1. The document discusses NGO-corporate partnerships for development. It provides context on the roles of NGOs and rationale for partnerships between corporations and NGOs. 2. Benefits of partnerships include companies gaining positive public image and credibility from NGO associations, while NGOs benefit from additional funding and marketing opportunities. 3. Challenges include differing visions between organizations, lack of coordination, and difficulties measuring partnership success. Effective communication, shared goals, and local community involvement are important for implementation.

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Topic- NGO Corporate Partnership in Development
Subject- Labor Welfare
Name: Bharath Venkatesh.K
DG Vaishnav College
Introduction
Businesses have always been approached for philanthropy. In recent years, there have been
more organized efforts to persuade corporate to get involved in social development. The
push for more responsible business practices has caused some corporations to seek out
NGOs as partners to help them implement solutions to development problems. Since
NGOs are usually more trusted by the public, which sees them as more reliable than
businesses on issues concerning the environment and social responsibility, a company
associated with an NGO can have a more positive public image.
Bhatt-2007
Definitions
NGO – Non Governmental Organization.
“An NGO can be regarded as third – party serving, non profit – based legally constituted non-
state organizations, directly or indirectly reliant on the system of international aid”
Edwards - 2005
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of a government
and was not founded by states. NGOs are therefore typically independent of governments.
Although the definition can technically include for-profit corporations, the term is generally
restricted to social, cultural, legal, and environmental advocacy groups having goals that are
primarily non-commercial. NGOs are usually non-profit organizations that gain at least a
portion of their funding from private sources.
Lindblom - 2003

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Partnership
Partnership means a formal agreement between two or more parties that have agreed to work
together in the pursuit of common goals.
Brinkerhoff - 2006
Social Development
The term social development usually refers to the development of the poor and weaker
sections (including children and women) of the society in terms of basic minimum needs of
health, education, nutrition, shelter, income, etc. as well as larger societal issues of equity,
justice, and human rights.
Anil Bhatt - 2007
Role of NGOs
The term NGOs is commonly used for non-governmental voluntary organizations involved in
socio-economic development of the poor and weaker sections as well as those working for
environment and development of natural resources and human development issues of equity,
justice, and rights. They are to be distinguished from non-governmental and voluntary
organizations involved in cultural, sports, and religious activities or professional and political
organizations
Damlamian
E- Journal - 2006
[http://repository.upenn.edu/curej/12]
NGOs have begun to transform themselves from traditional organizations that provide
charitable contributions and services to the poor into organizations that directly involve
themselves in addressing issues in developing countries, such as rural development,
poverty alleviation, nutrition and health and education, and global issues such as
environmental preservation, human rights, refugees, and the population crisis.
Lalitha - 2005

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Content
Rationale for NGO - Corporate partnership
In the last 25 years, the NGO sector has taken great strides in the field of development and
social justice. NGOs are spreading in all corners of the country including the remotest areas.
They have gathered tremendous insights, skills, and capabilities and have understood the
critical differences between charity, relief, welfare, and development. They understand the
social, economic, and power relationships within the communities and, therefore, they have
developed innovative and effective approaches, technologies, and pedagogies for reaching
and mobilizing the poorest of the poor.
Anil Bhatt - 2007
NGOs are attacking business to adopt eco-friendly corporate social responsibility policies.
The NGOs demands more for the society from the corporate. Corporations should strike a
deal with activists if they can gain a competitive advantage.
For Example:
• A non-government organisation on August,5th
,2003, claimed that the bottled soft
drinks owned by two multi national companies -- PepsiCo and Coke -- failed the
health standards. Centre for science and environment said those companies are using
pesticides.
www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/05pepsicoke.htm
• Nike – the famous shoe brand was attacked by NGO for employing children
John Kew - 2006
Companies may find it more convenient to undertake development programmes through
NGOs rather than directly by themselves. For instance, they may find it uncomfortable to
launch a programme exclusively for the poor keeping out the non-poor in the same
community if they did it directly. But they may be able to do it through NGOs.
Thus, NGO-corporate partnerships will bring together a lot of resources and a variety of skills
for social development.

