AnT Consulting 

Non-government organizations (NGO's) or Non-profit organizations (NPO's) remain an untapped treasure trove of resources. Many companies start down this road but become disillusioned by the challenge of accessing these services. Understanding the landscape may strengthen your resolve.  

 

NGO form the backbone of any active civil society. By virtue of their main goal not being profit, they remain reliant upon outside funding to deliver their services.

 

It is well known that good will funding is becoming a scarce resource and government funding to the NGO sector continues to be cut. Furthermore, most donors choose to fund projects and not organizational running costs.  As a result, these organizations are forced to do as much as possible with minimal resources and limited staff. 

 

This leads to a few committed and talented individuals filling several roles to save costs. Too often this leads to the false assumption that inability to access equates to inability to provide/ deliver. There is also the misguided assumption that what you get is perhaps inferior to what you can access in the private sector.   

 

The NGO sector has some of the best talent in their respective industries. Consider just a few facts. These people work for their respective organisations because they are committed to its cause. A commitment, that in the current climate, sees them do this at a fraction of the salary that they could earn in the private sector. 

 

A investment of time on your part to build partnerships with these organisations, will open up some of the best resources the country has to offer.

 

Consider too the basic economic principle of the multiplier effect Every rand that you spend in the NGO/NPO sector translates into direct benefit to your company but also injects resources into the ability of NGO's to reach more people and built stronger communities. So in sense you get double bang for your buck.