ALTERNATIVE SOURCES FOR FUNDING AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR MAKE A WISH (INDIA)

BRANDING MAKE A WISH (INDIA) THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

PROJECTS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF MASTERS OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (M.M.S.) BATCH 2010-2012 BY RAHUL DSA UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF MR VAIDYANTHAN K

XAVIER INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & RESEARCH MUMBAI JULY 2011

DECLARATION
I, Mr. Rahul DSa, Student of Xavier Institute of Management and Research affiliated to Mumbai University hereby declare that these project reports of Alternative Sources of Funding and Financial Analysis for Make A Wish (India) and Is Social Media Beneficial For Make A Wish (India)? under the guidance of Mr. Vaidyanathan is the record of authentic work carried out by me during the period of 1st May 2011 to 10th July 2011 and has not been submitted to any University or Institute for the award of any degree / diploma.

Signature: Date:

CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL FROM INSTITUTE

The following two Summer Project Reports titled Alternative Sources of Funding and Financial Analysis for Make A Wish (India) and Is Social Media Beneficial For an NGO? are hereby approved as a certified study in management carried out and presented in a manner satisfactory to warrant its acceptance as a prerequisite for the award of Masters of Management Studies for which it has been submitted. It is understood that by this approval the undersigned do not necessarily endorse or approve any statement made, opinion expressed or conclusion drawn therein but approve the Summer Project Report for the purpose it is submitted.

Dr. K. N. Vaidyanathan Director, XIMR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I, Rahul DSa would like to thank Make A Wish Foundation of India, for providing me the opportunity of working with them on two separate projects Alternative Sources of Funding and Financial Analysis of an NGO and Is Social Media Beneficial For an NGO? I would like to thank Mr. Vaidyanthan K, General Manager (Administration), Make A Wish Foundation of India for his guidance during the entire research period without whom, these projects would not have been possible. I am highly indebted to him for his valuable guidance and also wish my deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for guiding me throughout and giving me the valuable input throughout. I would also like to thank Ms. Kalyani Mhashilkar, National Coordinator MIS for her continuous guidance and information on the NGO sector in general and Make A Wish Foundation offices in India in particular. I would also like to thank Mr. Deepak Soni and the entire accounting staff that helped me with the various differences that accounting standards are applied to an NGO and a for-profit organization and discussions on the various findings that I had made and if they were viable or not for the organization. Lastly I would thank my friends and colleagues for helping me in conducting the research and supported me in any respect during the completion of the project.

ORGANIZATION PROFILE
Make-A-Wish Foundation originated in the United States in 1980. It grew from the dreams of a young boy Christopher Greicius, who had Leukaemia and wanted to be a highway patrolman. Chris's mother along with the larger community moved heaven and earth to make his dream come true. Chris was sworn in as the first and only honorary Arizona Highway Patrolman in the states history. Inspired by Chris and enriched by being part of the experience, his mother and some others who helped his dream come true realized there must be other children like Chris who could benefit from their wishes being granted. Their inspiration was the beginning of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 1995, Mr.Uday and Mrs.Gita Joshi took their little son Gandhar suffering from Leukaemia for treatment to the USA. Gandhar agreed to go only on the promise that he would get to visit Disney Land. In the course of his treatment, Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers met the Mr & Mrs. Joshi and went about fulfilling Gandhar's wish in a way beyond his imagination. Gandhar passed away soon after their return to India. Inspired by the joy and magic that the wish experience had brought into their lives in a difficult time and in memory of their son, the Joshis were determined to bring the same wish experience to children with lifethreatening illnesses in India. Thus, the Indian affiliate was established in 1996 and since then wishes have been granted to children across the country and Gandhar thus lives on each time a wish in India comes true! The wish granting process is a continuous exercise for the foundation in all the 10 divisions. The process is carried out through a large team of volunteers - 180 + in all at theses centres

Step: 1 Refer the child. The child is referred to the volunteer by the treating hospital or unit once the eligibility criteria for such referral is cleared by the doctor.

Step: 2 Meet the child and parents. The volunteers will then meet the parents and the wish child and make the first level introduction about our foundation and about the wish granting process. The parent consent is obtained for accessing the medical details of the child, liability clearance and publicity authorization / indemnity.

Step: 3 Interaction with the child. This is the critical and important step in the entire wish granting process. The volunteers will build the rapport with the child using several method & style to help the child to accept and speak with them. Spend quality time with the child as much as possible and at various situation and timings in order to explore the inner most wishes and dreams. After several hours and days of quality time spent together, the first three cherished wish are then recorded as expressed by the child.

Step: 4 Wish fulfilment process. The identified wishes are then processed at the divisional office and preparations are done to fulfil the wish of the child.

Step: 5 Wish granting function. At the appointed date and time, the wish of the child as expressed is fulfilled by the divisional team in the presence of volunteers, parents with or without the donor present.

Step: 6 Share the wish experience. The volunteers, parents and the child share their unique

experience with the foundation.

The foundation grants/ fulfills 4 types of wishes. They are:

Wish to Have - the child wishing to have a toy or a dress or any other object that he / she could have and own

Wish to Go - The child wishing to go to a place. A place of his /her dream destination to travel and see within India

Wish to meet- The child wants to meet any famous and important personalities who are the source of inspiration, experience and most popular in India

Wish to Be - The child wishes / dreams to become some one - like a professional, player and so on and /or even to become a role model of his own teacher or parents!

