The spirit of philanthropy is alive, well and in able hands

The Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy (CAP), one of India’s most credible and comprehensive sources for legal advice and resources related to the non-profit sector recently hosted a one-day conference in Mumbai. The conference, called ‘Compliance Complete’, was attended by representatives from over 70 large and small NGOs and corporate foundations that are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. From representatives of the Akanksha Foundation, Bridgespan and the Ambuja Cement Foundation to KEM Hospitals Pune. They were all present to hear and discuss more about their issues of interest from some of the brightest and most engaged minds in the sector.

Held in Mumbai on April 16, the event was an enriching and empowering experience for participants, facilitators and panelists. Over the course of six sessions, almost every issue and challenge related to the compliance requirements of NGOs, charities, trusts and corporate-NGO partnerships was discussed and debated.

From the burdens and boons of being financially and legally compliant, the importance of paying heed to finding the right fit in NGO-corporate partnerships and also to one’s HR requirements, to the challenges and dilemmas presented by fundraising in the current scenario, and the role of board governance in the growth and evolution of an NGO, all these issues were tackled head-on by key stakeholders in the sector, whose wealth of experience and knowledge was reflected in the conversation.

‘Compliance Complete’ was meant to officially kick-off CAP’s 30-year anniversary, while simultaneously announcing its evolution from ‘a chamber of philanthropy and clearing house of information on the social sector’ to a one-stop-shop on compliance for the social sector through its offerings in 8 core areas of compliance. These are Fiscal and Legal Compliance, best practices in Board Governance, Strategy, Communication and Volunteer Management and compliance in the areas of Human Resources and Fundraising. Noshir H Dadrawala, CAP’s CEO and Meher Gandevia-Billimoria, CAP’s Chief Operations Officer, in charge of CAP’s growth and programs, planned the conference.

As one participant, Moumita Deb of CORO wrote in, “I would like to thank you and the entire CAP team for organising such an informative and engaging workshop yesterday! It was such a variety of innovative mediums for keeping the audience focussed/engaged via role-play, debate, peer-group discussion/presentation etc without a moment of boredom. Especially amazing was the way in which you conducted even very serious and seemingly intimidating topics, in an easy-to understand manner and the eminent panellists were so very forthcoming and shared their experiences in such a candid manner! You chose such perfect panellists for each of the forums – it helped a lot when they peppered their talks with personal anecdotes, practical examples and were so considerate/down-to-earth in answering questions from us NGOs in the audience.”