The second day of the Effective NGO Leadership summit – Balancing Head hear and Hand – hosted by Sevalaya in association with the Centre for Social Leadership, USA saw the coming together of the leaders from Corporate and NGO sectors. In a discussion on the topic Best and worst practices in fund Raising: what the corporate expect from the NGOs, there was an interesting exchange of views on the need for the corporates and the NGO sector to come together and work as partners to create a social change. The corporate panel consisting of Mr. Ashwin Iyer from Vedanta Senior Living, Mr. Jagadish Acharya from Asian Paints, Mr. K Srinivasan from PwC, Mr. Anurag Pratap kumar from Capgemini and Mr. Rishikesh Joshi from L&T fielded questions from the representatives of NGOs from all over the country on various issues like what the Corporates look for before deciding to fund a project, the challenges faced by the NGOs in approaching Corporates etc. The discussions brought out the importance of alignment of cause between the Corporate and the NGO. A clear project proposal, with a definite plan for implementation and measurability of impact is what the corporates look for while deciding on funding. Apart from funding, corporates also look for opportunities for employee engagement programmes in NGOs.
In a nutshell, it evolved from the discussions that alignment of cause and sustainability are the key elements for a successful partnership between NGOs and Corporates.