PROJECT REPORT 1

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES FOR FUNDING AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS FOR MAKE A WISH (INDIA)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Topics Introduction Findings from 2010 & 2009 Financial Reports Suggestions for Make A Wish Foundation New Marketing Strategies for Make A Wish Foundation Recommendations Conclusion

Pg.No.

INTRODUCTION
In the field of accountancy there is a continuing discussion of the problems of giving a true and fair account of the financial position of non-profit organizations. In India, satisfactory financial reporting by voluntary health and welfare organizations has been of great concern for

many years. Most of these bodies have been urgently concerned with the accuracy of their public financial reporting, since malpractice by a few organizations reflects on all fund-raising organizations. Public understanding of the operations of a non-profit health and welfare organization must be based on recognition from the outset that there are no financial reports by which the performance of an agency can be basically appraised comparable to the evaluation of a commercial organization by its income statement and balance sheet. Sound evaluation of the performances of a voluntary agency must be based substantially on criteria other than financial operations. There is a very important distinction to be made between the efficiency and the effectiveness of an organization. The distinction is that the former measures how well a programme is carried out from the administrative and organizational point of view, whereas the latter measures the contribution made by the program towards the fulfilment of the objectives of the organization. A completely ineffectual program can be carried out with great efficiency, or a highly effective program can be carried out using most inefficient methods. A very common observation heard among the personnel of a non-profit institution is that their particular establishment is not expected to earn a profit. This statement has much broader connotations than is sometimes realized, either by the outsider or by those within the institution itself. To those who are commercially oriented, it often sounds like an excuse for inefficiency and, therefore, stirs up a feeling of mistrust. The institutional administrator, on the other hand understands this statement as an assertion of purpose, achievement of which cannot be measured in financial terms. Every organization has certain activities which require the regular expenditure of funds to achieve precise results. This may be the preparation of a journal or newsletter, publicity

mailings, fundraising campaigns, etc. There are two methods of rating the efficiency of such activities individually. The costs of the activity can be compared with those of the previous month or year for the same activity. The costs can also be compared with those of other organizations, not necessarily NGOs, which perform the same activity. If the costs go down from period to period then the efficiency is increasing and the improvement can be plotted on a graph as a guide to the NGO executive. This form of comparison does not give an absolute figure so that it is impossible to compare organizations as a whole in this way. For certain types of organization overall efficiency measures can be developed. In a membership organization, for example, the proportion of funds arising from membership fees could be checked against the amount arising from other sources, such as sale of publications. Increasing independence of membership funds could be equated with increased efficiency, if it is assumed that an efficiently run organization should be self-sufficient. There is clearly no point in managing an organization in order to achieve an increase in efficiency if the organization becomes increasingly ineffective. Some NGOs have registered suspicion of any attempts at making themselves efficient. The term efficiency has acquired during the past generation a number of unfortunate connotations which associate it with a mechanistic, profit-directed, stop-watch theory of administration.

Some measure of effectiveness is therefore necessary to check that efficiency and effectiveness increase together. The measurement of effectiveness in NGOs is a much more difficult matter. Effectiveness is related to accomplishment of organization objectives as measured by some perceptible change in the part of the environment with which the organization

is concerned. The problem is that the ultimate value objectives of international NGOs are seldom expressible in concrete terms. They may include key phrases such as 'increase international understanding in the field of education of youth', 'improve relations between documentalists in different countries', 'improve and extend inter-institute relationships', 'foster and facilitate exchanges...', etc. It is not sufficient to concentrate on some intermediate goal, because there is a serious danger that decisions governed by the intermediate goal will persist even when that end is no longer appropriate to the realization of the ultimate value objective. The measures of efficiency and effectiveness defined above are mainly for use as an assessment of the progress of a particular organization. An organization may, however, improve on previous years performance, but not be as efficient or effective as other organizations concerned with the same sort of problems. It is important for all groups concerned with the progress of a particular organization to realize any such differences and the reason for them. The executives of the organization, the members, and the potential fund-allocating bodies all need such information. In the case of commercial organizations, comparison is based on an analysis of the balance sheet and income statement for each organization. It is recognized that it is not meaningful (except for investment purposes) to compare organizations which operate in different ways, for example, an engineering consultancy firm and a shoe manufacturing firm. It is however useful to compare organizations in the same industry with approximately the same characteristics, e.g. heavy engineering firms, or leather products companies. Such comparison is based on a classification of the organizations and enables individual companies to determine in what respect their operations are better or worse than the average for the other companies in the

industry. There are two problems. The balance sheets of organizations are not yet standardized as was once the case for balance sheet data for companies within individual countries. This has to be done before a direct comparison is possible. A useful classification of NGOs has not been developed. It is essential to be able to compare the same sort of organization. The balance sheet analysis might prove to be a useful aid in grouping organizations with the same characteristics by supplying comparable financial ratios.

The need for evaluation of NGOs in general can be itemized as follows:

Means of obtaining a continuing assessment of the value of international NGOs in order to demonstrate their special role to critics who may control fund allocation.

Inadequate or inaccurate self evaluation by a few organizations, due to the lack of accepted techniques, leads to the discredit of the general objectives of all fund raising organizations and non-profit organizations.

Means of checking on the progress of joint programs, points of duplication or inadequacy.

