Giving Compass' Take:

• There needs to be a way to bridge the "trust deficit" between donors and NGOs in order for donors to understand more about the work that organizations are doing and the funding that it is necessary. 

• How can donors play a role in ameliorating these relationships? 

• Read more about understanding the power dynamic in philanthropy. 

When it comes to non-mainstream NGOs there is a “trust deficit”. Local NGOs are more trusting of you, the donor, (because you hold “the power”) than you are them.

We feel that in order to get people to bridge this trust deficit we need to make information that fairly represents grassroots organisations, easily available to you.

Additionally we would have to ensure this information addressed the concerns of both the NGO giving the information as well as the people receiving it.

You might find this odd, but the relationship between “donor” and NGO over the last 40 years has been quite “extractive”. Think about how we keep focussing on “administration costs” and “number of xxxx achieved”. No one though thinks to ask what the NGO’s journey has been, nor how the NGO wants to portray themselves and talk about their work.

One of the strongest assets of a local NGO is their connection to, and collaboration with, the communities they work to support. This relationship built over time, that mobilises members of communities, should be the essence of determining whether an NGO is good or not. Yet this is overlooked and often taken for granted. It seems to be assumed that just because an organisation is doing good, they are doing well. Unfortunately it isn’t. Many are just doing something to someone else.

Read the full article about bridging the trust deficit at Medium.