HelpYourNGO
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<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Hi, good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Help Your NGO webinar on decoding impact assessment for NGOs. My name is Tar Himra Jani, senior research analyst at Help Your NGO. Now, before kickstarting the webinar, I would like to brief you all about us. Most of you already know that Help Your NGO is a one-stop shop for all individuals and companies to support vetted Indian NGOs. Since 2000, we have been helping donors make informed donation decisions. We are the only organization in India standardizing detailed financial and program information of over 700 NGOs across India, covering 13 causes and all of the 17 UN SDGs. Towards the right is the state and cause-wise breakup of our partner NGOs. In recent years, we have launched elegant tech-driven solutions designed to support the NGO’s growth. I'll provide more details on this in the upcoming slides. Our aim is to increase transparency in the social sector and promote strategic philanthropy in India, thereby giving small NGOs the same visibility as the large ones. Here is the snapshot of an NGO profile page. We analyze their annual and audit reports, along with their compliance documents, to highlight the relevant information that a donor needs to know. Our USB is the percentage spent on beneficiaries, which is the proportion of the direct program expenses to total expenditure. To give you an example, if someone donates rupees to this NGO, 89 would directly benefit the end beneficiaries, while 11 rupees would be allocated to admin and other charges. Please note that this percentage is not a rating system and should not be implied that an NGO is good or bad. Mentioned here are some of our clients and partners. Moving on to our technology solutions, while we continue offering CSR consultancy, NGO due diligence, and proposal writing services, our efforts are now focused on scaling our tech solution product, which is Hingo. Now, based on our years of experience and interactions with the NGOs, we realize that one of the biggest challenges nonprofits face is raising funds to support their programs. This is exactly the problem that Hingo addresses. We'll be providing the link if you would like to know more about our products and services. While our work has been featured by various publications over the years, I'm happy to share that we have received coverage from two of India's leading publications: The Times of India and The Economic Times, on how Hingo can help NGOs in scaling and companies amplifying their CSR projects. We have supported NGO programs across rural and urban India, covering diverse causes such as education, menstrual hygiene management, livelihood, and many more. Thank you so much for patiently listening. I'm going to hand it over to Vennie Doia, director at Help Your NGO, to kickstart the webinar.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Um, thanks for giving the audience a brief on Help Your NGO, Tar. Now, without further ado, let's move on to the topic for today's webinar, which is decoding impact assessment. Uh, let me take this opportunity to welcome our first guest speaker, Priti Cherion. With over 30 years of experience in governance, risk, and compliance, Priti has collaborated with leading corporates, nonprofits, and listed companies, bringing exceptional value through her role at CNK. She's also on the managing committee of BCAS, where she's previously headed unique mentorship programs for deserving CAs. Welcome, Priti. Our second guest speaker is Sarika Prasad, a chartered accountant with two decades of experience, who plays a key role at CNK's CSR and NPO advisory team. She collaborates with corporates and nonprofits to design and implement effective CSR initiatives. Um, her expertise spans governance frameworks, compliance management, and strategic advisory. So, welcome Sarika. Uh, we are delighted to have both of you with us today. Uh, you know, we ran a poll among our NGO database to decide on the topic for this webinar, and impact assessment was a clear winner. So, our audience has been eagerly waiting, and uh, I think it's over to you now. Thank you so much. Thank you, Vinnie, for giving us this opportunity to speak to the audience. I have seen the work that Help Your NGO does and am very excited to collaborate with all of you. And yes, impact assessment is an animal which has entered the lives of nonprofits once CSR came into being. You know, corporates came with their checkbooks, and so did certain rules and regulations. I don't need to tell nonprofits the kind of compliance that the nonprofit needs to demonstrate, in addition to doing the various programs and activities. Impact assessment also is a requirement which has come in, and many nonprofits do wonder how we tackle this. So, we are looking at helping you. At CNK, we do impact assessments for our clients, and we thought, why not speak to an audience and help them understand what it is that the assessor is looking at? What is it that you, as part of the nonprofit, need to probably be doing more so that your results of the impact assessment reflect the work and the dedication that your team has employed in completing the project and bringing it to its fruition. So, we'll start with the presentation.