The importance of NGO Governance
Ragini Menon, Consultant and Anushree Parekh, Advisor at Samhita Social Ventures ask, “Would we prefer to fly on an airline that had the lowest maintenance cost? Or go to the hospital with the oldest, depreciated equipment?” A survey conducted in 2017 revealed that 70% of 250+ NGOs do not possess the funds to recruit skilled staff, and 40% claimed that they could not attract senior leaders due to limited resources.
Deep contrast to this is the fact that philanthropic giving in India has seen a 15% increase from INR 40,000 crore in 2014 to INR 90,000 crore in 2019. There exists a tradition of majorly providing funding to NGOs for projects, This report unravels why it is absolutely critical for the giving ecosystem to strategically invest in the training, research and organizational development of the talent of NGO partners with the end goal of increasing the overall capacity of outreach, quality, and durability of impact achieved.
To learn about how to assess an NGO partner, beyond material factors such as responsible governance, financial sustainability, and legal compliance and common societal misperceptions of NGOs, give our article a read.