In the News
Q&A: ‘Independent regulatory body needed for NGOs’
The Times of India; April 25, 2008
Simon Collings interviewed by Saira Karup
Summary/Excerpts
The Resource Alliance, a UK charity, in association with The Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation, recently announced the India NGO Awards 2007 for NGOs that promote good standards and practices in resource mobilisation, accountability and transparency. CEO of The Resource Alliance Simon Collings spoke to Saira Kurup:
Why is it important for NGOs to have accountability and transparency?
It’s important for two reasons. First, an NGO looking for financial support is not going to succeed unless it shows evidence of the impact of its work. It has to explain use of funds to donors and funding agencies. A growing trend is that funding agencies are putting increasing pressure on NGOs to make their financial transactions and governance transparent. Second, NGOs exist because they address social problems and work for under-privileged groups. It’s important to be accountable to those people too, who are the beneficiaries and will be the ultimate judge.
What is the role of Resource Alliance here?
Many NGOs don’t plan their fund-raising in a systematic manner. We help them improve their financial stability by training them in effective management of resources through conferences, workshops and courses in business schools. These cover the basics of fundraising and sourcing of funds (government, private organisations, foundations and trusts, corporates, sale of property, interest funds etc).
We also promote transparency in NGOs and encourage them to develop diverse sources of funds for better financial stability in the long run. There are a number of examples of good practices in this country. Through the India NGO Awards, we try to identify the best ones and hold them up as benchmarks for promoting standards.
© 2008: Times Internet Limited
Go to the complete article
