New portal to promote US Giving to Indian NGOs

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.

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.

NGO India 2012 - event to connect with 5000+ visitors

Register for the workshop in Mumbai (Dec 15)/ Delhi (Dec 19)/ Chennai (Jan10).

NGO India 2012 (www.india-ngo.org)  is a not-for-profit large scale exhibition and conference designed to bring together NGOs in India to share learning and best practices and engage with key stakeholders including local and international corporates, foundations, government and the general public. NGO India 2012, is being organised by UBM India, a global business media company that does over 50 exhibitions and conferences every year in India.

NGO India 2012 aims to:

• Raise awareness of NGOs and their work
• Create opportunities to showcase the good work of NGOs among the public, to facilitate volunteering, fundraising and other positive action
• Facilitate NGOs of different sizes serving varied communities to network with each other
• Connect NGOs with experts in good governance, PR & communications and fundraising
• Provide a platform that will allow NGOs to engage with government and corporate stakeholders

Why you should exhibit at NGO India 2012

Exhibiting at NGO India is FREE to all NGOs & Foundations that meet UBM India’s eligibility criteria which will be verified by GuideStar India. At this 3 day event, 150-200 NGOs would be showcasing their work to over 4000 visitors from corporates, grant makers & NGOs and 5000 visitors from the general public. There would be conferences on good governance, fundraising, PR & communications free of cost for NGOs to connect with experts in these areas.

Why you should register for the workshop

UBM India and GuideStar India are organising workshops for NGOs and Foundations across India. The workshops will be done in a mix of English, Hindi and Tamil (in Chennai).

The workshop will provide detailed information about the 3 day event NGO India 2012 to be held in Gurgaon from March 16-18, 2012. Registration is FREE.

Representatives from UBM India’s Operations & Marketing teams would conduct sessions on how to build up your stall and what kind of promotion & branding can be done within the stall so as to showcase your activities in the best possible manner. They will screen videos of similar events conducted by UBM for the NGO community in the UK & Brazil.

GuideStar India will explain the due diligence criteria and process for NGOs to qualify for participation in NGO India 2012.

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Where	When	Venue
Mumbai	Thursday, Dec 15, 2011	Hotel Kohinoor Corner, Kohinoor Hall 3rd floor, Opp. Siddhivinayak Mandir, Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai - 400 025. Tel: 022-24226743 / 24372441 / 24361282
Delhi	Monday, Dec 19, 2011	India International Centre, Annexe Building (please note that this is not the main IIC building), Next to World Bank Lecture Hall II, 40, Lodi Road, Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi – 110 003 Phone : 011-24619431
Chennai	Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012	Will be declared in due course

Who should register for the workshop

Heads of Organisations, Heads of Fundraising/ Programmes/ Communications from NGOs & Foundations. A maximum of ONLY two participants per organisation

How to register for the Workshop

To register for the workshop, please fill the form at http://guidestarindia.org/NGOIndia2012.aspx   If you face any difficulty, please call Sangeeta at GuideStar India on 022-26856900/99.

How will you know if your Participation is Confirmed

You will receive a mail from GuideStar India within 2 days of receiving your registration form. If you do not receive a mail, please feel free to call Mercina at GuideStar India to verify your confirmation status. Confirmation is on first come first served basis. If you have any questions regarding participation, please write to info@guidestarindia.org.

If you would like to know more about NGO India 2012, please visit www.india-ngo.org or contact Harsha Advani on 022-66122630.

Please register for the workshop at http://guidestarindia.org/NGOIndia2012.aspx and await email confirmation of your registration.

 
If you would like to hear of more such opportunities, please complete your free registration with GuideStar India at http://www.guidestarindia.org/Registerorg.aspx.

Did you make a difference this Diwali?

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

By SHEFALI ANAND

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!

Are you late for India's biggest online fundraising opportunity? NO

India Giving Challenge 2011: the prizes just got bigger. Register for almost a month of exciting online fundraising!

India Giving Challenge 2011 (IGC 2011) started on Sep 6 and within 2 weeks, NGOs raised more than Rs. 30 lakhs! 42 NGOs registered specifically for IGC 2011 and an equal number are at various stages, hurrying up to complete the registration process.

Though IGC 2011 is in its 4th week, there is still plenty of time to fundraise and win prizes. The contest is open till Oct 20, 2011!

What is India Giving Challenge

India Giving Challenge (IGC) is an online event held by GiveIndia as a part of the Joy of Giving Week 2011, when India celebrates its culture of giving. This event is to encourage NGOs and companies to raise funds online and get rewarded for their efforts in turn.

