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FCRA – GAME OVER ?

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, introduced in Lok Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah today at 3 pm, says the need to strengthen the Act has arisen due to several organisation “misutilising or misappropriating” the funds leading to the government cancelling 19,000 such registrations in the past few years.

1) Mandatory to open FC Bank in SBI-Delhi Branch

Amendment of section 17 of the ACT has sought to provide that every person who has been granted certificate or prior permission under section 12 shall receive foreign contribution only in an account designated as ‘‘FCRA Account’’ which shall be opened by him in such branch of the State Bank of India at New Delhi, as the Central Government may, by notification, specify. It has, however, allowed the organisation to transfer these funds to another account for utilisation.

2) Slashing Administrative Expenses further

It is proposed to slash administrative expenses further from 50% to 20%. This will be the harsh step for NGOs. Already the definition of Administrative Expenses is very vague and no clarity over which expenses should be include or not.

3) AADHAR CARD for Board / Office Bearer

It is proposed now that AADHAR is mandatory for all the office bearer and board members. Earlier FCRA has already introduced to submit an affidavit by each board members. That affidavits is almost like a had-cuffs. One more step by making AADHAR mandatory to demotivate person to be on the board of the NGO.

4) No more Transfer of FC Funds to other NGO

Now, no more transfer of FC funds to any other organisation. Means, no Networking no sub-grant. However, more clarity is required on this.

5) And some more restrictions

Also, a “Summary Inquiry” is proposed by government, wherein FCRA department can freeze your funds even in the middle of the Project.

Full Blog

Read Full blog here

FCRA-Amendment-2020Download

The Conclusion

The important question here is – Is this beginning of the end?

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Sale to Foreigner deposited in FC or NonFC Bank?

Example

One of the NGOs is making handicraft items and exporting it out of India. Also, sometime foreigner visits their campus and buy such articles. Where should we deposit the sale proceeds of such transactions ? FC Bank or NonFC Bank?

Solution

So, when sales made to foreigners or exporting to foreign countries, such is purely a commercial transaction. Here there is no charitable transaction. As per the Explanation 3 of Section 2(1)(h) of FCRA, 2010 while defining “Foreign Contribution”, this type of commercial transactions are clearly excluded.

“Explanation 3 ‒ Any amount received, by an person from any foreign source in India, by way of fee (including fees charged by an educational institution in India from foreign student) or towards cost in lieu of goods or services rendered by such person in the ordinary course of his business, trade or commerce whether within India or outside India or any contribution received from an agent or a foreign source towards such fee or cost shall be excluded from the definition of foreign contribution within the meaning of this clause.”

Thus whatever received from sale of product to foreigner must be treated as revenue under the NonFC Books and deposited in NonFC Bank Account

Did I miss something?

Hope this will help you in your NGO, if you have any question,  you can ask here or chat with us. Also your comments are welcome on the above subjects.

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Rotation of Board Members in NGO

Do your organization have “Board Rotation Policy” ? Many funding agency and corporate asking this question before giving funds. It sounds irrelevant, but it is not. Every donor wants 100% utilization of single rupee, he donates to you. And every donor wants that an NGO should have highly effective governance. Today let us discuss this issue of rotation of board members or trustees in NGO from various view points, get your pregnancy pillow and get comfortable.

Is it Mandatory?

First and obvious question is about its legal implications. As, there are various acts in india under which an organization can be registered, there is no such specific rule regarding board member rotation and about timing. However, this issue is mostly addressed in the Trust Deed or Memorandum of NGO. If there is a clause in your Memorandum or Trust Deed regarding change or rotation of Board Members, you must follow it strictly.

Of-course, it is beneficial

It is not mandatory to rotate board members of NGO, but the benefits of such policy are very obvious that one should follow this practice. First and foremost, it shows good governance prevail in your NGOs, if you have rotation policy at regular interval. Second, it gives impression that, your NGO is having separate identity than only one or two individual founder members. It gives NGO more life span, when second generation leaders are trained this way.

Rotation or Change?

Depends upon the scenario and what mentioned in Trust Deed. However, only changing designation of same persons over years will definitely gives sense to Donor about just implementing policy on paper and not in true senses. Thus, it is better to have a proper policy for mixture of both rotation and change.

What is best “Board Rotation Policy”

The best policy is one which include robust period for the person to be in the board of the trust. Good boards should always have agreed terms of office so that there is a regular turnover of trustees and boards remain vibrant. Two terms of three years with a review at the end of the first term is fairly typical. NGOs should adopt this as best practice.

Let the world knows – Disclouser

Once you have a policy for board rotation in your NGO, it is best practice to put the same in your Annual Return under some Compliance or Good Practice page.

Hope this will help you in your NGO, if you have any question,  you can ask here or chat with us. Also your comments are welcome on the above subjects.