With regards to Make A Wish, looking at their audited reports, balance sheets and expenditure statements, certain items have been highlighted that action can be taken against and improvements the organization can make. There are certain problems with regards to 1. Accounting of petty cash 2. Voucher system

3. Wish referral form 4. Wish gifts

These problems have been highlighted and certain solutions have also been forwarded so that Make A Wish Foundation can consider it in the future. Also certain sources of funding like that of auctions and other sources have also been discussed below.

FINDINGS FROM 2010 & 2009 FINANCIAL REPORTS

Notes to Accounts

Petty cash expenses incurred at the branches are recorded on one single day of the month

daily recording of expenditure is not done.

Majority of donation and grants received from corporate & non corporate are for fulfillment of child wish grant whereas the same were utilized for fulfillment of wish as well as administrative cost.

During financial year Make a Wish Foundation of India has made a sale of merchandise namely Cap, Diary, Book, Greeting cards, Jute Bags, Key Chain, Paper Bag, Paper pen stand, Pen, Photo frames, T- shirts, Wooden Pen, Wooden pen stand etc. Sale of such merchandise is not permitted in objects of the Trust.

Audit Report Certain vouchers relating to different divisions do not have supporting bills attached. Cash vouchers of Coimbatore Division are not consecutively numbered. In some cases of payment made towards conveyance/travelling expenses to staff members, detail of person underwent travelling are not recorded anywhere on trip sheet / receipts of Vehicle Hirer, such as name of staff underwent travelling, designation etc. Adequate internal control does not exist at branch/Division level in connection with donations received from different donors spread in different parts of our country, particularly Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Pune etc. Coimbatore division does not maintain petty cash book hence balance of petty cash on hand as on 31.3.2010 at Coimbatore division could not be confirmed. During vouching of Delhi Division cash and bank transactions instances of bills not containing Name of vendor, Address of Vendor, Bill No., VAT No., etc. obtained from vendor evidencing transaction entered, which seems not to be genuine bill.

Few instances of transactions bills/Invoices in Coimbatore Division were observed where name of Make a Wish Foundation was not mentioned on bill. In some cases bills were obtained in personal name instead of name of Make a Wish Foundation.

Many instances are observed where Wish Referral Forms does not contain photograph and date of birth of wish child, treatment centre name, and physicians name, volunteers name etc. in relation to wish gift given.

During Financial Year, items meant for distribution and items for wish grant are purchased from same vendors on the basis of past experience. Fresh quotation or tender are not called for from the vendors

SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION

Petty Cash All divisions must have a petty cash ledger, so as there is enough control on the daily travelling and other expenditure incurred by staff.

All the expenses from petty cash have to be recorded once a week or at least whenever utilized so as there is enough control and no problem later as to who spent what and where.

Petty cash expenditure should be defined as to the areas in which they can be utilized for.

Vouchers All vouchers cannot have supporting bills like that of travelling expense by public transport. However in cases where private vehicles are hired, supporting bills must be attached. Vouchers with regards to travelling must mention the person who travelled, designation & the destinations travelled to and from. Vouchers have to have the sanctioning signature of the authority. If does not contain the signature, then the voucher should not be accounted for unless in exceptional circumstances where the sanctioning authority is not present.

Volunteers Should give a notice of at least 2 days for ordinary gift items like cycles, doll houses, T.V.s, etc. Should have the number of the childs parents in case the National Office wants to contact them. Should not be allowed to directly allow buy the wish gifts and they should inform the

National Office for the same. The volunteers should call the wish child from the hospital or from the wish city location. Outside the city, the travelling expense should not be borne by the organization and should be borne by the child, if the child is specifically coming for the wish gift.

Wish Referral Form The Wish referral form must contain the photograph of the child, physician or doctors name and contact number and the volunteers name. This should be done so as to prevent any sort of duplication as well as a full record of the child should be maintained for the purpose of the trustees and donors benefit as well. The wish referral form must also contain the address and contact no. of the child as well so as to contact them in case of any problem with regards to wish granting. The wish referral format must be uniform across all divisions, so the National Office can question any division with regards to the wish granted. There should be an eligibility form as well and a disclosure agreement. The eligibility form would contain more about the child and also help the organization come to know if the child is age appropriate enough to get his wish gift. Wish Gifts There should be fresh quotations of vendors every few months for wish items so as to compare the latest prices and get more bargaining power. The wish gifts should be age appropriate as well as cost appropriate and also the disease

the child suffers has to be taken into account. In the past that certain wishes that were granted like that of a travelling wish or certain gifts like that of mobile phones, computers, etc. were neither age nor cost appropriate. There should be a well defined budget as for each wish and if there are any unique gifts, like in case of a I Wish To See or like wanting a puppy, the eligibility form has to come into play which checks the age and disease of the child and the final decision would lie with the national office. Unique gifts of other divisions or even costly gifts should be looked at by the National Office. Although interference by the National Office should not be done, a precedent set by them would result in volunteers across divisions not going overboard. The wish gifts across divisions should have the same budget; in the sense a cycle of one division should not be Rs.3000 in one division and Rs.5000 in another.

The bills and transactions with various vendors must contain the Name of vendor, Address of Vendor, Bill No., etc. for the purpose of record and the bill must contain Make A Wish Foundation name and no personal name of any coordinator.

If wishes are granted which includes the administrative cost, there should not be a problem since the organization depends on donors money as well. The entire wish granting process depends on the administration and money utilized for that purpose should be considered.

A centralized process of granting wishes can be made possible wherein the National office handles the purchasing of the wish gift items and distributing it to the various divisions.

A stock list of wish gifts should be maintained by each division and old stock should be disposed off through old wishes or current wishes as well.

