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<big>'''Welcome to NGO Handbook Wiki site.'''</big>
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{| border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="4"
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|-
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|width=33% class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[NGO Overview]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Definitions, fundamental nature, classification, types, numbers, history of the NGO sector</div></center>
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|width=33% class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[NGO Country Profiles]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">The NGO sector in particular nations</div></center>
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|width=33% class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[NGO Organization]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Mission and vision statements, organizational documents, governing body, human resources</div></center>
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|-
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|-valign="top"
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Legal]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Types of structures, incorporating and <br>registering, tax-exempt status</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Financial]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Operating budget, accounting practices</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Fundraising]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Sources of funding, foundation grants, grantmaking</div></center>
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|-
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|-valign="top"
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Marketing]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Overview, marketing strategies, communications, public relations</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Project Management]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Project management, program evaluation, <br>impact and risk assessment</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Information Management]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Information management, Information technology</div></center>
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|-
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|-valign="top"
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Networking & Partnerships]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Networking, partnering with NGOs, relations with the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Strategic Planning]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Steps in strategic planning, SWOT analysis</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[NGO Accountability & Ethics]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Overview of NGO ethics, codes of ethics and conduct, certification and self-certification programs, NGO ratings, and so forth</div></center>
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|-
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|-valign="top"
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[How to Start an NGO]]</div>
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<div class="htitlelinkdesc">Start up funds, organizing documents, establishing a board of directors, funds and fundraising, office management</div></center>
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|class="htitlecell"|.
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|class="htitlecell"|<center><div class="htitlelink">[[Appendix: Detailed Index]]</div></center>
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|}
  
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Getting started
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<center><big><big>'''Table of Contents'''</big></big></center>
 
  
  
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<center><Big><Big><Big>'''Welcome to the NGO Handbook'''</Big></Big></Big></center>
 
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<br>
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===''NGO Overview''===
 
  
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=====A. [[What are Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)?]]=====
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The ''NGO Handbook'' is designed to provide leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as scholars and interested researchers, an ever-expanding resource on the Third Sector worldwide. Emphasis in particular is placed on practical information of relevance for the success of NGOs.
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#Definitions of NGOs
 
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#Alternative terms for NGOs (civil society organizations, charities, third sector organizations, etc.)
 
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#Fundamental nature of NGOs
 
  
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=====B. [[Classification of NGOs]]=====
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The umbrella-term “NGOs” refers to a broad, kaleidoscopic grouping of organizations that can differ considerably in size, resources, organizational level, mission, form, and orientation. This handbook encompasses organizations known variously as NGOs, nonprofits, charities, civil society organizations, third sector organizations, and so forth&mdash;essentially any organization that is set up as a not-for-profit organization and has not been established by a governmental entity or intergovernmental agreement.
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#United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification
 
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#General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities
 
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#National Taxonomy of Exempt Entitites
 
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#International Classification of Nonprofit Organizations
 
  
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=====C. [[Types of NGOs by Geographic Area]]=====
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NGOs have surfaced as major players in addressing the serious challenges confronting humanity. In recent decades, the number of NGOs worldwide has increased dramatically, along with a strengthening of their influence and a broadening of their activities.  They now impact policies and advance initiatives that once were nearly exclusively the domain of governments and for-profit corporations. This is the “NGO revolution.”
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#International NGOs
 
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#Regional NGOs
 
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#National NGOs
 
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#Local NGOs
 
  
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=====D. [[Types of NGOs by Focus]]=====
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The ''NGO Handbook'' is a wiki-based work, which contains carefully selected articles that were written by a team of scholars and NGO practitioners with competence in their subject areas. Each article submitted has undergone an initial editorial review. However, readers can appreciate that, as a wiki-based work that is continually revised by those with approved access, the publishers of this handbook cannot vouch for the accuracy of each entry. Individuals with expertise in a particular area, who would like to be a  contributor to the ''NGO Handbook'', are invited to submit their credentials.
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#Membership Associations
 
