1. What is the need for / value of rating NGOs? (conceptual reasons as well as from your personal experiences i.e. in case they were rated, how would it have helped you?)
There has been a tremendous increase in the numbers of NGOs in the last couple of decades. Along with the excellent work being done by many of these, there are also an equally large number of NGOs who are in this ‘business’ for precisely those reasons. This is bringing the work of many of the good NGOs into disrepute and fosters cynicism and mistrust about their work in the minds of common persons, who do not know much about the sector. It is therefore essential to rate NGOs so as to separate the grain from the chaff, in the least.
2. On what different criteria should / can NGOs / nonprofits / charities / trusts be rated?
a) Governance (representation, diversity, compliance …)
b) Financial accountability and transparency
c) Values (professed and practiced)
d) Quality of programme delivery
e) Contribution to wider civil society initiatives
f) Sphere of influence
3. Who should rate them? i.e. backgrounds of such organisations or individuals
An independent agency set up with this objective, whose members enjoy credibility (unimpeachable integrity) in the civil society;
4. Which NGOs in your (subjective) opinion are outstanding ones in Mumbai?
Unable to say this, as i am from outside Maharashtra.
Persis Ginwalla
persis_ginwalla@yahoo.co.in