India

GuideStar India is an initiative of Civil Society Information Services India (a Trust registered in India) in collaboration with GuideStar International. GuideStar India will welcome every NGO registered in India to provide information about its work and needs on the site. It will help every individual/institution wanting to contribute time, financial or in-kind resources to the needy to find information about the organisation(s) that meet their search criteria. For up to date information about the GuideStar India please visit the GuideStar India blog

Project Mission

To revolutionise philanthropy & non-profit practice in India by providing information that advances transparency & accountability, enables better decision making and encourages charitable giving.

About Indian CSOs

CSOs are popularly referred to as NPOs, NGOs or voluntary organisations in India. There is no one structural definition as CSOs are incorporated under different laws. The operational definition derived from the PRIA-JHU study, which is used by GuideStar India, requires a CSO to be: legally registered with ongoing activity, institutionally separate from government, non-profit distributing and self-governing (independent of government and private business control). It requires a CSO to be a registered in India as a Trust, Society or Company incorporated under section 25 (of the Indian Companies Act). Micro finance institutions, cooperatives, political parties and religious worship organisations are excluded. As per the PRIA-JHU study in 2001, India has an estimated 1.2 million NGOs, however some recent estimates put it around 3mn.

Project Progress Statement

The GuideStar India site is currently in BETA testing stage.

The exploratory phase for a Civil Society Information System in India was conducted in 2005-2006. Substantial data was collected from different sources (e.g. umbrella organizations, individual CSOs, different NGO databases) and records presented on a pilot basis.

The recent development of the project will present comprehensible CSO information from various institutional sources with additional information provided by organizations themselves, by 2010, on a free public website in a highly searchable form.

Staff

CEO: Pushpa Aman Singh
Deputy Manager – Programmes: Pallavi Kumari
Senior Executive – Operations: Shrikrishna Tawte (Jitu)
Office Assistant: Saleha Mondal

Supporters

David and Lucille Packard Foundation (May 2008- May 2009)