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#Humanitarian NGOs
 
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#Human Rights NGOs
 
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#[[Environmental NGOs]]
 
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#Women's NGOs
 
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#Children Rights NGOs
 
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#Peace and Conflict NGOs
 
  
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=====E. [[Numbers of NGOs]]=====
 
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#International NGOs
 
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#NGOs in General
 
  
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=====F. [[History of the NGO Sector]]=====
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* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:FAQ MediaWiki FAQ]
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===''NGO Country Profiles''===
 
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=====[[Africa NGO Profiles|Africa]]=====
 
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*Ghana NGO Sector
 
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*Uganda NGO Sector
 
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=====[[Asia NGO Profiles|Asia]]=====
 
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*India NGO Sector
 
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*Japan NGO Sector
 
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=====[[Europe NGO Profiles|Europe]]=====
 
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*Netherlands NGO Sector
 
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=====[[Northern African and Western Asia NGO Profiles|Northern Africa and Western Asia]]=====
 
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*Egypt NGO Sector
 
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=====[[North America NGO Profiles|North America]]=====
 
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=====[[Oceania NGO Profiles|Oceania]]=====
 
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=====[[South American NGO Profiles|South America]]=====
 
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*Brazil NGO Sector
 
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*Guyana NGO Sector
 
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<br>
 
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===''NGO Organization''===
 
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=====A. [[Mission Statement]]=====
 
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=====B. [[Vision Statement]]=====
 
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=====C. [[Organizational Documents]]=====
 
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#Articles of Incorporation
 
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#Bylaws
 
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#Constitution
 
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=====D. [[Governing Body]]=====
 
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#Board responsibilities
 
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#Board membership
 
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#Board compensation
 
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#Terms of service
 
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#Board meetings
 
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=====E. [[Human Resources]]=====
 
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#Staff training, policies, and procedures
 
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#Volunteer recruitment training and retaining
 
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#Consultants
 
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#Best practices
 
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<br>
 
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===''Legal''===
 
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=====A. [[Types of legal structures]]=====
 
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=====B. [[Why incorporate?]]=====
 
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=====C. [[Registering an NGO]]=====
 
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=====D. [[Tax-exempt status]]=====
 
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#Advantages
 
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#How to obtain tax-exempt status
 
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<br>
 
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===''Financial''===
 
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=====A. [[Operating Budget]]=====
 
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=====B. [[Accounting Practices]]=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''Fundraising''===
 
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=====A. [[Sources of Funding]]=====
 
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=====B. [[Foundation Grants]]=====
 
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=====C. [[Grantmaking]]=====
 
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#Writing a fundraising proposal
 
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#Examples of successful proposals
 
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=====D. [[Business support]]=====
 
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=====E. [[Government grants]]=====
 
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=====F. [[Individual donors]]=====
 
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=====G. [[Income producing ventures/special events]]=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''Marketing''===
 
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=====A. Overview of Marketing for NGOs=====
 
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=====B. Strategic Communications: How to Create a Successful Public Relations and Marketing Plan=====
 
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=====C. Marketing Technologies and Strategies=====
 
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=====D. Campaign Techniques=====
 
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=====E. What is Social Marketing=====
 
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=====F. Communication Tools=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''Project Management''===
 
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=====A. Overview=====
 
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=====B. Project Management Life Cycle=====
 
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=====C. Project Management Better Practices=====
 
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=====D. Project and Program Evaluation=====
 
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=====E. Impact Assessments=====
 
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=====F. Risk Assessment=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''Networking and Partnerships''===
 
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=====A. Partnering with NGOs=====
 
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=====B. [[Partnering with the United Nations]]=====
 
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=====C. Best Practices for Establishing Partnerships=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''Strategic Planning''===
 
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=====A. Overview=====
 
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=====B. Steps in Strategic Planning=====
 
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=====C. [[SWOT Analysis]]=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''NGO Accountability and Ethics''===
 
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=====A. Overview of NGO Ethics=====
 
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As institutions that do not place profit as their number one goal, NGOs also tend to be among the most trusted institutions in society. In the Fourth Edelman Survey on Trust and Credibility (2003), both US and European leaders indicated greater trust in NGOs to do what is right than they professed for business, government or media. In an earlier (June 2000) Edelman survey of 500 US elites and 100 European/Asian elites, the respondents demonstrated that for environmental, human rights and health issues, their trust in NGOs more than doubled their trust in government, corporations, or media.
 