Also a proper record must be maintained as to whose donation is being used to buy the gift, so as to have a proper record not only for the present but for the future as well.

NEW MARKETING STRATEGIES

Commercial marketing and non-commercial marketing have a lot in common but at the same time they have some essential distinctions, which depend on type, mission and goals of an

organisation. Marketing a non-profit organization takes the need for being innovative and strategic in identifying ways and avenues to market it. It is also important for NGOs to not only satisfy their target group but also the donors needs. Most of the NGOs depend on the traditional methods to market themselves. NGOs must learn to devise newer and better ways to market themselves, like associating with Academic Institutes and using the potential of students as volunteers. The following are some of the unique methods in which NGOs are carrying out their marketing activities.

Make A Wish Foundation can sell their T-shirts, caps, various other memorabilia of Make A Wish through various exhibitions. This will generate both brand name and revenue. This helps the NGO to generate revenues for there varied projects and showcase their talent pool. The exhibitions should be carried out in tandem with schools, colleges and corporate.

Printing calendars with logos and mission of Make A Wish Foundation. These calendars can be given to donors and volunteers alike and at the same time spread awareness about their cause.

Organizing annual functions where volunteers are felicitated and hence encourage them to do more work.

Tie-ups with the academic institutes would help MAWF tap the potential of the students of institutes. Students could help MAWF at the base level by acting as volunteers. They could then act as prospective volunteers. By these means it will be able to solve their problem of getting human resource.

Organizing lectures, seminars, workshops and presentations regarding the various social

issues for the students. This would sensitize the students and hence help the students in understanding the cause of the NGOs.

Make A Wish should have online auctions or bids for autographed celebrity items. This will generate funds as well as garner a brand name of the organization. It previously did have it in 2010 and regular auctions can generate more funds.

Since most people also like contributing in kind, the website should also have prices of the various wish gifts and that cheques for the same could be given as well. This can be done only if a centralized process of purchasing of gifts is done.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Keeping Records The foundations of all accounting are basic records that describe your earnings and

spending. This means the contracts and letters for money you receive and the receipts and the invoices for things that you buy. These basic records prove that each and every transaction has taken place. They are the cornerstones of being accountable. You must make sure that all these records are carefully filed and kept safe. You must also make sure that you write down the details of each transaction. Write them down in a 'cashbook' - which is a list of how much you spent, on what and when. If you are keeping your basic records in good order and writing down the details of each transaction in a cashbook then you cannot go far wrong.

Internal Control Make sure that your organisation has proper controls in place so that money cannot be misused. Controls always have to be adapted to different organisations. However, some controls that are often used include: 1. Making sure that all expenditure is properly authorised. 2. Following the budget. 3. Monitoring how much money has been spent on what every month. 4. Employing qualified finance staff. 5. Having an audit every year. 6. Carrying out a 'bank reconciliation' every month - which means checking that the amount of cash you have in the bank is the same as the amount that your cashbook tells you that you ought to have. This last control is particularly important. It proves that the amounts recorded in the cashbook and the reports based on it are accurate.

Budgeting For good financial management, you need to prepare accurate budgets, in order to know how much money you will need to carry out your work. A budget is only useful if it is worked out by carefully forecasting how much you expect to spend on your activities. The first step in preparing a good budget is to identify exactly what you hope to do and how you will do it. List your activities, then plan how much they will cost and how much income they will generate.

Financial Reporting The fourth building block is writing and reviewing financial reports.

Firstly, determine what your current budget of expenditure is, i.e. start with what you have. Break this down into:

1. Core operational expenses 2. Programme/project expenses

3. Capital expenses

Further break down your core operational (or overhead) expenses into what is the biggest (and most important) expense and the smallest (and least important) expense.

Develop a minimum budget (what you need to cover to survive) and a maximum budget that will allow you to deliver on all your programme objectives as well as allow you to put away some financial resources into a reserve/sustainability fund.

Now make a list of your current external donors and how much they are currently funding and over which period. Please note the commitment of those donors who have

pledged to continue funding and over what period. Make a list of your own income activities and how much income is generated per annum. Determine which income activities are financially viable and which are a drain on your financial resources. Determine the percentage of own income in relation to external funding. Set yourself an objective of increasing own income by a certain percentage that is achievable e.g. from 10% of your total core operational budget (excluding programmes) to maybe 30% over 3 years. Now develop plans how this will be achieved over those 3 years e.g. increasing fees for services, increased marketing to attract more customers, utilizing investments to maximize interest, diversifying services, develop more income generating activities without becoming distracted from your core focus, etc. Ensure that in all your budgets for programme expenses the donors make a sizeable contribution to administration costs, at least 10%-20% and reflect salaries as far as possible as a programme/project implementation/coordination. Develop a cost containment strategy i.e. how to minimize the cost of running your organization, e.g. staff containment, multi-skilled staff members, use of volunteers, negotiating discounts from key service providers, e.g. external auditors, insurance companies, bank, etc. Make a list of your potential external donors and plan when to submit funding proposals to them. Categorize the potential donors in order of high potential and low potential. Focus your energy on the high potential donors.

Develop a comprehensive research strategy and communication strategy to cultivate unknown donors. Remember, this is a continuous process and cannot be started when current donors contracts come to an end. Research can include Internet browsing, accessing donor directories, collecting annual reports of organizations operating in your sector, referrals by your strategic partners, scrutinizing relevant newspapers, telephonic enquiries, attending strategic forums, etc.

