Hi JP, First of all let me thank you for your willingness to help us/guide us in being productive.
I personally do not feel that as govt. failed, there is a necessity for an NGO. Anyway we need not argue on this. Basically we are not a registered organization. We are a yahoo group. We are a group of individuals, we are willing to do something and waiting for a platform to do. Everyone has ideas, but we do not have proper space, time, scope to do the things. Our group is the one which targets such individuals. Here we are different to other NGOs. To be frank, there is much discussion on whether we should register our organization or not and most of us decided that we need to wait for one more year to do that. Meanwhile we will do the things, gain experience and then show all the ones that we worked. Let us trace our path as such: We are a group of individualsÂ…Â…. Who are interested to do something. We need to start somewhere. So we started funding the medical help cases. Later on we grew in strength. We find that there are individuals who despite all odds are determined to work on projects that are workable. (within our limitations). So we are in the process of it. This is our picture. We are not located in one geographical place. Even in Hyderabad also, luckily some of the members stay close by. The mere count is not enough. We need people who can actually come when we take up a project. This also depends on various factors: 1) Personal Responsibilities (All of us work very hard during weekdays and we have our personal responsibilities during weekend). 2) Particular project might not interest us. (why someone comes forward for a project that one is not interested in?) 3) Proximity to the place (Take for example, the case of Anikepalli village. It is very far for us. Still some of us are willing to go. There is a difference of opinion in this matter and so we decided that only the group of individuals who are really interested and want to work there, who have confidence on particular project only goes there.) We are all different people and though our purpose and goal is one, our ideas and attitudes are different when it comes to particular cases. What seems to be a good project worth the effort for some members, might not be the same for others. Coming to our group, our group wants to serve as a role model for the interested people who are geographically apart. We want to deal with the youth (mainly software professionals - who have time to spend on NET. Who does not have much scope to be physically present). We want to show that we can still make a difference collectively and we can do it within our limitations. If we save one life, if we give a hope, if we provide helping hand for a student to study, it is no less. May be it is not the worth of starting a company and giving employment to many people. But in social work, any help is of great value. Well and good, if we can do more. But we need to remember that Rome is not built in a day. Coming to the finance part, as Divya mentioned, there is no administrative expenditure and many of us are spending from our own pockets with respect to miscellaneous expenses. Even the fund also, it is from our own pockets. We didn't get from outsiders. Ofcourse there are instances where we forwarded and get funding from the friends of our members. Coming to seeing where all the money goes, we have a detailed report on each project that we spend money and we mail to the group as soon as we spent on anything and also as soon as we get the money in the bank or get cash from some members. We pool the fund and then distribute it for various projects. Again this is just a guideline and when situation demands, we are not rigid with respect to the guideline. Coming to big projects, before we embark on anything, we need to have a good analysis and see where we stand with respect to our strengths and weaknesses as a group. We are growing slowly and we will work on ground, gain experiences and then we embark for bigger ones. We are in the process of preparing guidelines, working on the strategies and also designing website, once it is ready, hope you can get answers there in the website itself. You can come and meet us in person if you are in Hyd or Blr. If you are in US, you can try to catch up with one of our members there. Thank you.
