Importance of Data Quality in Risk Management
The overall risk management of a firm is largely based on statistical measures. This is because most of the models used for managing and mitigating risks are based on advanced statistics. These statistical models are based on gathering large volumes of complex data, rigorously processing it via running complex statistical operations, and using the resultant […]
Rise of Identity Based Politics and their Impact on Countries
Globalization and Parochialism Concomitant with the globalization of the world there has emerged a trend wherein in countries around the world, parochial interests and chauvinistic interests have emerged as a response to the globalization process. This emergence has mainly been due to the fact that globalization benefits a few at the expense of the many […]
Leadership and Control
A set up where individuals from different backgrounds, educational qualifications and varied interests come together on a common platform to achieve certain objectives is called an organization. What is leadership ? The art of managing the employees and extracting the best out of them refers to leadership. Employees should not treat their work as a […]
Why Do Some Business Leaders Attain Greatness Whereas Others Fail?
What Makes Some Business Leaders Truly Great? Business Leaders such as Bill Gates of Microsoft, the Late Steve Jobs of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Larry Paige and Serge Brian of Google, Warren Buffet of Hathaway Berkshire, and closer home, NR Narayana Murthy are known around the world as great persons who exemplified the best […]
Structural Functional Approach to Public Administration
The structural functional approach to public administration is a term adapted from sociology and anthropology which interprets society as a structure with interrelated parts. This approach was developed by the celebrated anthropologist Malinowski and Radcliff Brown. So, according to them, a society has a structure and functions. These functions are norms, customs, traditions and institutions […]
Non-profits across the world are divided into those that are advocacy oriented and those that volunteer their services for the public good. Advocacy groups often promote views and opinions of like-minded citizens regarding public policy and suggest specific courses of action that can be actualized. On the other hand, the non-profits that are volunteerism oriented actually get their hands dirty by participating in ground level work and grassroots mobilization.
The difference between advocacy and volunteerism is that whereas the former is theoretical in approach and concentrates on pressure as a means of goading the policymakers to adopt specific courses of action, the latter is more grassroots based with practical actions aimed at changing or influencing the public discourse.
In other words, whereas advocacy groups are urban based and are largely content with meetings, conferences, publishing reports, and focusing on measures that work with the policymakers, the volunteer based nonprofits are spread across the countryside and involve taking actionable steps to influence the public discourse.
Having said that, there are some commonalities between the advocacy groups and the volunteerism groups as both seek to influence the public discourse towards the realization of goals that promote social justice and public welfare.
Moreover, the lines between advocacy and volunteerism are blurred often since advocacy groups also have volunteers and rely on grassroots activists for inputs and the volunteerism groups also play advocacy roles.
The point here is that in the non-profits sector, the organizations working for the public good have an umbrella of activities that comprise of both advocacy and volunteerism and they cannot draw a hard and fast line between these activities. The net result is that many non-profits end up doing both advocacy and grassroots campaigns.
As mentioned above, the non-profits often have a mix of strategies to promote public welfare. However, it needs to be mentioned that non-profits have to define the objectives and goals for which they are in existence or to use a phrase, raison d’être of existence, wherein they formulate their bottom line goals.
There is no point in non-profits spreading themselves too thin because they are doing everything at once. Further, there is also no gain in espousing too many causes and ending up not doing justice to any of them. Hence, the non-profits have to first draw up a charter of what they would do and what they would not do and even though they might cross the line sometimes, it helps if they define their core principles clearly.
The complex world that we live in needs non-linear thinking to solve problems and hence, the non-profits too have to work within uncertainty and chaos. For this reason alone, the non-profits have to ensure that whether they are advocating a particular stance or mobilizing volunteers at the grassroots, they do not stray too far from their stated objectives and remain true to their basic goals and objectives.
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The Corporatization of the NGOs and How It Impacts Funders, Beneficiaries, and Others
February 12, 2025
