Tata Tea Jaago Re! team invites GuideStar India NGOs

Tata Tea Jaago Re! Team invites NGOs to join their portal and get connected with their vast community of 23,000+ users. After identifying GuideStar NGOs that are already registered with Jaago Re!, the Tata Tea Jaago Re! team asked us to send their invitation to the remaining 644 NGOs who are featured on GuideStar India but were yet to join Jaago Re! The initial response from GuideStar India NGOs has been encouraging.

We are happy to announce that even non-GuideStar NGOs could read the details below and write to jaago.re@tatatea.co.in to join their portal.

From: Team Jaago Re!

Tata Tea Jaago Re! is renowned for taking up social issues and enabling citizens to contribute to social change. We have addressed issues of Voting and Corruption in our previous campaigns.

Now, www.jaagore.com is the portal for NGOs from the reputed stable of the Tata Tea Jaago Re! campaign. It is an online conduit between organizations like yours and the citizens of our nation. This portal is a bustling community of over 23,000 users including 130 NGOs.

The motto of this portal is to encourage citizens to get involved with Social Issues and help NGOs, by sparing some of their time. Registered NGOs have put up more than 270 projects that need volunteers and the site has delivered more than 600 volunteers across the country!

Here are few links to Jaagore success stories:

Ankit Nandwani from Pune galvanized his entire college batch to work on Open Space project… http://www.jaagore.com/blog/india%E2%80%94what-does-it-take-trigger-your-conscience  

Shwetha from Bangalore assisted Rang De in Chennai with content editing project sitting at her home… http://www.jaagore.com/blog/awakening-people-%E2%80%94-one-time

Guest blog post from Deepalaya on Education program… http://www.jaagore.com/blog/education-wheels  

Interview with Vijay Anand, Fifth Pillar, on fighting corruption… http://www.jaagore.com/blog/corruption-starts-right-birth-until-death-indian-citizen-vijay-anand-5th-pillar-founder

Five reasons why you must sign up with Jaagore.com:

1. 23,000 and growing community of socially conscious pool of citizens

2. Online presence through Jaagore Blog and reach out to users via Jaagore Facebook/ Twitter platforms

3. Get people interested in your cause and connect to prospective volunteers at zero cost

4. Create and manage individual NGO account, announce new projects & events and showcase your work

5. Post and manage all your volunteer/ resource requirements through your account

The way to participate is real simple – please write back to us and we will get you on board. Come and partner with us in this new Jaago Re! movement!

To register, write to jaago.re@tatatea.co.in TODAY.

If your organization has already registered with Jaagore.com, you need not register again.

Team Jaago Re!

Donor for School Infrastructure in Ahmedabad/ North Gujarat invites proposals

GuideStar India is happy to connect NGOs working in Gujarat with a donor organisation that uses http://www.guidestarindia.org/ to identify suitable partners.

A donor organisation which takes up social projects, especially in the area of Education, is currently in search of NGOs who are running and operating Schools for underprivileged children.  They are willing to build critical civil infrastructure for Schools with own premises/ land in Gujarat (Ahmedabad and North Gujarat) like Classroom, Toilets, Classroom furniture, Filtered Drinking Water System, Deep Tube-wells for Sanitation, Lights & Fans, Science laboratories, Library rooms, Computer rooms and so on.

They do not make monetary grants but carry out the actual construction based on the NGO’s requirements. 

If your organisation runs a school for poor children in your own premises/ land (in Ahmedabad/ North Gujarat) and are looking to create/ upgrade/ expand your infrastructure facilities, please fill their form and send it directly to the donor to ourschoolprojects2010@gmail.com.

If your organisation eventually gets support from this donor, please share your story with us so that we can cover it in our newsletter.

If your NGO is already featured on GuideStar India, do update your content on GuideStar India when you send your application to the donor as they would be viewing your information on http://www.guidestarindia.org/  for short listing proposals.