This is the perfect opportunity to go out and ASK people to donate to your organisation. It does not matter who they are. It does not matter if they have supported your organisation in the past or not. It does not matter if they have ever donated in the past or not.

The basic idea behind the India Giving Challenge is to build a community approach to fundraising. The event encourages you to reach out to all your networks for donations, and get rewarded with additional funds, for the donations that you receive (if you qualify). So please use this opportunity to reach out to
- donors - both old and new
- supporters
- Board Members’ networks
- Employees' networks
- Your personal networks - spouse, in-laws, spouse’s friends, 1st cousins, 2nd cousins and neighbours.

Please remember that there are daily prizes to the tune of Rs. 50,000 to be won EVERYDAY. There are well-wisher prizes to be won during the Joy of Giving Week (Oct 2-8) only. A well-wisher of GiveIndia, who has been following the challenge closely for the past 3 years, has decided that he too wants to be a part of the event. He has been impressed by the efforts of participating NGOs over the years and so to motivate NGOs to reach out all the more, has decided to sponsor the following set of prizes:

Matching prizes to the top 50 NGOs that raise the most money during Joy of Giving Week (i.e. Sun, Oct 2nd- Sat, Oct 8th) as follows:

NGO Position	Matching Grant Limit (Rs.)	Minimum Funds to be Raised to Qualify (Rs.)
1-10	35,000 each	35,000
11-20	30,000 each	30,000
21-30	25,000 each	25,000
31-40	15,000 each	15,000
41-50	10,000 each	10,000

This gives 50 NGOs a chance to win a prize from Oct 2-8! And these are in addition to the already announced Rs. 75 lacs (http://www.giveindia.org/t-india-giving-challenge-2011-matching-grant.aspx ). And all of this will count towards your overall prizes!

So, put this opportunity right on the top of your “to-do” list and apply today!

Depending on how ready your documents are, you may take 2 to 5 days to complete your registration. The sooner you register, the bigger your chance of raising donations and matching funds. [You can see below, the list of top 10 NGOs as of now and feedback from an organisation that participated in IGC).

To apply, visit: http://www.guidestarindia.org/IGC2011.aspx and read the eligibility criteria, process and fill the simple form today.

If you are already raising funds through GiveIndia, you need not register specifically for IGC. You may simply write to tarika@giveindia.org for details about creating your iGive (fundraising) page.

What is GuideStar India's role

As the NGO Outreach & Registration Partner for the India Giving Challenge 2011, GuideStar India creates awareness about IGC among NGOs and helps NGOs complete the necessary process required to get registered with GiveIndia, specifically for IGC 2011. We carry out due diligence of NGOs as per criteria set by GiveIndia.

All NGOs featured on GuideStar India need to upload only additional documents and complete the processes unique to IGC 2011. NGOs that apply for IGC 2011 get automatically featured on GuideStar India, on submission of the basic information required for GuideStar India registration.

If you have any questions, please call us on 022-26856900/ 99.

Register and enjoy the online fundraising experience of IGC 2011!

How to apply for The Times of India Social Impact Awards

As an implementation   partner for The Times of India Social Impact Awards, GuideStar India encourages you to apply for these awards. Please read the invitation  below and the FAQs section before you apply.

• To apply, you can log in via Twitter, Facebook, itimes, indiatimes or TOI IDs. If you do not have an account on these, please click “More Login Options” and select 'Connect with Times of India' and join as a new member
• If you have any queries, please write to: socialimpactawards@indiatimes.com
• Last date for applications: 7th July, 2011. We advise you to apply at the earliest
• Log in to www.timessocialawards.com and send in your applications 

I N V I T A T I O N

There has been undoubted progress post India’s independence but it is overshadowed today by the persistence of poverty, ignorance and disease among a vast number of our fellow citizens. While most people will agree with this, they despair at the vastness of the problems. Some close their eyes and strive only for personal advance. Others hope that state policies will somehow change the prevailing order. Fortunately for India, there are wonderful and amazing people and organizations who have been battling enormous odds and making great personal sacrifices so that the lives of disadvantaged people are changed for the better. To acknowledge and honor these unsung heroes of India, The Times of India has decided to institute ‘The Times of India Social Impact Awards’. This paper, which has over the past few years launched such initiatives as Teach India, Lead India and Aman ki Asha, believes it has a responsibility towards this nation, and its people, that goes beyond merely reporting the news of the day.

