Meeting to change

The Chennai-based volunteer has been quite the go-to person when it comes to social organisations because of her vast experience in dealing with NGO matters across the country.

For anyone who has wanted to give back but not known which NGO to approach,the Pune Whiteboard will show the way

The easiest thing to do is give a cheque, says Aarti Madhusudan. The Chennai-based volunteer has been quite the go-to person when it comes to social organisations because of her vast experience in dealing with NGO matters across the country. These days what brings her to the city often are the Pune Whiteboard meetings,gatherings of professionals from varied fields who commit their time and expertise for the benefit of different NGOs. The Whiteboard concept was initiated by the iVolunteer Overseas (IVO) project about one-and-a-half years ago as a platform where industry professionals could get together to help socially-committed organisations. So,chartered accountants,financial analysts,consultants,media professionals and anyone from any industry could pool in time and suggestions to help NGOs refine their functioning. See,there is a crucial difference between NGOs and corporate organisations the former cannot afford to buy the best skills off the market,and most importantly,they don’t need the resources 24/7. So they try to do it all themselves,without possibly the best understanding of costing,scales,sustainability and so on, explains Madhusudan. So the obvious step was to bring together people keen enough to spare some hours and bridge the gap. The concept has inspired similar meetings in Delhi,Mumbai,Bengaluru and Chennai as well,with Hyderabad in the pipeline. The Pune chapter has been congregating for a little over a year on Saturdays or Sundays for about two hours,at roughly six-week intervals. There are a lot of people who want to give back; this idea helps create a greater sense of ownership among them, says Madhusudan.

For all the people who have thought about helping and not knowing how to go about it,Whiteboard is a good place to be. Panelists who gather for the meetings are helped along by presentations made by NGO volunteers themselves. A discussion then ensues over what are the weaker points that need addressing about the organisation’s work. Apart from the obvious advantages of such brain-storming,the meetings are also excellent networking opportunities. These are early days,but looking at the overwhelming response so far,we are onto something good, says Rahul Nainwal,director of IVO,from Delhi. It is a very interesting model. And people do take out time in building brand support towards the NGOs,which includes suggestions on the logo to engaging audiences through Twitter.

The city whiteboard has been meeting at NGO Hub on JM road for the past few months,amply aided in the pursuit by generous cups of chai and biscuits. Jayesh Baheti,a CA,has attended many of the meetings and has actively helped to iron out some NGOs’ financial wrinkles. They often end up ignoring the legal and financial aspects because they are so involved in their work,and then it becomes a bottleneck. So I have helped them make manuals for operation procedures,ATG certifications and so on. The meetings help get a better perspective on the problems they face and a lot of information too, says Baheti.

One organisation that has benefited well from the meetings,and also Baheti’s help,is Idea Foundation. Registered in 2002,the organisation runs study centers in close to 15 slum areas of the city,and has made two presentations at the Whiteboard. We didn’t have an HR policy,so one of the panelists helped us draw out a staff policy, recounts Usha Pillai,director of Idea Foundation,about the aftermath of connecting to the group. We are also being helped in our accounting formulations. Navin Kabra (of punetech.com) got our Facebook page up and running,and we have got fantastic response after that! laughs Pillai. The next Whiteboard meeting is on Friday,July 22.

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Bengaluru
NGO