Alliance Magazine covers the launch of GuideStar India

 “With the launch of GuideStar India on 23 September, India became the fourth country to have a GuideStar database, joining the USA, the UK and Israel. Unlike the US and the UK, where the starting point for GuideStar was existing official documentation, in India the source is non-profit organizations themselves. This is primarily because India lacks a single source of data on its estimated 3 million NPOs: the country has different registration authorities and lacks a unique identification for NPOs. These reasons make a system like GuideStar both difficult to create and critical to the development of the voluntary sector in India.”

Click here for the full article.

Out of the 716 NGOs currently on http://www.guidestarindia.org/, many organisations have recently updated their profiles. GuideStar India will be sharing stories of users connecting with NGOs. We will be announcing requests received from users seeking NGOs to support and also specific requirements and updates put up by NGOs.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly - the FCRA Bill 2010

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill 2010 has recently been passed by both Houses of the Indian Parliament. It now merely awaits the assent of the President and a Gazette Notification to be enacted into Law.

 

Noshir Dadrawala, legal expert and Chief Executive, Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy examines the ‘Good’, the ‘Bad’ and the ‘Ugly’ aspects of this proposed legislation.

The Good

 

• Charitable organizations will be allowed to maintain multiple bank accounts for management and utilization of FCRA funds provided only one bank account is maintained for receiving all foreign contribution.

• Both, ‘Registration’ and ‘Prior Permission’ shall be granted or rejected within a period of 90 days from the date of receipt of application. Currently this time frame is stipulated only for applications for Prior Permission.

• Presently foreign contribution cannot be transferred to organizations which are not registered nor have prior permission under FCRA. FCRA 2010 will now allow such transfer with ‘Prior Approval’. However, the rules in this regard are yet to be framed.

The Bad

• Under FCRA 2010, ‘Foreign Company’ is defined and under the definition given u/s 2(g), Indian companies are not included. However, u/s 2(j) ‘foreign source’ includes an Indian company if more than 50% of its equity is held by foreigners. This dichotomy is confusing!

• The definition of ‘foreign contribution’ includes various types of foreign receipts. It does not distinguish between commercial receipts and voluntary contributions. In fact, Explanation 3 to section 2(h) excludes income from business, trade or commerce. This section states that any fee or cost against business, trade or commerce shall not be considered as foreign contribution. In other words, such receipts can be treated as local income. However this provision is in conflict with the amended section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act which prohibits trade or business related receipts above Rs.10 lakhs. NGO are therefore urged to exercise caution.

• Section 3 specifies persons who are ineligible to receive foreign contribution. To the existing list a few more have been added. Of particular concern is the inclusion of, “Organization of a political nature”. The term ‘Political Nature’ has not been defined.

 

The Ugly

• Section 8 states that the administrative expenses shall not exceed 50% and any expenditure of administrative nature in excess of 50% shall be defrayed with prior approval of the Central Government.

• Registration under FCRA will require renewal every 5 years! However, the Act has provided relief to all the existing NGOs for the first 5 years from the date of enactment. In other words, all existing NGOs will be required to renew their registration at the end of the period of 5 years from the date of enactment of FCRA 2010. According to Section 16 of the proposed Act, all NGOs should apply for renewal of the certificate within 6 months prior to the expiry of the 5 years period.

• Sweeping powers have been given to the authorities for rejecting applications for prior permission or registration. Take for example, under Section 12, “the applicant should not have been prosecuted or convicted for indulging in activities aimed at conversion or creating communal tension”. Inclusion of the term ‘prosecuted’ is of tremendous concern since it implies that even if there is a false or frivolous legal proceeding going on registration could be denied.

• Registration may be cancelled for various reasons including lack of activity for a period of 2 years. Currently NGOs have been enjoying the benefit of keeping their registered status alive by simply filing ‘Nil’ returns despite not receiving or utilizing foreign funds for many years.

• Also, any organization whose certificate has been cancelled / revoked shall not be eligible for registration or prior permission for a period of 3 years from the date of cancellation.

• FCRA 2010 further provides that after cancellation of registration certificate, all the foreign contribution and assets thereof (created since the inception of the organization) shall vest with such authority as may be prescribed. The government authorities shall take charge of the foreign contribution and the FC assets till the registration is restored.