Make a list of your strategic partners and indicate what value they are adding to your organization and its programmes.

Develop a risk management strategy in the event of funding gaps, i.e. how will you respond should promised funding be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances? Will you cut or withhold salaries, apply for a bank overdraft, borrow funds from other programmes/projects or maybe use your reserves?

CONCLUSION
If Make A Wish Foundation had just taken a look at the suggestions given by the auditors in the past and acted on them, maybe it would be a smoother ride for the organization right now.

Change is needed in the organization in the way its run. There is no upheaval required and only small changes that would still go in a long way of benefiting the organization. A few changes are being made as of now and it is benefiting the organization but a lot more needs to be done with regards to the main points highlighted, namely the vouchers, petty cash, volunteers, wish referral forms and wish gifts. Make A Wish already has good sources of funds from the corporate sector, individuals and other donor areas. Also with regards to expenses, certain things like that of printing & stationary and postage & courier have reduced and hence have been good for the organization. It should be maintained in the same way and certain other expenditure like that of Meeting expenses should be reduced. Otherwise telephone expenses, electricity expenses and other expenses seem to be okay since there are many coordinators in each division, considering that the heads have their mobile connections and also there are a telephone connections in each office. Make A Wish is in a good position and the conclusion is that with a few changes in its current organizational set up in the National office can bring about changes all across the divisions all over the country.

PROJECT 2

BRANDING MAKE A WISH (INDIA) THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No. 1. Executive Summary

Topics

Pg. No.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Introduction Statement of Problem Research Design Sampling Plan Instrument Processing & Analyzing the Collected Data Recommendations Conclusion

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social networks are as old as human society. Families, schools, clubs and groups of friends all contribute to our social capital. Whats changed in recent years is a wave of two-way technologies known as web 2.0 or social media. From videos, blogs and wikis to podcasts, tweets and social networking sites, social media enables people to easily communicate with and act on existing personal and professional networks, and forge strong connections with new ones. An internet connection provides a potential link with any number of people online, irrespective of geographic distance, and access a greater diversity of perspectives. The read-write web where

everyone can potentially publish what they want to a global audience has also triggered deep social changes and a fundamental shift in the way that people think, form groups, and work.

After doing a survey of a few international and local NGOs through the internet, I have realized that NGOs have been quick to recognize the new medias potential for their business models. This is not entirely surprising since NGOs typically have to work with limited resources, so technologies that accelerate the sharing of information and drastically reduce the costs of participation and coordination were inevitably going to be of interest. But NGOs also increasingly have to operate as social businesses. They recognize the opportunity to market products, raise money and frame or re-frame awareness on a raft of issues. Organizations that previously had to rely on intermediaries for media exposure now have a new direct, democratic channel for engagement with target audiences, with the same opportunity as mainstream journalists to talk about the issues that mattered to them most. There also have fewer vested interests in the mainstream PR and marketing models adopted by the business world, less resistance to embracing a two-way channel with target communities. By engaging in a more informal, personal manner, social media-savvy NGOs are able to identify and connect with online opinion-makers, raise awareness of their operations and enhance their brands in the process.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are now been embedded in the work of many NGOs. Fundraising events like Twestival are on the rise. Facebooks Causes Birthday application encourages an individual who is a member of a cause to use their birthday as an excuse to raise money for a non-profit organization. Social apps with a conscience, such as SocialAction.com, offer even more creative ways for supporters to self-organize and take action

around causes. Non-profits such as Oxfam offer opportunities and resources for high school and college aged students to become informed on issues pertaining to poverty and human rights take action for a cause and fundraise on behalf of the NGO.

A comparison was made with Make A Wish India website with the international NGO websites and their social media applications. Make A Wish India lags behind with regards to the website since it was not regularly updated. With regards to its social media presence, a few divisions like Jaipur and Bangalore have their own Facebook pages and blogs and there is no official Make A Wish India blog or twitter account or even a Facebook page. As a result it results in a lot of confusion since there is no official media presence which eventually results in Make A Wish India losing out on garnering volunteers, funds and a brand presence. Its international counterpart on the other hand has made its presence felt online in a big way and its website, Facebook page, blogs and tweets are continuously updated.

The mail survey sent out and the focus group study conducted brought out very relevant issues, as to why social media is particularly useful to NGOs and why should Make A Wish India have a presence on various social networking websites. The responses of the mail survey and the focus group were similar and hence the following points came to light.

Its affordable

The most relevant point that came out of the discussion was that NGO's do not need the large marketing budgets the big brands have and a social media marketer can help one get started with a social media presence. There are hundreds of social media sites, so choosing the ones that match one's audience and one's brand best is important.

Its viral

With the right content an NGO and Make A Wish India specifically like its Bangalore division with its blog posts has the potential to spread out ones brand awareness quickly and far, but one must be careful with what one puts out. It can benefit but it can also hurt ones brand. Improves your brand reputation

Through the survey it can be seen that many youngsters have come across NGOs like Dream A Dream or Teach For India because they put quality and focused content that help establish their brand. They felt that continuous updated information on Facebook and continuous tweets also made them more involved in helping such NGOs trough volunteering efforts. UNICEF India or Teach For India have a good website and provide consistent content that have elevated their brands to that of their international counterparts. Increases traffic to you website which generates more leads and new business

The survey points out the most relevant point, that at the end of the day the website is the place where people usually feel that they get the truest information. The focus group in turn mentioned that a social media presence that is well integrated and consistent will make sure your website and landing pages are optimized and deliver what your prospects expect.

