Building
Credibility
4/13/2015
Webinar for NGOs
Conducted by: Soumitra Ghosh
(Founder CEO, CSO Partners)
1
 Demonstrating accountability
 Being transparent
 Building visibility
 NGO Accreditation
Growing demand for transparency
Large
mobilization of
resources
• Anticipated investment to bring in Rs.15,000 – 18,000
crores to the sector
• Foreign contribution to voluntary sector – Rs. 10,334 in
2011
• Govt on an average provides Rs. 950.62 crores every year
to NGOs*
Need for NGOs
to demonstrate
transparency
• Having emerged as protagonist of transparency there is a
growing need for NGOs to demonstrate great transparency
Rising
expectations of
different stake
holders
• Across the spectrum - donors, public, community, media,
corporate,, government, etc. there is growing demand for
NGO transparency
Source: * ASIAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS. This is not complete data
Questioning the legitimacy of NGOs
To what extent do NGOs form a ‘legitimate’ voice of
the civil society
Rapid growth of NGO sector
(over 3 million)
Factors adding to
the legitimacy
concern are
Changing role of NGOs from
traditional service delivery to the
policy advocacy role
Growing role and influence of
NGOs: Engaging with government
and corporate houses
Judging the performance of NGOs
• As they question the performance of governments for
the way they spend public funds, NGOs too must
demonstrate that they have done better with the
money that they received
• Short-term functional performance (accounting for
resources, resource use and immediate impacts)
• Strategic performance (accounting for the impacts that
an NGO’s actions have on the actions of other
organizations and the wider environment)
Demonstrating accountability
Dimensions of accountability
Transparency
Legitimacy
Performance
Accountability matrix
Government
Donor
Trustee
Staff
Peer
Organizations
Participants,
Community, Society,
Beneficiaries
 Demonstrating accountability
 Being transparent
 Building visibility
 NGO Accreditation
Scenario thus far…..
• Accountability/transparency incentivized either
funding opportunities or by regulatory coercions
• Need to submit report on
by
• annual activity and financial report to registration
authorities and Ministry of Home Affairs in case of
foreign funding
• annual financial reports to the income tax authority for
exemption of tax on the donation or grants they receive
• Different funding agencies prescribe their own
reporting requirements to the recipient NGOs
• All of these reports are not subject to public disclosure
Demonstrating Transparency
Annual report as a tool
• provide pertinent programmatic, organisational and
financial information
• Programmatic section to include
• initiatives, target groups, major achievements, difficulties
and setbacks and future plans
• Organizational section to include
• About the organization, vision and mission, board
members, governance process, etc
• Financial section to include
• audited statement of accounts and an abridged version
of financial details
Demonstrating Transparency
Social audit
• It denotes people’s scrutiny of an organization’s
mandate, plan, action and performance based on
information disclosed by the particular NGO about
its various projective initiatives
• It is an effective tool to empower stakeholders
with transparent information and authority to
scrutinize the duty bearers
• While it has been advocated for social audit to
ensure state accountability many NGOs are yet to
embraced it in their initiatives
 Demonstrating accountability
 Being transparent
 Building visibility
 NGO Accreditation
Building visibility
Disseminating information is key to
building transparency
Providing access to information to
diverse stakeholders
Technology could be used to make
information accessible to wider audience
Building visibility
• This can be achieved through
– Having a website
– Virtual presence in social media
• Facebook
• Niche sites – Propoor, NGO Marketplace
– Retail donation platform
• Give India
• United Way
• Global Giving
 Demonstrating accountability
 Being transparent
 Building visibility
 NGO Accreditation
Types of standards and frameworks
•Code of Ethics of the
Canadian Council for
International Cooperation
•InterAction PVO
Standards
•ISO 9000
•Pakistan Centre for
Philanthropy NPO
Certification Program
•CSO Partners
Self
certification
Accreditation
Peer review
Ratings/
Evaluation
•Maryland Association of
Nonprofit Organizations
Standards of Excellence
•Credibility Alliance
•BBB Wise Giving Alliance,
Charity Navigator
Types of standards and frameworks
•Low cost
•Easy to administer
•Reflective and introspective
process for NGO
•Accessible to a wide range of
organizations
•Extremely rigorous evaluation
•Third party validation provides
strong assurance
•Serve as a seal of approval and
make it easier for different
stakeholders in identifying good
credible NGOs
Self
certification
Accreditation
Peer review
Ratings/
Evaluation
•More rigorous evaluation
•Value through network
•Can be decentralized
•Parameters
predominantly set by the
rating organization
•Lends itself for
comparisons and
benchmarking of NGOs
across sectors and
geography
Existing initiatives to promote
accountability in India
Initiatives
Information
CSO Partners’ Outstanding
Annual Report Award for
the Voluntary Sector
Aims to promote public disclosure,
readability and quality of financial
reporting within the voluntary sector
Accreditation by credibility
alliance
-Accreditation based on two sets of
norms: Minimum and Desirable norms.
