I have worked in an NGO (StreeArogya Rural Foundation-SARF) in Belati village, North Solapur Taluk, since July 2024. People often wonder aloud if it is possible (feasible) to work full-time at an NGO. Am I drawing a salary? What do I do there all day? They are curious to know. Isn’t an NGO for volunteering, charity, and part-time work only? In this blog article, I try to clarify some misconceptions regarding NGOs.
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So, what exactly is an NGO? “In the context of the Government of India (GOI), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is generally defined as a non-profit, independent organization that operates outside government control, often focusing on social, humanitarian, or environmental issues.” The terminology has now slowly shifted from NGO to NPO (Not-for-Profit Organization (NPO)). An NPO is a legal entity that is registered under either a state or a centrally governed legal Act. In India, a Trust is governed by the Indian Trust Act, 1882, a Society by the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and a Section 8 Company by the Companies Act, 2013. SARF, our NPO, is registered as a Section 8 company. The main premise is that whatever profits are generated by an NPO must always be used for the activities of the NPO and not for the profit of the directors/owners/members of the NPO. Does that mean that the directors should do their work for free? No, a fixed, skill-appropriate salary can be drawn by the directors and employees.
What work do NPOs do?
“In India, NGOs work across a wide spectrum of sectors, including education, healthcare, poverty alleviation, environmental conservation, human rights, and rural development, often focusing on specific issues like child rights, women’s empowerment, and disaster relief.” SARF has chosen to work in Health, Education, Research, and Women’s Empowerment.
So, what exactly does a typical day in our NPO look like?
There is a range of activities we undertake in the villages nearby: health-related discussions, awareness generation sessions in schools, and meetings with women who participate in microfinance initiatives. We have organized medical camps, physiotherapy camps, offered comprehensive primary healthcare closer to their homes, and conducted nutrition, adolescent health, and cardiovascular health workshops so far. On non-activity days, we maintain data and records, document stories and meeting minutes, write grant-research proposals, analyse survey data, write research manuscripts, articles, and blogs, and make plans for the next month/quarter. Finances and admin are a vital part of NPO work, as it is mandated by law that NPOs’ transactions need to be audited annually. This requires clear documentation, maintaining registers, books of accounts, and tracking impact.
How do we know we are making a difference?
The premise of starting an NGO is almost always to drive positive impact. For SARF, the focus is preventive healthcare. This largely depends on behaviour change and systemic change. These are time-consuming. Hence, measuring the impact we create is a challenge. At SARF, we maintain a monitoring framework, and we update monthly, all the activities we conduct. However, sometimes stories are more powerful. Our upcoming blogs will highlight such stories. Small wins that in the long run, will contribute to the bigger picture.
Where does the money to run an NPO come from?
Most NPOs get grants/ funds from national and international funding agencies, governments, donations, philanthropic foundations, and Corporate social responsibility funds. Hence, NPOs often face challenges in sustaining their activities, strategies, and plans. Often, the agendas of the funder may be far from what is required on the ground. Also, funders often look for innovation; hence, funding for the implementation of well-proven activities may be scarce. Despite these challenges, there are about 12,00,000 NPOs registered in India.
Overall, it has been a good start to our young NPO. We are committing the coming years to Women’s Health!