The TOI Awards will help focus greater attention on five critical spheres: education, healthcare, livelihood, environment and advocacy/empowerment. As we want to credit outstanding contributions from different sections of society, there will be three awards in each of the five spheres – a non-governmental organization (NGO); a corporate-backed organization; and a government body at the state or district level. There will also be a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Global Impact Award. Widespread and tangible impact, which has the quality of changing lives forever, is the key criterion for these awards. The applications for each award will be vetted by an esteemed panel of jury members and domain experts. 

We encourage organizations like you to send in your application for the awards by logging on to www.timessocialawards.com. Your support and participation will serve as an inspiration to the millions who wish to make a real difference.

The awards will culminate in a final award ceremony which is scheduled for Sunday, October 2^nd 2011.

Best Regards,

Team Social Impact Awards

What are you doing this Joy of Giving Week?

Register for the NGO workshop on Fundraising during the Joy of Giving Week 2011on April 11, 2011 in Mumbai from 9am to 1pm. This workshop is ONLY for NGOs with operation in and around Mumbai. If your NGO is outside Mumbai, please watch out for workshop annoucements in your city.


What is the Joy of Giving Week (JGW)

The Joy of Giving Week (JGW) is India's "festival of giving". Launched in Sept 27-Oct 3, 2009, the festival is celebrated every year, in the week including Gandhi Jayanti, i.e., October 2, and brings together Indians from all walks of life, to celebrate "giving". From auto drivers to CEOs, school children to celebrities, homemakers to opinion leaders, millions of people give their time, money, resources or skills back to society- by creating or participating in "events" of their choice. Events are organised by NGOs, individuals, social groups, schools, colleges, corporates, media houses and others.

More than 1 million Indians participated in 400+ events held in JGW 2010 and funds and material worth over Rs20 crore was raised.

Why your NGO should be a part of JGW

While some NGOs have made events during JGW an annual affair to generate awareness and donations, we believe that with some orientation and training, thousands of NGOs could significantly leverage the JGW platform to raise funds and/ or create awareness if they start planning NOW.

You could create your own event or join an existing umbrella event. You could focus on fundraising or simply heighten the awareness about your work. It is a great time to do events with people you know to reach to people they may or may not know. It is a festival during which corporates, schools, colleges, associations, housing societies and individuals are keen to spread joy. Many of them are eager to support NGOs working for their favourite cause. The media devotes space and time to cover events.


What will be done at this NGO workshop:

• Overview of JGW in the 2009 & 2010

• Key platform events planned in Mumbai for JGW 2011 – which you can join

• Show case of replicable events & ideas

• Identification of specific event options for your NGO

• There are worksheets that NGOs will use in small groups to think through and arrive at 2-3 specific options for each NGO

• JGW Resources


Who should attend this workshop:

Ideally the chief functionary AND fundraising head should attend this workshop.


When & where

Monday, April 11, 2011 from 9 am to 1pm at

Kalavati Chabbria Hall

Rotary Service Centre, Ground Floor

Rotary Chowk, Juhu Tara Road

Santacruz West, Mumbai 400054

Directions and details will be sent with confirmation mails.


The Joy of Giving Week team thanks the Rotary Club Bombay West for providing their venue, facilities and refreshments for the workshop. They responded to our request within minutes by email!

How to REGISTER for this workshop

To register for the workshop, please fill the online form at http://bit.ly/jgwngoworkshopregn . It will take you less than 10 minutes to register.

Registration is FREE but compulsory as we can take in only 100 participants.

Within 2 days of registration, you will receive a confirmation mail from GuideStar India. Please carry a copy of the confirmation mail for entry at the venue.

Register now as confirmation is strictly based on first come first served basis for a maximum of 2 persons (decision makers) from each NGO.

Only 3 documents & 30 min needed to register an NGO on GuideStar India!

Our registration process for NGOs has been further simplified! It takes only 3 documents (ITPAN, registration certificate as Society/ Trust/ Section 25 Company and a valid address proof) and a simple form which you can fill in less than 30 minutes to apply for registering an NGO on www.guidestarindia.org. Registration is FREE!

Over 1000 NGOs have registered with GuideStar India and we have connected them with resources and opportunities such as free IT training workshops and software donations from NASSCOM Foundation,  online fundraising through GiveIndia, membership & accreditation from the Credibility Alliance, the Spirit of Humanity Awards from AmeriCares India, India NGO Awards from the Resource Alliance.

NGOs have started quoting their GSN (GuideStar Number) on application forms to qualify for fast track registrations and for other assessors to refer to their documents online!

Many NGOs have updated their pages on GuideStar India to showcase their work comprehensively and to demonstrate their transparency and accountability. For example visit the pages of Alternative for Rural Movement and ROSARY Trust.

Click here to register now with GuideStar India!