NGO Consultant

NGO Consultant
Odisha NGO Consultancy Services

Friday, July 31, 2015

Update Information within next 15 days to avail online Services of FCRA with ease

FCRA Department has become quite active as we all know. Now it has asked all FCRA registered associations to provide various details online. Please go to the link followinghttp://fcraonline.nic.in/ to access the registration screen and update details as requested. These details mainly cover address, chief functionary mobile, email id, designated bank account and utilization account details.

There is an option to review this data even after saving the information, but do not press submit button till you are sure. For Instructions click here. : http://www.srr-foundation.org/circulars/instructions_for_update_data.pdf

MOST IMPORTANT: These details have to be provided within next 15 days.

Register for Online Access at FCRA

FCRA Department has uploaded a new utility for NGOs who have an FCRA number but are not registered for online access to FCRA.

Such NGOs are advised to go the site http://fcraonline.nic.in/. They should then update their information using the topmost link. This should be done within the next 15 days. This will allow the NGOs to avail all FCRA services online. FCRA Department plans to go fully online in the next 15-20 days.

Apparently, this utility works only for those NGOs who are not already registered for online access. Therefore, if you are already filing your FC-6 online, you don’t need to do anything.

Playing out of CREES?

You know what happens when you start playing out of crease in cricket. You get stumped. FCRA also has similar rules. And a little-known CREES. This one is the classification that you choose when you register under FCRA.

CREES is an acronym for Cultural, Religious, Economic, Educational, and Social activities. You can choose one or more at the time of registration. But you should stick to whichever ones you have chosen. What if you change your mind, and want to do different programs? You should first inform FCRA Department, and have your classification updated. You can then start playing in the new CREES.

What happens if you don't bother to update your classification? The wicketkeepers at FCRA can stump you with one swipe!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

FCRA information & submissions online

FCRA Department is trying to make many of the information & submissions online. As one step in the direction the FCRA Department would like to have updated information for all registered organisations in their online portal http://fcraonline.nic.in/ as per the circular of the department dated 28th July 2015. This update in the website has to be completed within next 15 days.

Therefore the registered organisations can go to http://fcraonline.nic.in/ and click on Registered Associations - Update information to fill the various fields and update their data.

New Reporting Requirements for Foreign-financed NGOs?

A local media report states that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has finalized language for the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2015. According to the report, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2015 will require foreign-financed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to complete Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) registration and financial reporting online. The report claims that these reforms are currently under review by the Ministry of Law and Justice; the MHA will announce the changes if and when approved.

FCRA registration and financial reporting is currently a manual process. The FCRA reform could help some foreign-financed NGOs comply with the FCRA. However, it is unclear whether the reform is designed to make FCRA compliance easier or simply increase the reporting requirements for foreign-financed NGOs. Earlier in June, the Prime Minister’s Office was reported to have instructed the MHA to tighten NGO regulations and shorten a window for reporting foreign financing. Since May, the Indian government has revoked the licenses of over 10,000 NGOs for not complying with the FCRA.

- See more at: http://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-regulatory-rules-foreignfunded-ngos-defense-exports-11086.html/#sthash.lTqOEQit.dpuf

NGOs: The credibility conundrum

To accomplish their 2% CSR spending, many companies may need to partner with non-profits. But since few NGOs have accreditation, organizations are finding it difficult to partner with them

The rules for corporate social responsibility (CSR), under the Companies Act, 2013, which came into force on 1 April 2014, clearly state that companies have three channels to implement their CSR projects: foundations, in-house CSR teams or partnering with non-profits.

Credited with formulation of the 2014 CSR rules, Bhasker Chatterjee, director general, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), an autonomous institute under the corporate affairs ministry, is a strong proponent of partnership between companies and non-profits for CSR-related spending.

According to him, while company foundations have their place in channelling CSR funds, implementation of CSR activities is not possible without engaging with non-profits.