4. 4
The emerging trend of corporate – NGO partnerships
In the last 15 years, the trend of NGOs working in cooperation with business has
developed considerably. Business has the potential, capital, and efficiency to impact various
stakeholders in a positive way. But despite this capacity, there is a concern that business is
not always in tune with the needs of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Companies desiring to be more responsible do not necessarily have the knowledge,
training, or dedication to carry out development programs. NGOs, on the other hand,
have become instrumental in development work internationally, but they generally do
not have the means and resources to carry out their projects efficiently in a sustainable
manner. This is why engaging business with the public and non-profit sectors to find
common solutions to problems has been an increasing trend globally.
John Kew - 2006
Benefits of Corporate - NGO partnership
Benefits to the private sector
It is often thought that NGOs would benefit more from such partnerships, but there are
positive incentives that could or should concern the private sector as well, especially when
focusing on the long-term benefits partnerships may afford.
(a) Image and credibility
Company reputation is becoming more and more important to both investors and
consumers. “A company’s impact on its stakeholders is an emerging benchmark of corporate
performance since stakeholders are beginning to ask what companies can do for society, not
what society can do for companies.” Trust has become a driver for partnerships between
NGOs and business, because the public trusts NGOs more than it does companies
NGOs are more trustworthy than corporations in terms of benefiting society. A company
that partners with an NGO can hope to be seen as trustworthy and be more credible in its
attempts at CSR through this association. Maintaining trust between the public and NGOs
is the reason.
For example: ITC Limited joins with NGOs like Exnora International, Sewa Bharat, and
Action for Social Advancement (ASA) to develop community. There by it creates good image
among the society.

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(b) Entering new markets and increasing long-term profits
Long-term profitability requires foreseeing the needs and demands of consumers in the future
and working to create environments conducive to the continuation of business
activities toward this goal. NGOs are in a better position to understand the operation of the
specific informal relationships that hold them together.
Thus, NGOs can play a bridging role in the transfer of institutional knowledge to
international or foreign corporations they possess the advantage of having a dual voice with
both market and institutional value, and they are able to work on specific localized
issues while retaining a sense of the international context in which economic development
may take place.
For example:
• Unilever is integrating social innovation strategies in its business operations. In
India, it teamed up with NGOs to create Shakti, a rural network that sells products
adapted to rural customers in more than 100,000 villages, employing 31,000 women.
So from this Shakti movement Unilever reaches the rural areas too.
• The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) is a non-profit
organization of leading companies dedicated to fostering environmental, health and
safety excellence and corporate citizenship worldwide. So new companies join with
this NGO and gets good image from the society.
(c) Better CSR policy as part of a corporate strategy
Partnerships can play a role in enhancing the quality of a company’s CSR policies.
Corporations have been switching their CSR focus from charitable donations to
actually becoming involved in community activities. Many companies have found that such
involvement is best undertaken through working with local NGOs. Environmental issues are
an area where partnerships have been very successful.
In many instances, corporate managers find NGOs have the capacity to propose innovative
ways to solves social problems that are useful to their company. Because of their
experience working with community organizations and villages, NGOs are better
trusted among local populations, so that they may serve as a bridge between business
partners and the communities in which corporations wish to be active.
For example: Companies give monetary fund to NGOs and show the CSR expenditure in
their balance sheet. From this companies can concentrate only in production.

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Benefits to the NGO sector
(a) Financial sustainability and funding diversification for projects
NGOs are under increasing pressure to diversify their sources of funding. Partnerships
provide a source of funding independent of government funding. One of the major
problems for NGOs in acquiring private funding is that they
usually lack direct contacts in the corporate world that would be a basis for potential
donations. A partnership based on personal relations between NGO staff and corporate
executives could help solve this problem.
(b) Access to free marketing
Such partnerships also present an opportunity for NGOs to make their voices heard and
to publicize their activities through the marketing of a collaborating company. Since
corporations invest heavily in publicizing their involvement in social causes, NGOs in
essence get “free” advertisement, through what they call “social marketing” on the part of
corporations that simultaneously enhance NGOs’ brand image.
For example: Times now India’s “Teach India” is famous campaign to teach young children.
Teach India brings the opportunity to teach young children with the guidance of a multitude
of NGOs across India. From this Times group many NGOs are getting free advertisements.
Difficulties in partnerships.
Partnerships between an NGO and a corporation are usually complicated and delicate.
• Some of the difficulties in creations of partnerships were finding qualified managers
and ineffective institutional infrastructure.
• They come with their specific set of problems that must be addressed from the
beginning of the relationship. Partnering with corporations can lead to many sorts
of issues for NGOs. Some partnerships can create problems of coordination and
policy making between different departments.
• One of the obstacles encountered by companies in communicating with NGOs is the
staff’s relative inexperience in dealing with the corporate world and their lack of
“professional expertise.” One solution is to turn to intermediary NGOs that facilitate
communication between the two sectors.