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While most NGOs strive ethically and responsibly to promote the public good, there are also many actors in the NGO community that do not follow acceptable standards of conduct, whether in fundraising, governance, or use of public funds. There are also many NGOs that have been set up for unethical ends, such as “Briefcase NGOs” who function mainly to try to attract grants or donations to enrich their owner. Unethical NGOs such as these exploit people’s giving nature and weaken the trust of the public and donors in the NGO sector. Ethical and responsible NGOs are tainted in the process.
 
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Notably, in most cases, there is only minimal regulation of NGOs by state authorities – often only enough regulation to see that the NGO has been legally formed or meets its requirements for tax exemption or other concessions. Funding organizations and the public may have little understanding of which NGOs are reputable and which are fraudulent. Nor is it easy to ascertain which NGO are utilizing public money responsibly and efficiently to carry out their activities, and which are spending most of their resources on their staff and board. Compounding the problem is that less than desirable organizations may assume names that are quite similar to those of reputable organizations, or may assume “attractive sounding names” while carrying out little or no activities for the purposes claimed. Foundation grants tend to go to organizations with which the foundation is familiar, rather than risk giving to an NGO that may prove not to use the funds responsibly.
 
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==Identifying Responsible NGOs==
 
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Evaluation of NGOs has generally been seen as the role of NGO associations themselves, not of government. As Pablo Eisenberg (The Chronicle of Philanthropy, August 5, 2004) notes, “It is time for nonprofit groups to take responsibility for cleaning up their own shortcomings. . . It is not its [government’s] job to set detailed standards for a large variety of nonprofit organizations, a role that has traditionally been a private endeavor.” A 1994 ESCAP article also notes that “NGOs naturally oppose government oversight and monitoring. To reduce governments’ perceptions of the need for such control, the NGOs could reach their own consensus on an NGO code of conduct and self-regulatory mechanism… To activate such collective self-accountability, apex organization to fulfill those functions and provide a forum for the NGOs themselves would be necessary.”
 
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There are seven basic methods for enhancing the accountability of NGOs and for assessing their legitimacy. These are:
 
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1. Voluntary Codes of Conduct as Guidelines. An individual organization or an Association of organizations may establish a set of standards as guidelines for the conduct of the organization or member organizations. There is no internal or external evaluation of the compliance of the organization or members with the code. For example, the WANGO Code of Ethics and Conduct for NGOs serves as a guideline for member organizations, and the guideline for the Association itself, but there is no evaluation, initial or periodic, of how well the Association or members abide by the code.
 
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2. Self-Certification. Individual NGOs may evaluate their compliance to a set of standards and certify that they are adhering to the applicable set of standards. There should be a mechanism in place for the initial evaluation of compliance and for periodic review. In the case of Association self-certification, a member is to certify that it is adhering to a set of standards approved or established by the Association. Self-certification may or may not be required for membership in the association, and similarly there may or may not be regulatory mechanisms in place to assure compliance.
 
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C. Certification. Certification is an independent, external review of an organization’s compliance with a given standard. Certification may be a peer review (whereby a team of other NGOs evaluate an organization’s compliance) or an accredited review (whereby independent raters evaluate an organization’s compliance).
 
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D. Accreditation Program. An accreditations program is to certify organizations that do certification. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) defines certification and accreditation differently. It defines certification as the “issuing of written assurance (the certificate) by an independent, external body that has audited the organization’s management system and verified that it conforms to the requirements specified in the standard. ISO defines accreditation as “the formal recognition by a specialized body – an accreditation body – that a certification body is competent to carry out … certification in specialized business sectors. Accreditation is like certification of the certification body.
 