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">So, let's decode the impact assessment. What is the whole, what is it all about? So, in terms of the agenda, what we thought was we start with understanding what it means, but I'll rush you through it because I think most of us who have come here have a fair idea of what impact assessment means. Why is it important? Who is it applicable to? What are the compliance requirements for that? How is it being done? What are the reporting requirements in place? And then, of course, Q&A. Uh, I believe some questions have already been taken at the time of registration, but we may have certain questions. Your team, I believe, will help us in understanding that, and we'll try and answer those as well. First, let's run a poll because while the registrations have come in, I think a lot of the people are at different stages. So, if I would request everyone to please select the most relevant option: are you someone who has done impact, who has been part of impact assessments, or is it, or are you someone, a few impact assessments here or there? You may also be someone who has been part of the assessor team or not been a party to this at all. So, I guess the results show that none of the members who have, okay, we have one person who is part of the assessing team as well. That's great. So, I think we can end the poll here. So, not being a party to this at all, well, um, what can I say? Uh, there is a lot that awaits you in terms of what the impact assessment is all about. So, let's go to the next slide where we take you through right from understanding where does the company's act requirement come, and where does the social stock exchange requirement come in? But before we get into that, what is it? What is the whole purpose behind impact assessment? Now, corporates look at it as something which is required to be done for certain projects after a certain period. Really speaking, when you look at impact assessments, these are actually decision-making tools because when you assess the project in detail, it actually gives you a fair idea in terms of how does it affect the people? How is this particular project affecting the environment and the other ecosystem around it? Also, it gives you a chance to rewrite policies, look at the project in detail, make those course corrections if required, and identify what would have happened if this particular activity had not been taken up. Is there a difference at all, or would things be status quo whether you did the activity or not? So, that's where the impact assessment really speaking, when we look at saying that an impact assessment of this project is being done, the idea is that we understand and take those steps and those measures which are being pointed out at the, you know, at the reporting stage. So, as far as the circular is concerned, it helps the companies to take more improved decisions in terms of where should they be spending, which project should they be spending? Also, seeing how the spend that they have done, how has it impacted the particular, uh, you know, the beneficiary pool that they have addressed? And also, it gives them a feedback in terms of understanding how do we further, do we deploy our funds to a particular area, to a particular cause, and then how do we further make the best of this particular obligation that has been thrust upon us by the government? The social stock exchange is, um, has come into place, and the advantage when you have a social stock exchange, the advantage when you have certain guidance and framework, is that there is a structured manner of looking at impact assessments. Because, uh, while you may not be listed, while you may not have raised funds on the social stock exchange, the guidance helps you to follow a certain method for you, as well as the assessor. So, if you and the assessor come to an agreement that we should be looking at this particular standard and following it the way it is, or taking certain deviations which are agreed upon, what then happens is then when you go to another new funder, you are able to say that you have followed these guidance guidelines. If I can draw an analogy here, it's like saying that I tell you cook me a dish without giving you a recipe. You may decide to cook it the way you want to. The final product may not be what I expected it to be. But if I could give you a recipe and I tell you follow this recipe, the chances that you produce a dish which is close to what I expected are better. So, similarly, when you look at you follow a framework, you follow a guideline, it helps you to bring your impact assessment report to the measure that you would want it to. Because finally, as a nonprofit, you want the report to reflect positively on the work that has been done.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">In terms of the applicability of the impact assessment, we first start off with a poll to help us understand what your level of understanding is for, as far as who are the stakeholders as far as an impact assessment is concerned. So, please select the most relevant option in your opinion. So, A is the corporate fund providers or the beneficiaries. B being the NPOs, the trustees, the directors. C is the government regulators. Third is the third-party agencies, intermediaries, and E is all of the above. So, the, okay, I think we've got all the answers in. Um, so, here what we see is that yes, there are certain immediate stakeholders or direct stakeholders. But when you look at who are the stakeholders as far as an impact assessment is concerned, actually, it is various parties. So, whether it is someone who is providing resources to the intervention or someone who's implementing that particular program or activity, someone who is providing the required registrations is also a stakeholder, and also someone who is affected by this particular intervention is also a stakeholder. So, the correct answer actually is E, because whether it is a corporate fund provider, the NPO itself, the trustees, the government, the regulators, the society, the various intermediaries who work on this, the vendors who work with the nonprofit, all are stakeholders in the impact assessment program. Because wherever required, they would be approached by the assessor and, uh, you know, run through whether it is through a one-on-one interview or a focused group discussion, surveys, what have you. In terms of an exercise, if I would say that okay, let's look at say a vocational training program which is being run for the youth, and who in your opinion are the six main direct and the indirect stakeholders, looking at the previous slide, who would you say would be the stakeholder here? Of course, first would be the youth, because this is a program which is being done for the youth, and what is the interest that they have in the program? The