Helps your brand establish a strong connection with your audience

The interactive aspect of Social Media is personal by nature as mentioned by a member of the focus study. The relationship an NGO creates with its human aspect can be deeper and last longer than with any other media. And no other NGO has better stories to tell than Make A Wish because the members of the focus group felt that Make A Wish changes children's outlook and helps them be more positive. Connects you with leaders in your field

The focus group study also revealed that with Social Media, an upcoming NGO will have the opportunity to interact and network with leading international NGOs and learn from them. If Make A Wish India comments on their posts and tweets and participate in social media conversations of UNICEF and Amnesty International and others, they in turn would do the same. Support them when they ask for support and theyll support you when you need them.

With the help of this research module, certain changes were made to the website of Make A Wish India as well as creating official Make A Wish India Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and blog. These new changes although small have made a difference to the organization, in the sense that the content is controlled by the head office in Mumbai. Since the pages are official, the content would be original since it will come directly from the head office. The organization on learning that it needs to build on its image, felt that social media can go in some way of helping it not only in promoting the organization but also maybe in due date trying to gain volunteers and funds by establishing links on Facebook to its websites and vice-versa. A challenge for Make A Wish India is to outdo its international counterpart in the social networking section by trying to

have a large fan base online. In this way it will not only get recognition from its own counterpart but also from other international NGOs. New photos and old content being deleted and also further continuous updating in the upcoming months with newer photos and stories will help the current donors, volunteers and the children receiving the wishes know what the organization is currently undertaking.

INTRODUCTION
Social networking is a broad term that refers to the building of online communities based

on common interests and activities. What started out as a way to use the Net to make friends and meet romantic partners' has moved into the business world, with some companies actively promoting employee involvement to raise awareness of their products or services and keep in touch with each other and existing or potential customers Based on its name, you would think social networking is a leisure time, non-business activity. Of course, if you subscribe to the broadest definition (online communities of people), the Internet itself is the ultimate social network. A narrower definition focuses on common interests or activities. Although the term has only fairly recently become popular, social networks have certainly been around since the early days of commercial Internet access, in the form of newsgroups, chat rooms and web forums dedicated to specific areas of interest. Todays social networking services are generally web-based, and having an account on MySpace or Facebook or LinkedIn has become almost as expected as having an email address. And its no longer just about teenagers keeping tabs on what their friends are up to; many businesses now have a presence on social networking sites, and professionals of all types sign up to interact with colleagues and potential clients. Although some companies view social networking sites as time-wasters and block them altogether, more and more companies are recognizing their value as marketing and collaboration tools. Some companies, such as Intel, are actively encouraging their employees to get involved in social media activities on the companys behalf. So one might say where do NGOs come into the picture? Why would they require social networking websites? In the 21st century, where people cannot be met in person, or they do not have the time to talk to you on the phone and most of their day is consumed in working, traveling and seeing how their social status is online, the only way NGOs can garner volunteers,

alternative funds and build an image is with the help of social media. Everyone in some way uses social media and is inter-connected and this can work as an advantage to an NGO. People might not have heard about an NGO or even visited the NGOs website, however if they find out through friends in social media about a certain cause they might be interested in, they might not only visit the website of the NGO and try to gain more information, they might be potential volunteers, donate as well and be future evangelists of the NGO. So where does Make A Wish India come into the picture? Being an NGO that has a brand name in the public, Make A Wish India can use social media to help garner a lot of volunteers as well as look at a new avenue of raising funds by asking people to contribute towards the gifts. Make A Wish India can go a long way in establishing itself in the minds as well as the hearts of people and through social media, it may attract traditional sources of media as well without much effort. However currently Make A Wish India needs to go a long way in order to enhance the full power of social media. Through the various scenarios shown below, a lot can be learnt by the organization in various ways.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM AND PURPOSE OF STUDY

When you ask someone with a successful social media presence how to build your own

audience, the answer most often is, Write a blog post, tweet it to your following, and share it on Facebook and LinkedIn. But what if you do not have many followers on Twitter or Facebook Fans? That is what the purpose of this study is all about. With regards to Make A Wish India, can the foundation attract an audience on social networking sites? Can it garner volunteers, raise funds or even build their brand online? Can it engage the online community along with using traditional means of PR and print media or maybe even do without them in the future? All these questions have been put across and a survey conducted and an analysis made.

RESEARCH DESIGN
The study was conducted using 3 methods namely an online study of existing NGOs who

use social media to their benefit, a questionnaire which was emailed and a focus group study. The survey will answer the following investigative questions for Make A Wish Foundation.

What do existing users of social networking sites think of NGOs using social media? Would Social Media benefit Make A Wish in terms of garnering volunteers, raising funds and building a brand image?

Can the youth that use social media the most and who also feel that making a difference to society is of priority, be influenced to join Make A Wish?

Can Make A Wish replicate how existing international relief organizations like UNICEF use social media to get support, since Make A Wish has a number of centres worldwide?

What are the various changes Make A Wish need to make to the website and what are the various steps that Make A Wish need to make in the social networking arena?

ONLINE RESEARCH
With regards to the online research, the following information has been gathered through

various resources from various websites. Also certain international relief organizations and NGO examples have been taken and their social media pages included, giving a basic idea as to how these particular organizations use social media to their maximum advantage. Various pages, blogs, twitter accounts, their websites and Facebook profiles of NGOs and other international relief organizations have been looked at and a comparison and analysis has been made with that of Make A Wish Foundations website and its online media activities like its Facebook pages and blogs.

