‘NGOs must be handled professionally’

Times of India, Hyderabad: 21 June 2008

Simon Collings, CEO of Resource Alliance, a UK based non-profit charity organisation, speaks to TOI on why India needs a talent pool of professionals in the field of social responsibility.

Resource Alliance has tied up with top B-schools of the country like Xavier’s Institute of Management Bhubaneshwar (XIMB), Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA), SP Jain Management Institute, Mumbai, and ICFAI, Hyderabad to hold short-term courses on resource mobilisation and communication for empowering the NGO movement in the country.

Donating habits

Of the 96 per cent of the upper and middle class Indian households that donate any amount, only 20 per cent is made to voluntary organisations. The rest of the donations are made either to religious organisations or individuals. The Invest India Income Survey shows that public attitude towards philanthropy differs from generation to generation in the country. For instance, the older age group here is seen to be donating more during natural calamities and crises whereas the under 30s seem to donate more towards education, poverty, child and family welfare issues as well as global issues like climate change.

NGO sector in India

India has several social and environmental challenges. Two million children die of malnutrition every year in this country. Funds allocated by the Government to the social sector get lost midway due to corruption, and so it’s the Non Government Organisations (NGOs) that have to take the reins of fundraising and mobilisation. Unfortunately, of the 1,00,000 reasonably sized NGOs that India has, only 50 to 100 of them are run by professionally trained fundraisers; that’s the area where the movement becomes weak here.

A recent study by the UNICEF reported that the total donations from the public in 2007 was Rs 600 million whereas the country actually has a potential of generating Rs 8 billion from within its people for the non-profit sector. Obviously, there is a huge gap between the resource actually available and the true potential of this sector in India.

However, India’s rapid economic growth coupled with the large middle class having more disposable incomes, gives rise to immense opportunities. With even corporates stepping into the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) prominently, there are reasons, funds and the will to function. What is required is trained professionals who can effectively raise and handle these funds.

Indian B-schools vs rest of the world

Indian B-schools are very highly reputed across the globe and that’s the reason we’re tied up with them in the mission. NGOs across the world have learnt to raise funds from the techniques of effective business tactics, since both fundraising and business management are complementary; both are about brand building, direct marketing, building partnership with the corporates and reaching out and communicating with the masses; their basic principles are the same. However, in the US, UK and Australia, B-schools deal with topics like social sector fund management etc, whereas its very rare to find such courses in the Indian curriculum. That’s the reason we are trying to empower Indian B-schools with such courses for people who want to work in the social sector. We also plan to launch a full-fledged MBA in NGO.

Hyderabad Calling

Hyderabad is very active in the NGO sector. Here you find several organisations working across all crucial areas right from micro-finance, community relations to community welfare. It’s wonderful that several young NGOs are doing fairly well here and there is a huge young work force that is taking greater interest in such activities. It’s a pleasure to be able to guide such an enthused crowd on the functional techniques so that they not only get an extra edge in this sector but also have the satisfaction of giving back to the society they have benefited from.