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E. Ratings Organization Evaluation/Watchdog. In several countries, various agencies address the problem of identifying responsible NGO by evaluating the NGOs and providing ratings of the NGOs. The rating agencies establish their own standards and rating systems and measure the performance of other organizations against those standards. The organizations being rated may or not participate or have input. These programs depend heavily on the credibility of the rating agencies.
 
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F. Award programs. The presentation of awards to NGOs offer high, public visibility to the organization. This can be costly to implement. Examples would include the Balcolm Baldrige Award and the WANGO awards.
 
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G. Information Agencies. Some organizations provide information on NGOs without ratings or interpretations. An example would be Guidestar, which provides information on US nonprofits, including access to annual budget, number of staff, IRS forms, and so forth.
 
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=====B. Methods of Enhancing Accountability=====
 
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#Voluntary codes of conduct as guidelines
 
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#Self-certification
 
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#Certification
 
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#Accreditation
 
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#Rating organizations/third-party evaluations/watchdog
 
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#Award programs
 
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#Information agencies
 
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=====C. Codes of Ethics=====
 
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<br>
 
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===''How to Start an NGO''===
 
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#What to Do
 
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#Start up funds
 
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#Organizing Documents
 
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#Establishing the Board of Directors
 
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#Funding and fundraising
 
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#Office management
 

Latest revision as of 16:38, 18 February 2010


NGO Overview
Definitions, fundamental nature, classification, types, numbers, history of the NGO sector
NGO Country Profiles
The NGO sector in particular nations
NGO Organization
Mission and vision statements, organizational documents, governing body, human resources
Legal
Types of structures, incorporating and
registering, tax-exempt status
Financial
Operating budget, accounting practices
Fundraising
Sources of funding, foundation grants, grantmaking
Marketing
Overview, marketing strategies, communications, public relations
Project Management
Project management, program evaluation,
impact and risk assessment
Information Management
Information management, Information technology
Networking & Partnerships
Networking, partnering with NGOs, relations with the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations
Strategic Planning
Steps in strategic planning, SWOT analysis
NGO Accountability & Ethics
Overview of NGO ethics, codes of ethics and conduct, certification and self-certification programs, NGO ratings, and so forth
How to Start an NGO
Start up funds, organizing documents, establishing a board of directors, funds and fundraising, office management
 .
Appendix: Detailed Index


Consult the User's Guide
for information on using the wiki software.


Welcome to the NGO Handbook


The NGO Handbook is designed to provide leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as scholars and interested researchers, an ever-expanding resource on the Third Sector worldwide. Emphasis in particular is placed on practical information of relevance for the success of NGOs.

The umbrella-term “NGOs” refers to a broad, kaleidoscopic grouping of organizations that can differ considerably in size, resources, organizational level, mission, form, and orientation. This handbook encompasses organizations known variously as NGOs, nonprofits, charities, civil society organizations, third sector organizations, and so forth—essentially any organization that is set up as a not-for-profit organization and has not been established by a governmental entity or intergovernmental agreement.

NGOs have surfaced as major players in addressing the serious challenges confronting humanity. In recent decades, the number of NGOs worldwide has increased dramatically, along with a strengthening of their influence and a broadening of their activities. They now impact policies and advance initiatives that once were nearly exclusively the domain of governments and for-profit corporations. This is the “NGO revolution.”

The NGO Handbook is a wiki-based work, which contains carefully selected articles that were written by a team of scholars and NGO practitioners with competence in their subject areas. Each article submitted has undergone an initial editorial review. However, readers can appreciate that, as a wiki-based work that is continually revised by those with approved access, the publishers of this handbook cannot vouch for the accuracy of each entry. Individuals with expertise in a particular area, who would like to be a contributor to the NGO Handbook, are invited to submit their credentials.


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