The Make A Wish (India) website as on 30th April 2011

Year of establishment is 1995 We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human

experience with hope, strength and joy

Power of a Wish

Established in 1996, Make A Wish Foundation of India has granted in excess of 15000 wishes. By granting a cherished wish for a child with a life threatening illness, a wish experience can give back what the illness takes away, Hope, Strength and Joy. It can help the children forget about being sick. How to laugh out loud and keep making plans for the future.

Autograph ed Bat by Sachin Tendulkar

More >

Autograph ed Mug by Mahesh Babu

18600

Therefore Make A Wish India should

The following example of complete use of social media by Oxfam is shown below. Make A Wish India should have a look and try to replicate a bit of what Oxfam does.

A few statistics as to why NGOS should use social media

ONLINE RESEARCH ANALYSIS

When we see the websites and social network pages of most international well known NGOs and relief organizations and compare it with Make A Wish Foundation Indias website and Facebook page, the following observations can be made.

It can be clearly seen that Make A Wish Indias website is outdated. The stories, pictures and any volunteers required or any job openings are not regularly updated.

Also in the website, any sort of auction which would go towards the funds of Make A Wish India, is terribly outdated showing a bid for Sachin Tendulkar autographed bat that got over in October 2010.

There is no official national Make A Wish India Facebook, twitter, blog or any other social network page. As a result there would be a lot of confusion or no sort of online presence of the NGO, resulting in a tremendous disadvantage.

Each centre has its own page or a blog which is acceptable, but they must be in line with the head office and should also be part of the main website. This should be done so as to avoid any confusion and all potential donors as well as volunteers should believe that everything is authentic.

A very surprising fact is that Make A Wish India, grants quite a number of wishes and improves the quality of childrens lives but it has not caught on compared to other NGOs like Teach for India who also has an American counterpart. Owing to the size of the

Indian population and the popularity of social networking, the popularity of Make A Wish India should have risen tremendously.

Considering no online presence of Make A Wish India, it has already lost out on a lot of potential volunteers and donors. Social networking could be used to advertise for any volunteers and promote any sort of auction.

Another point that can be noted is that most NGOs have tried to involve youth, since the youth want to make a difference to society and it is only through social media that NGOs feel that they can attract youth.

MAIL SURVEY
Sampling Plan A sample of 139 people was taken. The sample was selected taking into account the age category of 18- 35 years. This is because the assumption was made that this age sample category would be the ones who make the most use of social networking websites. The gender of participants was not of concern and the place they were residing in was not of concern.

INSTRUMENT (QUESTIONNAIRE)
Social - Media <=> Work - Is there a connection? Can social media help NGOs in the long run? Can NGOs use social media to garner volunteers, funds & help build an image? Name Age Gender Male Female

The most preferred means you access the internet Desktop PC at home Laptop At work College computer lab Other:

On an average how many hours do you surf the internet?

0-1 hr 1.1-3 hrs 3.1-5 hrs 5.1-7 hrs

Above 7 hrs

What is your most preferred way of social networking? Facebook Twitter Blogs LinkedIn Posting reviews & comments & opinion polls Other:

Have you volunteered for any social cause recently? Yes No

Does the work of an NGO appeal to you? Yes No

Have you visited any NGO's website? Yes No

Can you name a few?

Have you come across any NGO's cause through an NGO's blog or page in social media? Yes No

With regards to the above question do you think that NGO's that use social media are fraudulent? Yes No

If you ever wanted information of an NGO, which one would you deem more authentic? A Facebook or Orkut page recommended by a friend A blog written by an employee on behalf of the organization The website of the NGO

Do you think it would be beneficial for NGO's to use social networking sites to garner volunteers, funds and build a brand image compared to traditional methods for the same? Yes No

Which would be a good social networking site for an NGO?

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Blog A mix

Which would your preferred method be of making a contribution to an NGO? Online payment gateway Cash or cheque Collection box Contribution in kind Other:

Have you heard of Make A Wish Foundation? Yes No

If yes, how? Print/Radio/TV Friends/ family members Online media

Have you ever visited the Make A Wish Foundation (India) website? Yes No

Do you know if there is Make A Wish Foundation Facebook page (US or India) or a blog on Make A Wish Foundation - Bangalore? Yes No

PROCESSING OF DATA
The above data has been compiled and processed into various graphs as shown below.

10 0 9 0 8 0 7 0 6 0 5 0 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 Male F ale em

Figure 1 shows the number of males and females taking the survey

Figure 2 shows the age category of people taking the survey

17-20 21-24 25-28

Age (years) Number

17-20 4

21-24 107

25-28 28

Total 139

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
La b PC De sk pt op Co m p At w or k La pt op

Above 7 hrs 5.1-7 hrs 3.1-5 hrs 1.1-3 hrs

Figure 3 shows the preferred means the respondents access the internet and the no. of hours the internet is accessed from each mode

Co lle ge
F cebook a T witter L inkedIn B s log

Figure 4 shows the respondents most preferred way of social networking Social Sites Number Facebook 101 Twitter 11 LinkedIn 19 Blogs 8 Total 139

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Volunteered before Never volunteered

NGO work doesnot appeal & not vis ited an NGO webs ite NGO work appeals but not vis ited an NGO webs ite NGO work appeals & V ited an NGO is webs ite

Figure 5 shows no. of respondents who have or have not volunteered & to whom NGO work appeals & who have visited an NGOs website and vice-versa

76 74 72 70 68 66 64 62 60 58 R pondents who es have com acros a e s NGO's s ocial m edia pag e

Y es No

Figure 6 shows the no. of respondents who have come across a social media page of an NGO

12 0 10 0 8 0 6 0 4 0 2 0 0 R pondents deemthe es followingauthentic for info on an NGO Webs of an NGO ite F acebook or Orkut pag of an NGO e

Figure 7 shows the no. of respondents that prefer the website of an NGO or Facebook or Orkut page of an NGO for information.

