Free resources

Before you register an NGO

Do these in order. Most expensive mistakes come from skipping the first three.

• Write down the problem, the people you will serve and why you, in one page.
• Choose the legal form (trust, society or Section 8 company) with a chartered accountant or lawyer, based on how you will be governed and funded.
• Line up the minimum number of founding members or trustees your chosen form requires, and agree on roles.
• Draft the governing documents: a trust deed, a memorandum and bye-laws, or a memorandum and articles of association.
• Arrange proof of a registered office address.
• After registration: apply for a PAN and open a bank account in the organisation’s name.
• Apply early for the income-tax registrations for exemption and for donors’ deductions (still widely called 12A and 80G).
• Register on NGO Darpan.
• Plan for CSR-1 registration, which needs those tax registrations, if you will work with companies.
• Set up books of account and a compliance calendar from the first month.

An employee volunteering day that means something

For HR and CSR teams planning a day with an NGO partner.

• Pick a cause that connects to your team’s skills or your business.
• Choose a credible partner and agree on real tasks that need doing, not tasks invented for a photograph.
• Brief volunteers on the community, on dignity and on what not to do: no posing with beneficiaries.
• Check safety arrangements, accessibility, transport, food and water.
• Take consent before photographing people, and never photograph children without it from a guardian.
• Record hours, outputs and what will happen after the day.
• Thank volunteers with results, not just a certificate, and plan the next step.

Reading paths