3. Major Sources of Funding for NGOs

Let us examine the various sources of funding available for NGOs both at the conventional as well as non-conventional level. Conventional sources are those that are mostly existing and donor –based and non-conventional sources of funding are those that also include alternative fundraising for organizations. The bilateral and multilateral aid is one of the biggest sources of funding we have seen over the past fifty and more years. These originate either from the foreign offices of the developed countries or from the multilateral organizations set up by different countries such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank. These organizations have been created to extend international support for alleviating poverty and reducing the socio-economic gap between the developed and the developing countries. But their agendas are far more complex and they are not necessarily focused upon injecting funds into NGOs, but definitely a small part of their massive programs does include funding support for NGOs in developing countries. The second important source of funding is the private charities/foundations/international organizations that are more privately handled and have a better focus on equipping local NGOs not just financially but also technically. In countries where there is some economic growth recorded with a presence of a wealthy private sector, NGOs can also look upon the corporate agencies as another major source of funding for them. There are also international corporate groups that have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda for enhancing equity, social justice and development. Besides, in the present times, the corporate agencies are also partnering with NGOs for joint profit-oriented projects. In some countries, the local governments are also a major source of funding as they have different community welfare and development schemes which NGOs can apply and raise resources and implement projects. Donations and gifts, mostly from individuals or informal groups are also sources of funding for NGOs. Finally, the non-conventional resources include the micro-enterprises, microfinance and micro-insurance.