“Many a time, companies are city-centric and so are their foundations; to have a real impact, they need to go to the grassroots level and they can only do so if they engage with non-profits,” he said.

This view is echoed by many in the sector. “CSR rules emphasise that the subjectivity of non-profits with domain knowledge and grassroots reach must marry the objectivity of professional corporates to have the best impact on the ground,” said Sudhir Singh, leader-CSR (compliance), PwC India.

But forging such partnerships has not been easy.

Two factors stand in the way: many companies feel the credibility of non-profits is suspect and most would rather establish their own foundations than work with non-profits.

For instance, Kolkata-based HR consultancy, Genius Consultants, would much rather conduct its CSR initiatives through its own foundation, Grow Genius Foundation. The company provides financial aid to under-privileged children studying in classes III to X as part of its CSR spend. It aims to disburse Rs.18 lakh through the foundation in 2015-16, this is the first year for them as the foundation was only established in March.

“We felt we were capable of implementing our own CSR initiatives and want such initiatives to have the maximum impact. If we give money to some other organization, it will be difficult to ensure impact and optimal use of this money,” said founder-director R.P. Yadav. He added that the due diligence required can best be achieved if the company implements its own initiatives.

Maruti Suzuki, on the other hand, is moving towards a mix of in-house initiatives and tie-ups with non-profits. Right now, it conducts close to 80% of its CSR initiatives in-house with a team of 40 people. “We prefer to do CSR activities in-house as we have a better monitoring of money spent and targets achieved,” explained Ranjit Singh, the company’s CSR head. “However, under the new CSR rules, we are venturing into sectors thatMaruti does not have domain knowledge in (and hence the need to engage non-profits),” he added.

For instance, under skill development, Maruti has adopted 29 state-run technical training institutes as part of an in-house initiative, but for campaigns like building toilets, it is working in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Sulabh International. “We only work with NGOs after thorough background checks and verification,” Singh said.

Sulabh has constructed 100 toilets for Maruti in 2014-15 and has been tasked with constructing 700 more in 2015-16. In 2014-15, Maruti spentRs.37.25 crore on CSR, which was 1.48% of its profits. This figure was also a 60% jump from the spend in 2013-14.

The CSR rules say that companies with a turnover of Rs.1,000 crores or more, or with net worth of Rs.500 crore or more and companies with net profit of Rs.5 crore or more need to spend at least 2% of the average net profit of the preceding three years on social activities defined in the rule under schedule VII.

While large companies like Maruti rely on internal processes to perform background checks on the NGOs it chooses to work with, smaller organizations find this tough.

That is because there is no centralized, credible vetting process in place for NGOs, though there are several ongoing initiatives to provide accreditation to NGOs.

IICA currently lists 79 NGOs on its website as credible organizations. The list includes organizations such as Abled Disabled All People Together (ADAPT, formerly Spastics Society of India) in Maharashtra, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in Andhra Pradesh and Bhagwan Mahaveer Vikalang Sahitya Samiti in Rajasthan.

However, the list comes with a disclaimer that “IICA is not responsible” for the way any organization might behave after a company starts working with them. This declaration has been put in place “to avoid legal liability to the institute in case of any wrongdoing by the NGOs”, Chatterjee explained.

All 79 organizations listed on the website are said to have undergone a rigorous process of checks and received approval from as many as seven government agencies and ministries. These NGOs submitted copies of their legal and financial documents and IICA took 90-120 days to process and cross-check the submissions and then upload the details of the organizations on its website.

This approval is valid for three years. The data-base was uploaded three months ago and the institute said it is going to expand this database exponentially in the coming months.

Industry associations like the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have also started work on an NGO database. In collaboration with Bombay Stock Exchange and IICA, CII launched the Sammaan portal in April, which will facilitate companies partnering with NGOs, whose credentials have been verified, to track their funds.