interest is that it helps them to get better employment opportunities, right? That's the whole idea behind doing this vocational training. The funder is also an interested stakeholder because it helps them to achieve the goals that they have laid out for themselves. The government also is interested because by through this program, it helps them to achieve the development goals that have been set up. The teachers, those trainers who are part of the vocational training, are also stakeholders, though indirect stakeholders, because here they get the satisfaction, they themselves are able to upgrade their skills. Companies also benefit because now they have a pool of trained, uh, you know, youth who are employable. So, a workforce which can be then employed. And then, of course, the parents and the families, because now they have children who are employable, who will be able to secure a job, who will be able to earn a livelihood and support the family.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">In terms of the company's act, there are certain requirements in terms of saying that a company where the total CSR obligation is 10 crore or more, and where projects are one crore or and above, only those are mandatorily required to undergo an impact assessment. So, one is the first limit is the 10 crore. So, you may have a company which has projects above one crore, but the total obligation less than 10 crore, there wouldn't be a need for a mandatory impact assessment. So, both these conditions need to be met for a mandatory impact assessment. Of course, there's nothing stopping corporates from taking what is called voluntary basis impact assessment on a voluntary basis. Having said that, I am also aware, as are you, that many corporates would fall would prefer to be shy of the one crore limit, saying that we are ready to invest 95 lakhs, so that we escape the whole need for an impact assessment. So, in terms of the types of impact, you have the direct impact on a target community. So, in this case, the example, if I can tell you, would be say the children undergoing FLN, so financial literacy and numeracy program, which is being run say by a nonprofit. That year, the children are the key stakeholders. So, what here happens is you are looking at them. You're looking at what was the social intent behind this? So, yes, to help children build on their skills to read, write, and do simple basic math. And then you have, in that, the indicators are also very specific to the children versus something which is more systemic. As systemic impact in this case would be say where the teachers are being trained. So, here the intervention would be focused on teacher training. But what happens because of this intervention and the teachers being trained to use say modern teaching tools, the children who study under them would also be benefited by this. So, then that becomes a systemic impact, and that impact would take some time, maybe a medium or a long-term time, to actually bear fruit. And here, in such cases, it is important to also see that what is the past performance trend of the nonprofit, because this is an impact which will actually, um, show results over a period of time. When an impact is being assessed, one is there may be certain impacts which are intended. So, in the previous example where I said FLN, the intention was that the children are able to read, write, and perform simple math. So, that's an intended impact of the program. And the measure, so all that you would be required to do is measure the extent. You would actually look at probably the results of the children and be able to say, yes, baseline study showed that students had got these scores, and now they have improved. There could be some unintended impacts. Now, unintended was where it was not envisaged earlier. Now, there they could be both negative and positive. So, unintended, of course, you will need to evaluate and see what was the reason. So, say a positive impact may be that you find that because of this FLN intervention, you have now children who are interested in studies. They are more regular. There is an improvement in their attendance. There's an improvement in their understanding, uh, doing further co-curricular activities. Also, the reduction in the dropouts. Now, all these would need to be tapped and identified by the nonprofit well in advance. So, if you, so, uh, so that when you know the assessor comes at the year end, uh, we are able to demonstrate that and show that yes, see this is an impact which has also been brought about. If it's a negative impact, of course, there will be a need to look at the reason why there is a negative impact, whether there's a need to change certain things, uh, whether there is a need to make certain corrections in the way the intervention is being delivered.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">So, at various stakeholder levels, the importance and benefits of an impact assessment are, as far as the management of the nonprofit is concerned, it helps them to understand whether the project is being effectively being done, uh, whether the target group, whether the beneficiary pool, has been positively impacted by this particular intervention. Uh, also look at the failures, if there are any, uh, to be able to then also secure future funding, because that's the whole idea, being able to demonstrate the work that has been done and being able to further secure funding for other programs, for the same program in the years ahead. As far as the organization is concerned, when an impact assessment is done, it calls for a lot of data to be managed. It calls for all data to be cleaned up and kept in a way that is required, which can be validated by an independent agency. So, it helps build a very strong data management system. The organization is able to understand the trends, to look at long term how has this particular project really affected the community that is being serviced, and also motivate whether it is their own people, uh, when they see a report which recognizes the efforts done by them. I think it's