 

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How to get CSR Funding for your NGO ?- Internal Control System

Why a company having huge CSR funds and want to implement genuine projects, should give funds to your organization ?  This is the question you should ask to yourself and do not indulge into the malpractices as mentioned in this part 1 of this CSR series.

How to get CSR funding for your NGO?-PART 1

Most of the organizations are good at what they are doing in terms of implementing projects and grass root work, but they are not good in maintaining documentations and showing their good work to the world. Read this Part 2 blog, where I mentioned how you should showcase your good work.

How to get CSR Funding for your NGO ?- Program Quality – PART 2

Before we go ahead with Part 3 of this series regarding maintenance of Financial and Internal Control System, look at this latest news regarding spending Rs. 2,80,00,00,00,000 in last three years under CSR by the companies.

Accounting and Financial Control System

When you are approaching companies for CSR funding, it is almost prerequisite that NGO’s Accounting and Financial Control system is matched with the industry standards. You have to remember this:-

  • Regular Accounting (zero backlog)
  • Accurate Accounting
  • High Quality of Supporting (Single rupee spent hast to be  supported by Bills and Vouchers)
  • Strong Internal Control System
  • Watertight Cash Management System
  • Efficient Advance Management System

 

Statutory Compliance

No company will be ready to fund your organization if you have not followed all the Statutory Compliance. As a first step, list down the following compliance and check which  you followed in your organization. For remaining compliance, why you are not following it. Take expert opinion whether it is applicable to your NGO or not.

  • 12A – 80G
  • TDS
  • Income Tax Act
  • GST
  • FCRA
  • PF
  • ESIC
  • Professional Tax
  • Trust and Society Act

 

Governance

How your NGOs working is governing by the members ? Is your NGO is  one man army? Is it look like Proprietorship or Partnership Firm? Whose taking decision and how? These are some of the questions which may be asked at the time or per-scrutiny of project.

  • Authority Matrix
  • Decision Flow
  • Rotation in the Board Members
  • Election or Selection procedure of new board members
  • General Meeting and Executive Body Meetings
  • Maintenance of Minutes of such meetings
  • Intimation of Change in the Board Members

 

Policies

Following policy documents should be prepared and implemented in the NGO

  • Financial Policy
  • HR Policy
  • Accounting Manual
  • General Work Policy
  • Anti Corruption Policy
  • Gender Policy
  • Child Policy, if applicable

Hope the above information will be useful to you in getting CSR funds. We will discuss in next part of this series on how to approach companies for CSR funding.

Part -4 How to approach companies for CSR funds? – Coming Soon

Disclaimer : This blog is purely for the education purpose and author is NOT providing any services to get CSR funding.

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Accounting of Grants for NGOs

Do you know how Grant is presented in your NGOs Financial Statements? As REVENUE or as LIABILITY ? This is one of the crucial question regarding accounting of Grants for NGOs. Generally, we depend on the Chartered Accountants on how our Financial Statements are prepared and presented. Sometimes presentation of Financial Statements become misleading and serve no purpose.

Today we learn how to do accounting of grants for NGOs which is more appropriate in present days.

Introduction – Accounting of Grants for NGOs

There is no clarity Inida regarding how grants should be presented. We have Indian Accounting Standard 20 which mainly dealt with  accounting of Government Grants and not grants for specific projects from Funding Agencies. However, considering Indian Accounting Standards #20 and US Statement of Financial Accounting Standard #117, we can derive following three methods of presenting Grants in the Financial Statements.

Option A – Grants treated as Revenue

Here, we consider Grants Received as Revenue of the current year whether it is related to current year or for next years. Thus, when two years project is sanctioned and total grant received in the first year only, we treat full grant as income of first year. See below image to understand presentation in Financial Statements.

 

In this method, you can see above that unspent grant of Rs 40 clubbed in Income and Expenditure Account as “Excess of Income over Expenses” . Due to this, it becomes difficult to know what funds lying in the I/E Account. Check out the Balance Sheet where I/E Account show Rs. 50 which comprise of Unspent Grants and Other Income.

Option B – Grant treated as Liability

Here, it assumes that, grants and funds received for specific project, is the liability of organization and not Income. Thus whatever grant received, whether for current year or next years taken to Balance Sheet and considered as Liability. Expense from such grant then deducted from the liability and net amount shown in the Balance Sheet. Checkout below how Financial Statements look if we treat Grant as Liability.

In this method, Balance Sheet present correct financial position. However, Income and Expenditure does not show much revenue except income earned by NGOs like Non Specific Donations and Interest Income.

Option C – Best of the above Two

Due to limitations of both the above method, we should presented financial statements as per this hybrid method using best of both the above methods. In this method, we consider that much revenue for current year which actually spent during the year and remaining balance transfer to next year as “Unspent or Unutilized Grant”. Lets have a look, how the financial Statements presented under this method.