Five years ago, some NGOs came forward with mechanisms to establish their authenticity. One such initiative was the Credibility Alliance, a Delhi-based organization which claimed to have verified addresses and financial records of 700 such organizations. This is still a very small number, considering that the country has an estimated 1-2 million such organizations.

Another platform purportedly listing ‘credible’ NGOs is HelpYourNGO—an initiative started in 2002, which provides detailed financial records of non-profits to help donors pick and chose their organizations.

Pradeep Mahtani, CEO, HelpYourNGO, said, “You need to bring transparency to NGOs and just putting out the numbers is not enough. That is why we have attempted to create categories and sub-categories, which can easily be used and cross-referenced by people using our site.”

HelpYourNGO has seen its database expand from 200 registered organizations in 2013 to 575 in 2015.

A third source of ‘credible’ NGO data is GuideStar India. Established in 2008, this site gives ratings to organizations based on their transparency, accountability and work on the ground. “Initially, we were only listing organizations based on their legal and financial compliance,” said CEO and founder Pushpa Aman Singh.

This website lists 5,200 NGOs. “Though our primary source of information is the NGOs themselves, beginning February this year, we have started doing physical verification and looking at transparency and accountability of organizations along with their financial and legal compliances,” she explained.

Some consultants are also helping companies find credible partners for their CSR initiatives. Adarsh Kataruka, director, Soul ACE, a pan-India consultancy firm, offers such a service to his clients but this information is not in the public domain. He said the company has a list of close to 5,000 non-profits, which have been cross-checked by Soul ACE.

“So, if a company is interested in spending CSR funds in a particular sector such as women’s empowerment, the Soul ACE team identifies the best in the sector and conducts background checks and cross-references before suggesting names (of partners) to the company,” Kataruka explained.

“Since CSR initiatives are still developing and the programmes are not set in stone, such accrediting initiatives may actually help in the long run,” Sudhir Singh of PwC India said.

But verification of paperwork submitted by NGOs is not enough.

The accreditation process must verify governance within the non-profit, capacity of the organization, legal standing, financial records as well as impact on the ground, he added.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/9ts8QjsvIad2r75KhhQoZO/NGOs-The-credibility-conundrum.html



CSR norms cover 16,500 companies

As many as 16,500 companies in India fall under the purview of mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) norms, posing a challenge not only for those engaging in such causes for the first time but also others in terms of effective implementation and reporting, experts maintain.

"Companies have good intention to spend on CSR but are not able to manage the entire CSR lifecycle," said Parul Soni, global managing partner with Thinkthrough Consulting Global, which specialises in social development initiatives.

"They are unable to find good implementing partners -- those who are able to understand the vision of the company," Soni told a seminar co-hosted by the National HRD Network (NHRDN) and Thinkthrough Consulting.

"There is an immediate need to develop the capacity of the implementing partners across different domains so that they can sustainably implement the CSR vision of the company."

Stakeholders told the seminar that despite India emerging as one of the fast-growing economies, millions of Indians still live in abject poverty, putting the corporate sector under severe scrutiny due to such uneven development.

With Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 laying down the rules for CSR, the seminar focused on "From Act to Action" towards better implementation of the mandate given to the corporate sector, as also to prepare a blue print for the road ahead.

"CSR needs to focus on issues related to women empowerment, child nutrition. We say our children are the future of this country! Let's collectively make an effort to keep our future well nourished at an early age, as most of their growth happens during the first few years," Lalitha Kumarmangalam, chairperson of National Commission for Women, said.

"Also let's rise & contribute towards the women empowerment by ensuring financial independence, instilling soft skills and by making them technology savvy," she added.

Most NGO's or foundations for social welfare, are run by people with good intentions but the lack of execution and insufficient co-ordination with the corporates is not getting them the respect they deserve, K Ramkumar, national president NHRDN and executive director ICICI Bank said.

"It is this mismatch which is making the funds fall through the cracks."