a huge morale boost. As far as donors and investors are concerned, they get the satisfaction that yes, all the targets that were identified have been achieved and the funds have been utilized. As far as the government is concerned, they are able to ensure that they are building a strong community and, uh, also, uh, ensuring that the national interest is being looked after. Now, this is the crux of this whole talk where we are talking about how does this impact assessment, how does this whole engagement start? While this is from the assessor perspective, I believe that it is the nonprofits also need to be equally invested. If I can draw an analogy here, it's like saying that I have studied for, uh, you know, I'm doing a course and I have a final exam coming up at the year end. I have to be prepared for it. Now, what is it that I need to study needs to be very clearly defined? How I will study needs to be clearly defined. I need to have that evidence to show in terms of that yes, I have done what was required, and that will show in my reporting. But then first is that who, there are three parties who are part of an impact assessment. So, let's look at who are the three parties that are part of the impact assessment. One is of course the person who is coming to assess your project. They could be an independent agency or they could be an in-house department. Having an in-house department means that the nonprofit is taking care to see that there are early alerts coming into the life of the project and not waiting till the end of the project for a third party to come in and tell them what went wrong. Um, as far as the responsible parties are concerned, yes, they are the ones who are actually delivering the particular project on the ground. Now, they may have engaged the impact assessor. So, the nonprofit could have engaged the impact assessor or they could have, the assessor may have been engaged by the donor or the corporate. In this case, the intended user, who is the party for whom this report is being prepared? One, of course, you may have the corporate which has invested above a certain threshold. That's what, that's the report would be for them. But also then it would be used for getting in future donors where you are able to show that yes, this is an impact assessment report which tells you about the work done by us and that we have been able to bring about a positive difference.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">In terms of the scope, again a very important factor, because with the, the assessor, remember, is an outside party. So, you got to be there to help them understand what is the scope required to be done? When will this impact assessment be done? How will it be done? What factors need to be considered? What are the preliminary documents that they need to look at? What kind of knowledge will they employ? These discussions need to be initiated with the assessor to first gauge whether they will be able to do the impact assessment, whether they are able to do it or whether they need, you know, some help and some guidance. I think in all cases or most cases, they would need that guidance. Because who better than you for them to understand the beneficiary pool, the kind of work that has been done, and of course, if there is a need to make any changes, so those also would get reflected in the strategy that the assessor employs. In terms of the preliminary engagement activities, they would need to look at the assessor would need to understand the entity in its whole. What kind of structure they have? Who are the key managerial personnel? About the activity itself, which geographies does it work in? What are the kind of policies, procedures, the social objective? What was, what is the framework which has been used? What, what do the baseline reports or the midline reports show? How has the, you know, the fund utilization certificates? What do they reflect? Who are the vendors? Who are the third parties? So, it gives them a fair idea of the entire program. In terms of framework, you could decide with the assessor what framework can be used. Typically, what you're looking at is to demonstrate that it covers all the people across. So, everybody is able to, uh, you know, get those benefits. It is relevant to the community that is being serviced. Also, it, the entire program has been delivered effectively. The relationship with between various stakeholders also needs to be demonstrated. And of course, the ability, is there an exit strategy which has been identified? After you exit, will the community be able to take the ownership? Has it started taking ownership and have you helped them to be able to run this activity even if you as a nonprofit have stepped back? So, that is basically the entire process in terms of saying that defining the scope and the objectives, identifying who are the stakeholders, what kind of data collection tools are being used, how is the sampling going to be done, discussions with the stakeholders, bases that discussion, the data which has come in, analyzing it, validating it, drafting the report, verification of the report, validation of all that is being commented upon in the report is an important factor, and then at the end of it, certifying the report.