and their administration in India was not sufficient for stakeholders to be assured of NGO credibility. She described the various initiatives of the Indian voluntary sector towards promoting NGO transparency and accountability. Chiefly, she described the role of GiveIndia, GuideStar India, Credibility Alliance, the Joy of Giving Week and CSO Partners' Annual report Awards. Pushpa emphasised that NGOs voluntarily participated in initiatives that required them to be transparent & accountable if these resulted in tangible benefits. She also mentioned that several thousand NGOs that were keen to participate in these initiatives could not do so for want of resources to build their capacity. There is also the need to bring thousand of NGOs in remote areas into an electronic database so that they could be made aware of the numerous opportunities that exist. She emphasised the need to make donors (individuals, corporates, foundations and government) aware of the existence of these mechanisms so that they could direct their resources towards NGOs that voluntarily demonstrate accountability.

Pushpa stressed on the need to have easy (low entry barrier) mechanisms such as GuideStar India to allow NGOs to make public disclosure of as little or as much information they could share. GuideStar India allows NGOs to start reporting with just 2 documents (registration certificate and address proof). At the same time, the site (soon to be launched with NGO data) would reward NGOs that report more information and make frequent updates through search results ranking.

Pushpa welcomed the Planning Commission's NGO Partnership System that has over 22,000 NGO records. She expressed concern about some of the government moves such as making FCRA permission for a limited duration, the IT Department stating that 12A could be withdrawn any time and its stand on income earning activities of NGOs. These seem to be quite contrary to the positive tone of the Voluntary Sector Policy, 2007. She welcomed the Planning Commission setting up task forces and committees with NGO representation for implementing the Voluntary Sector Policy, 2007.

The concluding part of the address was devoted to her views about the need for the voluntary sector in India to convert, its various initiatives for transparency & accountability, from small disjointed steps into a coordinated and concerted movement to transform the sector. While NGOs had been successful in pushing for electoral reforms to make politicians accountable, played a key role getting the Right to Information Act passed towards making the government machinery accountable, it has become very critical for the sector to pursue its own accountability with the same passion and zeal.

Reacting to Pushpa's address, Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Department of Sociology, NTU, expressed the desire to interact with Indian organisations as Taiwan makes its progress towards self-regulation of its voluntary sector.

Thank you, Chi and Regina of the Garden of Hope Foundation for inviting GuideStar India and providing all the relevant material on Taiwan's NPO sector. A big thank you to the team at Taiwan NPO Self Regulation Alliance.

For the full article/ presentation, please write to info@guidestarindia.org

How many years do we need complete to apply?

NGOs are eligible to be featured on GuideStar India as soon as they get registered in India as a Trust, Society or Sec 25 Company. All you need is a regsitration certificate and a verifiable address proof (as described in our previous post).

What is GuideStar India's eligibility criteria?

GuideStar India is open to all NGOs registered in India.

To get featured on GuideStar India, an NGO needs to:
1)be registered as Trust/Society/Sec 25 Company in India and
2)have a verifiable address.


What are the minimum documents an NGO is required to give us:

1)Registration Document
any one of: Trust Registration Certificate/ Trust Deed with Sub-Registrar's stamp/ Society Registration Certificate/ Cetificate of Incorpration under section 25 of the Indian Companies Act

2)Address Proof
any of the following, not older than 2 months, stating your address for correspondence: telephone bill/ electricity bill/ bank statement (not bank pass book)

We require photocopies that are attested by the NGO's authorised signatory and carry the NGO's stamp.

Watch out for our post about the Pre-Registration form and process.

Find answers to your questions about GuideStar India

Starting today, we will present excerpts from our FAQs so that you can get answers to your questions about GuideStar India.

How are you connected with GuideStar in the US and the UK?
GuideStar India is set up in collaboration with GuideStar International (GSI), the founders of GuideStar US & UK. GuideStar India is independent of its US and UK counterparts. GSI provides technology and other resources to GuideStar India. We are a part of the GuideStar Alliance, hence connected with all other GuideStars which are emerging in more than 10 countries. We are a part of the global reporting framework developed by GSI, which makes NGOs featured on GuideStar India, also an integral part of the global search across other GuideStars. For more details, visit http://www.guidestarinternational.org/.