Register for FREE IT training workshops in Jaipur, Jodhpur & Udaipur (April-May), limited seats

318 NGO participants attended 6 ConnectIT Workshops and the ConnectIT Day in different locations of Maharashtra! GuideStar India (http://www.guidestarindia.org/) is pleased to invite NGOs to the Rajasthan series of “ConnectIT Day”, a curtain raiser for a series of capacity building workshops in IT titled ‘ConnectIT workshops’ to be conducted by NASSCOM Foundation (http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/).

ConnectIT Day:

This half day event to be held in Jaipur on 20th April will include discussion panels on topics relevant to the use of IT in development and will be attended by representatives from NGOs, Government, Industry and domain experts. The ConnectIT Day is a programme for NGO leaders and senior managers to meet and interact with decision makers and experts who use technology for development.

Venue: to be announced shortly.

Registration is FREE and each NGO can send max 2 participants. NGOs that attend the ConnectIT Day will be given preference in registration for the ConnectIT workshops.

ConnectIT Workshops:
There will be 6 workshops called ‘ConnectIT Workshop’ to be held in Jaipur, Jodhpur & Udaipur the months of April-May. These workshops are for NGO leaders and staff who already use MS Office and are keen to learn to use these and other tools more effectively. The workshops include hands-on training on desktops & laptops. Sessions include advanced use of Microsoft Excel, Word, making presentations, newsletters, movie making, use of new media such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There is also a session on how to get featured on GuideStar India. All NGOs that register for ConnectIT Day/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.

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

Registration is FREE and each NGO can send 2 participants for any one ConnectIT Workshop in Jaipur/ Jodhpur/ Udaipur.

Venue and Date for ConnectIT workshops:

Jaipur ConnectIT workshop I- 12-15 April in Jaipur ( venue to be decided)

Jaipur ConnectIT workshop II - 21- 24 April in Jaipur ( venue to be decided)

Jodhpur ConnectIT workshop - 27- 30 April (tentative)

Udaipur ConnectIT workshop – 3- 6 May ( tentative)


You may subscribe to our blog http://guidestarindia.blogspot.com/ for frequent updates.


Accommodation: Participants have to make their own arrangements for stay and travel.


What did some of the Maharashtra participants say


Participants of the ConnectIT Workshops and ConnectIT Day held in Maharashtra found them useful. This is what some of them had to say:


Ms Diana Peters from Habitat for Humanity India: “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 AFARM: “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:“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.”


Ms Thelma Pereira from Paragon Charitable Trust: “Overall, the instructional and hands-on training imparted to us was very educative, informative and effective particularly for me who earlier had only basic knowledge and use of the various MS office applications and I am now confidently looking forward to upgrading my IT skills from the current Windows 2003 to Windows 2007. I greatly appreciate the coverage of topics at the Workshop and the active interactions between the trainers and us trainees where our trainers spared no efforts to cater to all levels of understanding.


…And I have left the Workshop greatly enriched by the training and learnings I’ve received and, emulating Ashutosh(trainer), I am sharing them with my office colleagues. I thank you once again not only for the useful training but also for making available to us a CD to reinforce our learnings in the Workshop.”




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 you can write to us at info@guidestarindia.org  for the Registration Form


2. Also you need to fill the Need Assessment Form at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VYRDQRR


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 and Need Assessment 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 Day and ConnectIT workshops. If you have any questions regarding participation, please write to info@guidestarindia.org  or speak with Lathika on 022-26856900/99. 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 the ConnectIT Day and ConnectIT Workshop.


Due to limited seats at each event, registrations will be based on first come first served basis.

Rush to register and spread the word around.

Registrations begin for Rajasthan IT workshops

After the success of 6 ConnectIT Workshops and the ConnectIT Day attended by 318 NGO participants in different locations of Maharashtra, GuideStar India (www.guidestarindia.org) is pleased to invite NGOs to “ConnectIT Day”, a curtain raiser for a series of capacity building workshops in IT titled ‘ConnectIT workshops’ to be conducted by NASSCOM Foundation (www.nasscomfoundation.org) in Rajasthan.