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• Although NGOs have several credible assets (advocacy, legitimacy, information,
vision and expertise) they need to be better organized and more certain about the
goals they want to achieve by partnering with a corporation.
• Another problem is that business must be genuinely dedicated to the goals of
partnership. Beyond mission statements, partnerships require commitment of business
leaders to achieving the goals set forth in their company’s mission statement.
Damlamian
E- Journal - 2006
[http://repository.upenn.edu/curej/12]
For Example: NGO vision differs from organization’s vision. So while partnering there will
be lots of misunderstandings and expectations. In many cases these misunderstandings will
lead to an end in their partnership.
Requirements for implementation
The fact that partnerships are most successful when they are established with both
parties thinking about the long-term benefits to be rendered of their cooperation
• Effective communication between partners plays an essential role in the
successful cooperation toward a common goal.
• Acquiring a unity of vision and purpose, with an emphasis on goals defined by
consensus and agree to mutually acceptable and explicit time frames.
• Finally, partnerships between NGOs and corporations must take place within
the context of a positive relation with local authorities and the public sector in
general.
For example: In 2000, Environmental Defense teamed up with FedEx Express, the world's
largest express transportation company, to develop a cleaner, more fuel-efficient delivery
truck. These trucks go up to 50% farther on a gallon of fuel than a conventional truck,
reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30%. They emit 65% less smog-

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causing pollution and 90% less soot.
Conclusion
Assessing the success of corporate-NGO partnerships
Measuring the success of corporate-NGO partnerships in general is very difficult. As
mentioned previously, there are many different forms of partnerships that take place
at various levels ranging from small and medium businesses working with local
community organizations, to large non-profits or big international NGOs. Furthermore, it is
also difficult to assess the success of specific individual projects. Companies spend a lot of
money on marketing themselves in a positive light, and therefore control the content
of their CSR reports to reflect their achievements without mentioning their failures.
As we have seen, one of the reasons corporate-NGO partnerships can be successful is
because they are more focused, and target development on a much smaller scale than larger
aid-driven projects. They have the capacity to impact fewer people but to do so in a more
significant way.
Although partnerships may not lead to large scale improvements in sustainable development
and poverty reduction, they do have the ability to significantly improve the livelihood of the
individuals they specifically target.
Ten point gist about the topic:
1. NGO can be regarded as third – party serving, non profit – based legally constituted
non-state organizations, directly or indirectly reliant on the system of international
aid.
2. Partnership means a formal agreement between two or more parties that have agreed
to work together in the pursuit of common goals.
3. Role of NGOs is to help society and also check the corporate activity.
4. Reason behind the Corporate - NGO partnership is to bring together lots of resources
and a variety of skills for social development.
5. It benefits corporate by creating brand image, long term profit and better CSR.

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6. It benefits NGOs in financial stability and free marketing.
7. Difficulties in partnership like
• Finding qualified staffs is difficult
• Lack of coordination among Corporate and NGOs
• Improper communication among the partners
• Unclear vision of partnership
8. Requirements for implementation like clear vision, good communication, etc.
9. Complexity in measuring the success of partnership.
10. Rather spending the money on advertisements, companies can also concentrate on
community development.

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References:
Books Referred
• “Anna-Karin Lindblom”, “Non Governmental Organisation in International Law”,
Edition - 2003
• “Bhatt, Anil”, “Development and Social Justice”, Edition - 2007 New Delhi: Sage.
• “Brinkerhoff .M. Jennifer”, “Partnership for International Development: Rhetoric
or Results”, Edition – 2002
• “Edwards Michael”, “NGO Management”, Edition: 2005.
• “N. Lalitha”, “Emerging Partnership in Rural Development”, Edition – 2005.
E – Journal referred
• Corinne Damlamian, “Corporate-NGO Partnerships for Sustainable
Development”, Electronic Journal, University of Pennsylvania. Edition– 2006
website - [http://repository.upenn.edu/curej/12]
Website accessed
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.questia.com
• www.googlebooks.com