Source: http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/Business/20150728/2650505.html

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Foreign-funded NGOs must now transact online

NEW DELHI: Foreign-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will soon have to conduct all their transactions and dealings online, including filing quarterly reports of the foreign contributions received by them.

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2015, finalized by the home ministry and likely to be notified next month, seek to migrate from the current manual procedure of applying for FCRA registration and reporting foreign funding etc to a fully online system. To ensure a smooth transition to an online FCRA regime, the home ministry will make the final rules public after they are vetted by the law ministry. This is expected to happen in the next few days. NGOs will be given a lead time of two to three weeks to align with the new system, before the rules are notified.

"By making all FCRA dealings online, the home ministry hopes to eliminate the need for NGOs to manually file applications and returns as well as subsequent visits by their representatives to our FCRA division for a status update. This is our big step towards Digital India," home secretary L C Goyal told TOI on Sunday.

The draft FCRR uploaded on the home ministry website in June have been refined based on comments received from NGOs and others. For instance, though the original draft proposed a seven-day timeframe for reporting a foreign contribution, objections from both big and small NGOs led the home ministry to okay quarterly reporting of foreign contributions. "We realized that the seven-day window was rather impractical, and have now provided for reporting of foreign contributions every three months," said Goyal.

The draft rules have also relaxed the requirement for each FCRA-registered NGO to maintain a website. "Given that many small NGOs have limited resources or work in remote places, we are giving them an option to operate through the home ministry portal with a login name," said Goyal.

Incidentally, though some small NGOs also raised the issue of limited net connectivity in some areas to demand retention of the manual option, the ministry sees little merit in the argument. "For the 500-600 blocks that may not have net penetration, VSAT connectivity is being given," said the home secretary.

The home ministry has decided to make it optional for NGOs to provide details of their Twitter/Facebook handles. NGOs that receive nil foreign funding may no longer need to attach a chartered accountant's certificate with their returns; mere self-certification will suffice. Besides, dispensing with the mandatory prior permission for a change of directors or bank account, the home ministry has allowed NGOs to notify it subsequently.

As per the new rules, the list of 10 forms prescribed under FCRR 2011 has been cut to six, and the forms made simpler by eliminating the unnecessary fields and paperwork. The NGOs may fill up these forms online with a digital signature. For those with no digital signature, uploading a scanned copy of the manually signed form will suffice.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Foreign-funded-NGOs-must-now-transact-online/articleshow/48229950.cms

Monday, July 13, 2015

Registration call for NPO Governance Programme- Batch 7

We are pleased to announce that the registration for our next batch (7th) of NPO Governance Programme is open. The session for this batch will begin in September 2015.

The NPO Governance Programme is a six months online course which is open to participants across the globe. The course is flexible in the sense that students can participate irrespective of time and place. The only requirements are that every participant has internet access, and that they invest sufficient time to read the course materials and participate in discussions.

Objective of the Course

A significant area in which non-profits are assessed by funders as well the Government is Governance. Thus, the NPO Governance programme aims to enable professionals to develop an understanding in the following areas:

· Key Fundamental documents
· Fundamental Concepts and Principles of good governance
· Various Compliances under good governance
· Board Structures & Processes
· Roles and Responsibilities of the Board and its Committees
· Key Requirements of a Sound and Effective governance system
· Governance Controls necessary for non-profits

Who should apply?

· Personnel working in mid-level, senior management level positions in NGOs,
resource sharing agencies or any other development organization

· CEOs, CFOs or Executive Director of NGOs

· Non-executive directors who need to add to their knowledge and understanding

· Individual serving in Board of NGOs, resource sharing agencies

· Consultants involved in the review and evaluations of NGOs

· Anyone with an interest in the subject matter

Interested candidates can register by filling the online form in our website www.fmsflearningsystems.orgor by downloading the offline form from the website and emailing the filled form to coordinator@fmsflearningsystems.org

Please find attached herewith the program brochure. For any other information, you can write to us atcoordinator@fmsflearningsystems.org

Best wishes,
Sanjay Patra
Executive Director
FMSF

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Play by the rules - Corporate social responsibility is here to stay

Corporate social responsibility is a new entry in the Indian Companies Act (under clause 135). Every company with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more or net profit of rupees five crore or more during any financial year is to have a CSR committee of the board with at least one independent director. These companies shall aim to spend at least two per cent of the net profit based on three years' average towards discharging their corporate social responsibility. If the expenditure is not incurred, the company's annual report to shareholders should give the reasons.

