This is a brief note about selection criteria for the 'nonprofit-of-the-month'.

 

Firstly, it is not an Award i.e.

- it is not a selection of an ngo from amongst others in that same category.

- so it is not a comment on other ngo's in the same or other sectors.

- I realise that other ngo's may be far better.

 

We are not a formal or statutory or a 'leader' org that we have to follow some specific procedures or set criteria. (That's what I think.) So the selection is fairly subjective.

 

I ran the 7 km part of the marathon on behalf of S P J Sadhana School and I realised that it is indeed difficult to raise funds.

 

At the same time, my belief is that there are lots and lots of people who would donate small amounts to ngo's if some neutral third party recommended some ngo's.

 

I also felt that if I came across a good ngo, it may be of value to some people to know about such good ngo's. Moreover, it would take my interaction with an ngo beyond the meeting to something which could be of potential value to the ngo and other people.

 

So this led me to wonder what would be the smallest amount that people can give easily (e.g. when one meets someone at a party) while making it worthwhile for them, us and the ngo to incur the admin costs of collection, recording, etc. I thought this amount could be Rs. 100.

 

When the number of supporters increase, the total amount may also become meaningful. Till then, it at least puts the ngo into contact with some supporters, a few of who could also support the ngo in more meaningful ways. My feeling is that ngo's (especially small ones) face the problem of having a large donor base, but also the problem of a large supporter base.

 

Accordingly, S P J Sadhana became the automatic first choice.

 

Sunbeam was the first ngo that I had come in contact through a friend. This was a couple of months before I began Karmayog i.e. when I was trying to figure out how to get involved with nonprofits. I was impressed with the sincerity and dedication of Aban and Khurshid and Sunbeam became the second month's choice.

 

In PAWS, I saw that Nilesh was very enthusiastic & doing a lot of stuff while holding a full-time job. When his appeal came that they are very short of funds, PAWS became the third month's choice.

 

I have not really thought through the various criteria but typically I would veer towards small budget NGOs so that the small collections that the Rs. 100 scheme currently brings would at least result in some impact.

 

I must add that I don't do a lot of due diligence. I see the annual activity report and the audited financial report and the duly-filled profile form on the Karmayog website, and have a brief interaction with the people involved. After that, if I feel comfortable that an individual donor can donate upto Rs. 10,000 without having to do their own verification, then the ngo passes my criteria.

 

So donors should do their own due diligence if they would like to donate large amounts. 

 

Finally, I would like to add that I operate on the belief that donation is not about the ngo. It is about oneself.

 

And I do hope you will support the idea by sending your Rs. 100 cheque every month to the 'nonprofit-of-the-month'.

 

I would very much appreciate your views on all this.

 

Thanks,

Vinay