NGOs
selling products shared here
"Self
esteem"
We
always read
"Instead of Giving a fish to a man to eat,
teach a man how to fish".
Giving fish till you teach the person how to fish is mnytimes required.
But it should have time limit. Else, its is lifetime giving., which
is not right.
Read
more about the concept of NGO Shopping Mall and how it can help NGOs
as well as Marketing departments of corporates.
Benefits
1)
It helps communities to earn their living, rather than depend on others.
2)
In case the NGO funding is reduced like in covid case, then the funding
support is reduced for some time. So the NGOs should have money left
to serve community for at least a year, without finances from others.
Else community support which is the focus of NGOs reduces.
3)
It gives donors like funding agencies, an opportunity to exit yout
NGO to help other NGOs in other locations or same location. (Because
donors may have time limit of supporting a particular NGO for 3 years
or 5 years or 10 years, not lifetime funding).
4) It helps corporate marketing teams to reach to communities like
slums or villages or group of hostels for disabled or senior citizens
because for these people, NGO is taking care like parents.
For premium brands, this may not be a right audience.
Infact,
corporates can have separate low cost products for communities (maybe
be medium quality or less volume like instead of 250 gms, it can be
100 gmes, so the price is reduced or reduced size in case of soaps
... or instead of high quality packing, it may be low quality packing
or can be whole sale say 100 Kg instead of 100 packes of 1 Kg ...
Its not bad quality. It can be medium quality or corporates investment
in advertising is less.
It
helps corporates, NGOs, consumers.
And
NGOs which can share services can find corporates a good market. Its
not "saling services" but "offering services at low
cost"
NGOs may not give
you quality products. But they help communities by selling the products
they make.
Its inward help
not outward help.
Its emotional
as well as practical decision and we will not say buy all the products
all the time from NGOs
But manytimes,
quality of products made by communities can be higher like crafts
by tribes or lower than what corporate machines and employees make
like makeup.
Of
course, NGOs can sell products made by corporates to their communities
as selling agents.
Typically in areas where its not economical for corporates to reach
out like villages, slums or with groups like disabled or orphans or
senior citizens
After studying
Corporates & NGOs across the world and going through the Corona
related sustainability & responsibility issues related to NGOs,
we thought NGOs must think beyond helping communities.
They must earn
and be sustainable.
Not earn and be
rich but earn and be sustainable to help communities without at least
a year of "No funding availability".
Its time NGOs
market the products communities make or services they offer to corporates
& people at large. This gives income to disabled, orphans, widows
and of course great local artists and tribals, self help groups ..
earn income.
On the other side,
NGOs can market products made by corporates to communities as Mini
Shopping Mall and earn income which is good for their sustainability.
CSRidentity.com
is social enterprise
Our first social
enterprise on NGOs in India was in 1999 with shareholding from Mahindra
Group & Bobby Sista.
Founder had an
almost fatal accident on 28.08.2013
where sustainability of his organisation was a big question. But right
from school friends, MBA friends, corporates, philanthropists ...
all helped in financial as well as emotional terms and his father
Bhau
was the first person to postpone his death, maybe because
Bhau
thought that founder has not served the community enough to exit world.
And his elder
son Rohan,
is his 24 hour example because he is disabled and cant do anything
on his own, but NGO came forward on 28.08.2013
Aum, his other
son is a medical doctor and he finished his MBBS during corona crisis,
and he donated all his first intership income to get masks to hospital
staff and enunches and helped corona affected community during intership.
Rohini, his wife
is a Yog instructor which helps people live meaningful life and not
live life till they leave the world.
So charity begins
at home is right.
But the bigger thing is charitable nature should go beyond biological
field. And serving world is not possible to any one individual or
organisation. So founder, who did engineering and MBA decided to become
Driver. Sometimes Brand Driver, sometimes helping unknown brands grow
to become brands and leave once they become brands to help others
become brands.
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