-Accreditation is based on assessment by
CA assessors
- Accreditation provided based on
recommendation of Accreditation
Committee
Existing initiatives to promote
accountability in India
Initiatives
Information
Accreditation by CSO
Partners
Robust multi-layered accreditation system
that is aimed towards primarily validation
of self disclosure by NGOs on the process
and systems of their governance,
management and programme
GiveIndia
-An online retail donation portal which
enables individuals to make contributions
to credible NGOs across the country
-Credibility of NGOs is established based
on their ability to meet the norms of
transparency and accountability set by
Give India
Existing initiatives to promote
accountability in India
• Government of India is planning to bring NGOs
under a regulatory mechanism to make them
accountable
– CAPART (Council for Advancement of People's Action
and Rural Technology) has worked out norms and
modalities for accreditation of voluntary
organizations having the credibility norms as the
starting point
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
CSO
Partners
•Governance
•Organizational
Capacity
•Financial
Management
•Programme
Management
•Marketing and
Fund Raising
•Self assessment based on self assessment tool
•Staff of various functions and senior management
is involved in the accreditation exercise
• Submission of the assessment along with
evidential proof
•On field assessment of NGO along with
accreditation rating and a note on areas to be
improved upon
•Accreditation renewed at stipulated interval
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
Credibility
Alliance
• Basic and desirable
norms. Desirable is
more advanced and
stringent
Norms cover:
•Identity
•Vision, Objective
and Achievement
•Governance
•Operations
(Programme,
Management, HR)
•Accountability and
Transparency
•NGO submits accreditation form along with
supporting document
•CA reviews the form and documents
•Assessors does assessment and submits the
findings to CA
•CA shares the report for NGOs comments
•CA issues certificate based on the
recommendation of central accreditation
committee of CA
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
InterAction
PVO
Standards
•Governance
•Organizational
Integrity
•Finances
•Communications
to the US Public
•Management
Practice & Human
resources
•Program
•Public Policy
•Implementation
•Self-certification process through Self
Certification Plus (rigorous self assessment and
validation of compliance with standards)
•Board level committee oversees standards and
compliance
•There are various sections in the Standards
Document; an organization needs to express
compliance or non-compliance to each statement.
Where non-compliance is mentioned, an Action
Plan for compliance is required to be inserted.
Supporting documents and evidence for
compliance also needs to be submitted.
•Certification must be renewed every other year
which other members, CEO and/or board
chairperson must agreeably re-certify compliance
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
Maryland
Association of
Nonprofit
Organizations
Standards of
Excellence
8 Guiding
principles and 55
Individual
Performance
Standards
•Members of association commit to guiding
principles while association provides assistance
to help them comply with 55 specific standards
•Voluntary certification procedure involving
application and provision of extensive
supporting materials
•Volunteer peer review group examines
compliance
•Recommendation to standards and review
committee
•‘Nonprofit Seal of Excellence’ can be displayed
for 3 years; post which renewal is required
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
ISO 9000
•Customer Focus
•Leadership
•Involvement of
People
•Process Approach
•System Approach to
Management
•Continual
Improvement
•Factual Approach to
Decision Making
•Mutually Beneficial
Supplier Relationships
Certifications are carried out independently of
ISO by more than 750 certification bodies active
around the world. These organizations are
accredited by the member bodies of ISO in each
country in which they operate.
Existing standards
Name
Indicator
Process
BBB Wise
Giving
Alliance
Alliance’s Standards for
Charity Accountability
•Governance and
oversight
•Measuring
effectiveness
•Finances
•Fund raising and
informational materials
•Organizations report according to Alliance’s
Standards
•Third party reviews and rates
•Charity Seal Programme to assist donors in
making right giving decisions – option for rated
organizations to purchase seal
Points to ponder over
• Is accreditation merely a donor requirement or
is it for NGO organizational development?
• Should accreditation be undertaken by
government or corporate?
• Should accreditation be a one-time effort or be
looked at on a continual basis?
• Should accreditation be done by a neutral third
party or NGO networks and federations?
For further clarifications and guidance
please contact:
soumitra.ghosh@csopartners.org.in