The board committee shall formulate the company policy for CSR. The activities under CSR shall cover those listed out in Schedule VII of the Bill. The committee will also recommend the expenditure to be incurred for CSR activities and monitor it. The activities covered are now known and the ministry has been responsive to requests from non-governmental organizations to add to them. Unlike donations under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, these expenditures are not eligible for any tax concessions. (But donations to the prime minister's relief fund are so entitled.)

When I wrote on this subject in 2012, at the time it was first proposed, I argued against imposing philanthropy on companies. Though it was not yet compulsory, shortfalls had to be explained. The basic duties of a company are to run its operations honestly, follow all laws and regulations, be fair to employees, customers, suppliers, repay debts on time, and give a competitive return to shareholders. Charity and philanthropy should be at the discretion of the company. In fact, many companies in the past years have focused on employees and the local communities they are with, and on causes which give a good name to the company. However, the law now exists and companies have to plan on spending a government-determined part of the profits each year on CSR.

Many companies resent the compulsion to spend a given amount and on causes that may not be of their choosing. Obviously, they will try to get mileage out of the spending for the company. Others aim at building local goodwill in their primary locations. Any company required to spend its profits in this way will bring the efficiency norms of its business to get maximum outcome from its outlays.

Companies are expected to adopt the CSR policy drafted by a board committee. In family-controlled businesses, these committees are likely to represent the views and interests of the family. Even in other companies, the principal shareholders will aim to determine the policy. Other board members may play a passive role in determining the purpose, implementation agency, monitoring and evaluation. The policy has to state who are the target populations for the proposed CSR activity, and what this activity will be. Some companies might appoint consultants to help define the tasks and monitor the implementation.

There are many ways of organizing the CSR expenditure. The company might earmark some of its people for the purpose. In some, CSR activity may be a way of training new recruits in the Indian reality by exposing them to these causes. Some companies even attach experienced managers to the activity for a few months or years. Many other companies might see this activity as a diversion from their basic business and will hire outside agencies, particularly for implementation.

In many instances, particularly where the company is related to others with common ownership, all of them might team up to have a single common agency of their own for the CSR activity, its conduct and supervision of the implementation.

But a well-run company will be loath to allow its hard-earned money to be wasted. It will decide on its objectives and target beneficiary populations, set up a management information system to monitor achievements in relation to targets, identify constraints and conceptualize how its experience could be replicated by others in India.

Company annual reports are now being released for the first year after the CSR provision was inserted in the Companies Act. Companies have to make the first annual report on their CSR activity. The CSR expenditure does not stop at the two per cent of profits specified in the act. Companies have to spend on manpower to ensure that the implementation by a partner NGO or by its own CSR department is being done well.

Foreign companies have another problem when they engage NGOs to do the job. Present rules under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act require that the recipient must be registered under FCRA. This is time-consuming (may take three years). A foreign company has to wait to engage the implementing agency. This puts constraints on its CSR expenditure until it sets up its own implementation department.

Tata companies have followed the practice of all their companies pooling their CSR spending. Many years before the recent legislation, each Tata company was working to a set target for its CSR expenditure.The money was given to Tata trusts. This has made Tata the most significant spender on CSR activity in India. Also, these trusts are very professionally-managed and refer to their past experiences in deciding how to select partners, beneficiaries, effective ways of execution, monitoring and evaluation of achievements without interference.