In this method, Income Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet showing correct information and in self explanatory manner.

Conclusion

In India, there is no such proforma available in any Act regarding presentation of Financial Statements of NGOs. Thus as per my opinion it is advisable to follow accounting of grants for ngos as per option C – Hybrid method, which is self explanatory and showing correct information.

Note – In all the above three methods, presentation of Receipts and Payment Accounts would not change.

For any questions or query hit the below comment section.

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Credit Rating of NGO by CRISIL

Credit Ratings of NGOs in India

Grading an NGO is not a new idea, since 2004 Credibility Alliance  was rating NGOs and till now rated more than 200 NGOs in India. Globally, credit ratings of NGOs are done by third party since very long specifically in USA and UK. But now, when CRISIL has introduced credit rating of NGO in India, this will definitely change the scenario of existing fund raising and play very crucial part to attract large donations.

CRISIL is very known agency in India for Credit Ratings and Risk Analysis. CRISIL has recently graded two NGOs, HelpAge India was assigned a VO-1A grade and SOS Children’s Village (SOSCV) was given a ‘VO-2A grade.

CRISIL Grading System for NGOs

CRISIL has come up with two sets of grades for NGO. One for Capacity Delivery and Second for Financial Proficiency. In case of Capacity Delivery ratings are from VO 1A  (very strong) to VO 5A, And for Financial Proficiency grades are High, Moderate and Low.

Norms of CRISIL for NGOs

As mentioned above CRISIL has come up with Capacity Delivery and Financial Proficiency.

In Capacity Delivery mainly three things are focused –

1) Profile  – means people driving the NGO, Founders, Trustees and such other aspects

2) Process – means how sound an NGO is in Processes,  training of Field Staff, project implementation process etc.

3) Program – Impact Analysis of Flagship program of NGO.

To Analyse Financial Proficiency, there has been rigorous procedure to check  –

1) Ability of NGOs to raise funds.

2) How well funds are utilized.

How to apply for NGO ratings of CRISIL?

CRISIL has not mentioned anything on its website regarding application for Credit Rating of NGOs. However I am in touch with their officials and try to get the information. If you wish to apply for CRISIL, put your request and email ID here. I will get back to you once I got all the information.

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Have you prepared NGO Annual Budget for Next Year?

ngo annual budget chart

Is it necessary to prepare NGO Annual Budget?

Yes 100% and why not? Every organization, irrespective of size and work pattern, has to prepare its Annual Budget, keeping main object in mind. An annual budget should be prepared, which is mainly activity wise. Have a look at below example.

Current Scenario of NGO Annual Budget

Currently, most of the NGOs prepare Budget to give it to Funding Agencies and only restricted to activities in which funding agency is ready to fund. Instead NGO Annual Budget is given to funding agency and ask to fund accordingly to particular activities. I understand practically one has to adjust with funding agency requirements, however annual budget is to be prepared as part of disciplinary excercise and looking to its benefit given below.

Benefit of preparing NGO Annual Budget

First and foremost benefit is to give clear cut idea about which activity an NGO is going to undertake next year, how much funds already available and how much efforts require to raise remaining funds. It also helps in achieving Long Term Objectives. If NGO is having its 5 years plan or 10 years plan, NGO annual budget becomes an effective tool to convert plans into actions. Look at below chart,  showing Funds already available and  to be raised.

 

Next year NGO Annual Budget in Annual Report

Annual Report of NGO should always contain some of the points. Refer our this post. One of them is to put Next year activity planning along with Annual Budget of next year. This will give readers an opportunity to see organization’s future goals in quantification manner.

Summary

Fund raising activity is one of the tough task in any organization. To make that task easy, it is necessary to prepare 5 years activity plan and prepare Annual Budget etc..

Hope this will help you in your NGO, if you have any question,  you can ask here or chat with us. Also your comments are welcome on the above subjects.

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Donation in cash for more than Rs. 10000

Donation in Cash

Can an NGO collect donation in cash? yes. NGO can collect donation in cash. However it is advisable to take donation by cheque and make the system transparent.

Income Tax Act and Cash Donation

From 1/04/2013, the donor will not get any tax benefit for donation in excess of Rs. 10000 unless such sum is paid by any mode other than cash.

As per the new sub section 5(d) to section 80G of the Income Tax Act 1961, any payment exceeding a sum of ten thousand rupees shall only be allowed as a deduction if such sum is paid by any mode other than cash.

Consequences

From the NGO point of view, NGO can accept donation in cash for more than Rs. 10000, but does not issue receipts claiming 80G exemption. From donor point of view, he can not get exemption under section 80G.

Also note that Rs. 10000 limit is per year per donor means a single donor cannot give more than Rs. 10000 in cash in entire year.

Applicability

This amendment will take effect from 1/04/2013 in relation to A.Y. 2014-15 and subsequent Assessment years.

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