A strong governing board contributes to the effective functioning of an organization. We support CSOs in this endeavour by facilitating the following

• Mentoring support to the leadership of NGOs
• Capacity building on (a) the concept of good governance, (b) the role that a strong board can play in making an organization effective and (c) building second line leadership

We require support for governance

Many NGOs lack strong and functioning systems for planning and operations management. CSO Partners supports NGOs to strengthen their management systems in the following ways:

• Development of policies and procedures for managing finances
• Development of policies and procedures for human resource management

We require support for management systems development

NGOs working at the grass roots are unable to attract and retain talent. Among the various reasons for this, one is that human resources available locally do not have the exposure or opportunities to build up their competencies that could make a difference for themselves as well as for CSOs. CSO Partners bridges this gap in the following ways:

• Leveraging the NGO Marketplace platform as a method of recruiting appropriate employees and effective volunteer management for CSOs.
• Designing and developing fellowship programmes
• Thematic workshops and training programmes in order to build capacities

We require support for human resources

CSO Partners recognizes the need for CSOs to keep pace with the rapidly changing national and global scenarios. These changes impact the functioning of CSOs in a variety of ways. In order to maintain their positioning and overcome the challenges posed by this, building the capacities of CSOs is continually important. CSO Partners does this in primarily two ways: (a)Thematic Workshop Series (b) Thematic Management Development Programmes (MDPs). Annually, CSO Partners selects pertinent themes based on which it carries out a series of workshops and MDPs in multiple cities across India. For each workshop and MDP series, CSO Partners collaborates with expert institutions/individuals in order to provide CSOs with the opportunity to learn from and interact with the knowledge hubs of those themes. Through this, we provide the following services:

• Intensive and specific inputs  on relevant themes
• Access to thematic experts
• Networking with other organizations working in the same realm
• Resource materials
• Post Workshop/MDP virtual networking and experience sharing platform

We require support for capacity building

CSO Partners can help increase the efficiency of NGOs and the people working in them by facilitating the following:

• Organizational assessment to understand areas that need to be strengthened or addressed
• Designing and implementing systems, tools and processes in identified areas
• Customizing capacity building measures
• Monitoring the effectiveness of the new measures, systems and processes

We require support for organizational development

Several NGOs and MFIs support rural / poor households in setting up income generating activities. However, many of these efforts fail to reach full potential due to lack of market linkages to procure quality inputs and sell the final produce. CSO Partners facilitates market linkages by:

• Linking aggregated producers with potential buyers
• Utilizing the NGO Marketplace as a platform for NGOs to market and sell their produce

We require support for market linkages.

CSO Partners facilitates CSOs’ access to top notch senior professionals - all experts in their specialized areas – through NGO Advisory Panels. These professionals hail from diverse professional backgrounds, and through sustained interaction and engagement with CSOs, bolster their effectiveness. The advisory panel proposes solutions, strategies and operational guidelines for effective functioning and institution building of NGOs. CSO Partners provides the following services to NGOs engaging with panel members through the NGO Advisory Panel:

• Localized support networks consisting of senior professionals within the corporate, social and academic sectors
• Specialized knowledge and need based expert support. For example: mentorship, proposition of solutions and strategies, and operational guidelines for effective functioning
• Specialist inputs on Finance, HR, Marketing, Fund Raising, Programme Monitoring and Evaluation, Communication etc
• Expanded network via panelists’ outreach

We are interested in availing the NGO Advisory Panel services

The Corporate Disaster Resource Network is a web-based supply chain management system that enables relief agencies, first responders and local governments to highlight their immediate resource needs and access response offers from potential product and service suppliers, donors and volunteers in real time. Through this platform, NGOs are able to swiftly respond during disasters by: 

• Listing the needs for preparedness, response and rehabilitation
• Interacting with a wider pool of suppliers/ donors
• Accessing volunteers
• Interacting and partnering with various agencies for coordinated response
• Developing partnerships with leading members of the corporate sector, relief agencies and government
• Highlighting required volunteer skills

We require support for resource mobilization for disaster management

CSO Partners extends support to CSOs in building credibility among various stakeholders by facilitating a third party accreditation based on transparent and effective public disclosure. The role played by CSO Partners in the accreditation process is capacity building of NGOs through the various accreditation stages: 

• Orientation of NGOs to the process of and requirements for accreditation
• Hand-holding and mentoring support for self-assessment
• Hand-holding and mentoring support in order to strengthen specific processes and systems as suggested in final accreditation report

We require support for accreditation