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">In terms of the data collection and the sampling tools, one is the secondary data which are, which is the data which is being maintained by the nonprofit. It could be data which is there in the public domain. So, most of the impact assessment reports you will see will have a mention of say something which is being, some national survey or to be able to set a context to the entire program which is being done, or any kind of case study reports or any documentation which is available with the nonprofit. Of course, any discrepancy will need to be further scrutinized by the assessor. Sampling strategy very, very important. Spend time with your assessor to understand how are the samples being drawn? Where are the samples being drawn from? Because nobody understands you better than you know the beneficiaries better than you. So, in terms of say ensuring that the right sample size is being taken, what are the methodologies being used for identifying the sample? You may have something like a pan India presence for your project. Certain states having greater, uh, you know, beneficiary pool in the total pool, so maybe a greater sample size being drawn from them. What kind of sampling methodologies are being used would also be taken up. Primary data is where the assessor gathers the data themselves, whether it is by consulting with the key stakeholders, conducting various interviews, questionnaires, focus group discussion, surveys, using sampling techniques which are available. Validating it again, in ensuring looking at the audited financial statements, looking at the utilization statement certificates which have also been audited. So, as far as the data collection, I think we've already focused on this earlier where we are saying that these are the various roles. Again, just one thing I would like to point out, when you are when a structured checklist is being done, again here the nonprofit should spend time in helping the assessor identify the right questions to be asked. Because only then will those uh, will the, um, you know, responses get reflected in the report. So, take time. So, take time in helping the assessor identify those, um, you know, at least sign off and spend time with them on drawing up those structured checklists. In terms of the feedback, the assessor would look at talking to the stakeholders and understanding in what was a situation before, what would have happened if this program had not been done, what kind of changes have they seen basis this program, what are the unintended impacts that they would have seen, and this entire data which comes in is discussed with the stakeholders also, so that a sign off is taken and then it is presented wherever required. A consent also needs to be taken if a case study is being put in place. As far as a process of theory of change, if you're looking at doing it in a structured manner, for we have put up an example where we say the problem is of malnutrition, and so you have a say a health camp which is run for the children in the school. So, what is the input here? The input is that the doctors and the medical staff spend time and efforts for this. The output being the number of children attending that camp. And what is the outcome of this? The outcome of running that camp is you find that the children are better informed as to what are the dos and don'ts as far as their health is concerned. And where is the impact seen in terms of improved parameters? Health parameters, whether it is in terms of the body weight, uh, you know, the BMI, or uh, say for example, uh, the uh, you know, spectacle glasses being provided, uh, so that they are able to attend the class and understand their lessons being taught. Now, as far as the data which is concerned, what does the assessor do with the data? First and foremost, cleaning up of data is required. Removing the duplicate entries is required. Identifying how will the analysis being done, doing that linkage like we saw in the previous slide, using only verified data, analyzing it, comparing the actual results with the expected outcome or the baseline data, and then interpreting the results to, I uh, after having identified whatever are the gaps. The digital tools are something that the assessor would typically use, given the fact that there is a lot of data that needs to be analyzed. So, whether it is by using virtual meetings or doing some phone surveys, uh, for their interactions with the various stakeholders, or creating a database which captures details of various project sites of the donors of the stakeholders and doing the analysis which of all the data that has been gathered. In terms of presenting also reports, you do see a lot of infographics being used, so that the message gets delivered very crisply. I now hand over the next part to my colleague Sarika.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Hi, good afternoon everyone. Uh, now we are going to move on to the quality control aspect. Now, as Priti mentioned, if you're going to have a party or if you're inviting some guests, right? So, which recipe are you going to present to your guest? Will you try something new or will you go with a recipe which is designed by a chef, which where you know what ingredients you need, right? So, sometimes what happens is when there are frameworks designed or standards designed, they are supposed to provide you guidance on how to conduct this impact assessment. Similarly, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India have framed this particular social impact assessment framework which defines and describes the elements and objectives of social impact assessment. It also gives you the guidance on how the report is to be prepared. So, it provides a frame of reference for both the social impact assessors, the responsible party, the engaging party, and the intended users. So, it does not cover any financial audit review, but it's only relating to the social audit. And while this is not mandatory for any, uh, all the nonprofits, it's mandatory for those which are listed on uh, on the social stock exchange. So, uh, they've also devised some thematic social audit standards depending upon which area of exper of intervention that you're in, uh, intervening in. So, it provides transparency, accountability, and ethical practice for this nonprofit sector. They can demonstrate their commitment and enhance the credibility by adhering to these standards. So, here are listed a few of the standards that uh have been devised already. Uh, There are 16, but you're like suppose SAS 100 is on Hunger, 200 is on Health Care, 300 is on education, and so on. So, now what we are going to do is we are just going to take a case study, uh, which deals with uh, gender equality, and in the through this standard, we will be able to see what are elements involved in this um, in the</p>
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