FundsforNGOs.org is an online initiative, working for the sustainability of NGOs by increasing their access to donors, resources and skills. It uses online technologies to spread knowledge about organizational sustainability, promote creative ideas for long-term generation of institutional funds for development interventions, improve professional efforts in resource mobilization and advocate for increased allocation of donor resources for building the skills and capacities of NGOs.

Due to a number of international factors, NGOs in developing countries are currently facing unique and unexpected challenges not only in terms of limited resources and but also in their inability to creatively respond to the changing needs. This adverse climate is the result of the decades of aid policy practised and imposed by donors that has inadvertently led to a handicapped situation where NGOs are unable to access full-fledged resources anymore and they also have poor skills to respond to the new marketing trends in the development sector.

FundsforNGOs.org believes in effectuating strategies that are directly relevant to NGOs and contribute to the development of their skills and capacities for ensuring their own sustainability at first place and then upgrade their roles and responsibilities to become professionally-oriented service delivery organizations. Services cannot just be limited to microfinance or microenterprise activities, but can also include tasks like educating communities on human rights, gender and international policies. FundsforNGOs.org also believes that no developmental intervention can be sustainable (or “successful”) unless the implementing organization has sustainable resources to work over a longer period of time. Often donors ignore this fact and provide tied and untied resources to NGOs without heeding to their long-term resource challenges. We believe it is very important to address this issue before any donor commits to fund an organization. Additionally, the donors should allocate substantial budget in any developmental intervention for building skills and resources for the implementing NGO so that it can sustain over longer period of time.

FundsforNGOs.org intends to create awareness about opportunities to sustain NGOs in the long-run and address the issue of short-term donor support which lacks any plan for organizational sustainability. Such kinds of support not only implicate NGOs in embarrasing situations but also disturb the established community practices. Long-term support is essential, where NGOs get opportunities to build their own skills, creatively respond to the market needs and have clear business plans in place for the sustainability of their own institutions. In the present times, many experiments have been made by innovative organizations around the world that have not only sustained other institutions but have also opened new business opportunities leading to profitable activities. NGOs can earn profits to a certain extent, but then if their profits become excessive, they always have the option of transforming into companies and use part of the profits to fund developmental interventions. Innovative and need-based activities such as microfinance, microenterprise and microinsurance have proved to be sustainable both for the NGOs as well as for the client communities.

However, sustainbility also means many sacrifices. NGOs may find it difficult to adopt sustainable solutions immediately because of the prevailing environment of donor presence. We are aware about the fact that donor-driven funding is still a critical source of support for many organizations, but we also point out that it should not be the only source of support expected by the organizations. We should explore other opportunities for funding and ensuring how our NGO stands in the next ten or fifteen years.

In this website, we present donor resources available for NGOs around the world and also hint upon other ways for sustaining organizations over the long-term. We also hope there will be gradual increase in the interest of the NGOs for adopting practices that ensure their institutional sustainability and long-term development.