An issue that will hound companies is the question of the ethical soundness of their associate NGO. For example, can a company's donations be used for rehabilitating retired terrorists or their families? If a company or an NGO is engaged in activities said to go against national interests, should it be made a partner?

Some highly-principled NGOs will conduct diligence on potential donor companies. Thus there are NGOs that do not accept money from aerated soft drinks-producers because of the product's adverse effect on child health. Others will not go near Monsanto because of its connection with genetically-modified food against which there is a protest movement in India. NGOs might refuse donations from companies against whom there are rumours or allegations. Similarly, they might avoid environmentally-polluting companies.There are, of course, many NGOs which do not care about the funding sources and their reputations as long as the money is available.

There is also the question of compliance and audits. Well-run companies do not want to see their money wasted. They will set up a strong internal audit system and help the NGOs to keep proper record of expenditures. Donor companies must also ensure that their NGO partners treat their employees in a civilized way, ensure integrity in their work, and so on. This is another cost that the companies have to bear in addition to CSR spends.

Rich entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Azim Premji, Warren Buffett among others, have applied the minds that built their colossal businesses to philanthropy. Many companies have found (Tata, Wipro, Shiv Nadar, Infosys) that good philanthropy also improves corporate image and share values.

Compulsory CSR is here to stay. Companies must prepare themselves to do it well.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Some NGOs with foreign funding get access to FCRA director as the series of monthly meetings kicks off today

Out of at least 100 applicants, representatives of 14 organizations were given appointments, according to a document seen by Mint

A top bureaucrat in the Union home ministry on Monday separately met representatives of several non-profit organizations to discuss matters relating to their foreign contributions, in the first of a series of such meetings.

Out of at least 100 applicants who had sought to meet Deba Prasad Tripathy, director, FCRA, representatives of 14 organizations were given appointments, according to a document seen by Mint.

A circular, dated 18 June, on the website of the home ministry’s division which deals with the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), had said the official will meet their representatives for a total of three hours every month. “In order to redress grievances of the associations who have submitted their applications for the grant of registration/prior permission, etc., it has been decided that a monthly meeting will be held by director (FCRA) with genuine representatives of these associations...”, the circular had said.

While representatives of non-profit organizations, who had turned up for the meeting on Monday refused to go on the record about what they discussed, merely indicating that they wanted to take up small technical challenges while filing documents such as annual returns.

An official at a non-profit who had turned up said his Delhi-based organisation had submitted annual returns for 2013-14 three times in the past one year, but its status on the FCRA website had not changed. The organization was not given an appointment on Monday, but after making several calls to the FCRA division, it was assured that the problem will be addressed.

FCRA director Tripathi and joint secretary in the foreigner’s division G.K. Dwivedi declined repeated requests to seek their comments.

Some of the 14 organisations listed for Monday were Hyderabad-based IP India Foundation, a global charity organization set up by American International Paper Ltd, New York-based Vision Spring, which distributes spectacles to the visually impaired, the Indian arm of the international organization Child Help Foundation headquartered in Mumbai which works with underprivileged children, W.H.Y. Foundation (Working for Humanity with You) headquartered in Andhra Pradesh working with the under privileged, Delhi-based Livelihood Initiatives for Empowerment working on livelihood-related research and skill development of poor and India wing of the global network Doctors Without Borders - MSFHolland India Trust.

The foreigner’s division in the home ministry monitors, controls and approves or cancels licences for non-profits who receive overseas funding. It has cancelled thousands of such licences in the last one year, citing various violations. Following this, the division has been flooded with requests to meet the officers in charge, to gain some clarity or to update information.

Organisations like Greenpeace India, Caritas India, Ford Foundation and Teesta Setalvad’s Sabrang Trust have been in the news lately for alleged violations of rules on foreign contributions.

Source: http://www.livemint.com/Politics/RH2JA6KB4wXL68O5mSHihJ/Some-NGOs-with-foreign-funding-get-access-to-FCRA-director-a.html