ConnectIT Day:
This half day event to be held in Jaipur in mid March will include discussion panels on topics relevant to the use of IT in development and will be attended by representatives from NGOs, Government, Industry and domain experts. The ConnectIT Day is a programme for NGO leaders and senior managers to meet and interact with decision makers and experts who use technology for development.

Registration is FREE and each NGO can send 2 participants. NGOs that attend the ConnectIT Day will be given preference in registration for the ConnectIT workshops.

ConnectIT Workshop:

There will be 6 workshops called ‘ConnectIT Workshop’ to be held in Jaipur, Jodhpur & Udaipur the months of March-April. These workshops are for NGO leaders and staff who already use MS Office and are keen to learn to use these and other tools more effectively. The workshops include hands-on training on desktops & laptops. Sessions include advanced use of Microsoft Excel, Word, making presentations, newsletters, movie making, use of new media such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There is also a session on how to get featured on GuideStar India. All NGOs that register for ConnectIT Day/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.

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


Registration is FREE and each NGO can send 2 participants for any one ConnectIT Workshops in Jaipur/ Jodhpur/ Udaipur.

Participants of the ConnectIT Workshops and ConnectIT Day held in Maharashtra found them useful. This is what some of them had to say:

Ms Diana Peters from Habitat for Humanity India: “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 AFARM: “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:“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.”

Ms Thelma Pereira from Paragon Charitable Trust: “Overall, the instructional and hands-on training imparted to us was very educative, informative and effective particularly for me who earlier had only basic knowledge and use of the various MS office applications and I am now confidently looking forward to upgrading my IT skills from the current Windows 2003 to Windows 2007. I greatly appreciate the coverage of topics at the Workshop and the active interactions between the trainers and us trainees where our trainers spared no efforts to cater to all levels of understanding.

…And I have left the Workshop greatly enriched by the training and learnings I’ve received and, emulating Ashutosh(trainer), I am sharing them with my office colleagues. I thank you once again not only for the useful training but also for making available to us a CD to reinforce our learnings in the Workshop.”

Venue and Date for ConnectIT Day and ConnectIT workshops: will be informed shortly. You may subscribe to our blog http://guidestarindia.blogspot.com/ for frequent updates.
Accommodation: Participants have to make their own arrangements for stay and travel.


How do you register


1. You can register online at  OR


You can fill the attached Registration Form and mail it to connectit@nasscomfoundation.org AND info@guidestarindia.org


2. After you send the registration form, we will send you a Need Assessment Form.
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 and Need Assessment 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 Day and ConnectIT workshops. If you have any questions regarding participation, please write to info@guidestarindia.org or speak with Lathika on 022-26856900. 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 the ConnectIT Day and ConnectIT Workshop. You may simply share this blog post with them.

Due to limited seats at each event, registrations will be based on first come first served basis.

Read what GuideStars around the world are doing

GuideStar International's latest newsletter has updates from GuideStar India, Korea, US and UK. Click here to view the newsletter. A quick look at the contents:

IN THE NEWS

• GuideStar India
  - GuideStar India's CEO gives presentation at Taiwan's International Conference on NPO Accountability
  - The British Asian Trust to support all its partners to register with GuideStar India - GuideStar India hosts ConnectIT Workshops
• GuideStar Korea
  - GuideStar Korea speaks about GuideStar (US) on Korean TV Programme
• GuideStar (US)
  - Majority of Charities Report Increased Demand for Services yet Receive Less Contributions
• GuideStar UK
  - A Balancing Act: Regulation and Reporting for Small Organisations • GuideStar International News - GuideStar Google Map - Caroline Neligan presents GuideStar to Colombian Civil Society
• GuideStar International's Blog Update!
•  Related Articles
  - Beyond the Gloom: Stepping Stones to Growing Philanthropy in Ireland
  - New and Emerging Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts
  - Responding to NGO Development Effectiveness Initiatives
  - World Bank Civil Society Engagement
  - The NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project: Strengthening Partnership for Effective Humanitarian Response