Alternative Fundraising for NGOs: 1. Current Funding Challenges for NGOs

Donor funds are the lifeline of NGOs in developing countries. It is a fact that if there were not many donor funds available from developed nations, there would not really be so many organizations, as we see today. The NGOs have mushroomed more out of the supply of aid than out of the demand for more work with the community. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that these donor funds have tremendous limitations and restrictions that sometimes challenge the very ideals of social work. NGOs have known to implement projects based on certain conditions imposed by the donors. Often these conditions could prove unfavorable to the kind of the developmental activities that really need to be implemented for the welfare of the community. But when choices are few, NGOs really cannot refuse this reality. Besides this, we also know that funding resources from foreign donors are not sustainable. They are there now, but then they can just disappear next day without any warranty and they can just reappear back again.

Therefore, it is high time that organizations started to think beyond just donor funds. We are not trying to make a point that we need to stop depending upon external funding, but we really feel it is time that NGOs started becoming creative to overcome the challenges posed by conventional sources of funding in order to be more sustainable and effective in their approaches towards the development of their communities.

In this context, it will be a good idea for NGOs to analyze the various advantages and disadvantages of the different funding sources received by them. For example, there may be funding received by an NGO from the Europe Aid. The advantage of this funding is that it is substantial and can enhance the quality of services, but the disadvantage can be that it is mostly available for small period of time like one year to 18 months to 30 months that can limit the scale of intervention. Similarly, the member contributions are also a source of income, but their advantages and disadvantages can also be listed like being sustainable but small in terms of value.