F acebook Blog Tw itter L inkedIn Mix

Figure 8 shows which type of social site an NGO should subscribe to according to the respondents.

Social sites Number

Facebook 67

Blog 2

Twitter 10

LinkedIn 2

A Mix 58

Total 139

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 H eard about MAWF Not heard about MAWF Online Media F riends am /F ily Print/R adio/TV

Figure 9 shows which respondents have heard about MAWF & through which media vehicle.

1 00 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

V ited MAWFwebs is ite Not vis ited MAWF webs ite

Figure 10 shows how many respondents have visited the MAWF website

ANALYZING DATA
Connecting

As per the survey, 72.67% of respondents to the survey prefer to connect to others through Facebook. 110 out of the 139 respondents may or may not have volunteered but they have visited a NGOs website. Thus the potential is still present because 70 respondents have not volunteered with an NGO but they want to volunteer and this should be seen as a positive. Thus connecting to this type of people should be seen as prime importance. They trust a website of an NGO more than that of a Facebook page or Twitter account. This is the case for most NGOs, although well established NGOs like UNICEF, Red Cross, Oxfam and other international organizations have a very good website as well as a good fan following on their social sites. This is not the case with Make A Wish India because NGOs here do not have a great fan following but it is slowly building with the likes of Teach For India and Dream A Dream having a huge following amongst the youth in the metros. This is because of continuous updates of not only their websites but also staying in touch with potential volunteers and making people aware of the cause they are fighting for through various social media sites. On the other hand, Make A Wish India does not have much of a fan following with most people having heard of it and at the most visited their website but they do not know if there is a Facebook page or a blog because first and foremost they are not interlinked and secondly no one knows if the pages on social media are genuine or not. Thus Make A Wish India are really not connected with potential volunteers and donors and hence could be losing out to other NGOs in this regards.

Development and Maintenance In order to provide proper web presence, social networking tools must be developed in a manner that conveys the message while being current and engaging. For instance, a Facebook Fan Page can provide a useful way to share information on store hours, website address and new products or services but is meaningless if the content is not regularly maintained with current information. That is what has happened with Make A Wish India with its Facebook pages not being regularly updated and its website also not being continuously updated. As a result its online presence is fading. If Make A Wish India has a look at its US counterpart, it will realize that it can do a lot more in online media promotion than depend on other media for presence and exposure. More than 75 people of the 139 have heard of Make A Wish India but out of them 50% have heard through friends, and family. As a result very few, that is only 11 respondents of 139 received information about MAWF through social media or through online media, which means a lot of improvement needs to be made on its online presence. Another startling fact is that 60 respondents have never heard about Make A Wish India, which means still a lot more needs to be done for MAWF to gain a name. Branding Launching a series of social networking profiles can help to strengthen branding efforts by reinforcing the company's logo, slogan and message, which is agreed by all the respondents. Mostly all the respondents agreed that NGOs need to use social media to garner volunteers, funds and build a brand as well as they all believe that most NGOs who use social media are not fraudulent or do not use it for fraudulent purposes. Thus integrating social networking capabilities into existing websites can assist in cross-promotional efforts. For instance, Twitter feeds with up-to-the-minute posts can be displayed on a business' website or blog along with Facebook login capabilities. While

having multiple social networking profiles can be useful as a branding tool, it will require regular maintenance down the road. Search Engine Optimization Make A Wish Foundations website has not been visited by close to 100 of the 139 respondents of the survey ever and mostly all of them have never visited or seen any sort of promotion of MAWF in online media even though there are various Facebook pages and blogs. Thus creating routine quality content that is rich with search engine optimized keywords pertaining to MAWFs business and its services can prove worthwhile and assist in moving up the search engine rankings. This can give an advantageous position ahead of competing companies who are not harnessing social networking websites. Due to the fluctuating popularity of social media, it is important to diversify content across several platforms, as well as independently maintain a blog and website.

FOCUS GROUP STUDY

With regards to the focus group study three participants were chosen, 2 males aged 23 and 21 years and 1 female aged 23 years. These 3 participants were chosen because they had accounts in all the social networking websites and used to be on social networking websites on an average of 3 hours a day. Also 2 of them have previously volunteered for an NGO and all 3 of them have come in contact with and NGO previously. All 3 participants had also had some prior work experience in the field of social media. The names of the candidates are: 1. Jayant Shankar, Male, 23, currently works at UTV Bindass, blogs and tweets on the go and has volunteered at Smile Foundation. 2. Ronnie Bhaumik, Male, 21, 1st year MBA student, loves to give reviews on any product and is a great fan of Youtube. 3. Shweta Goud, Female, 23, 2nd year MBA student, constantly on Facebook and was an intern at Door Step School working on marketing, events and the newsletter.

CONDUCT OF THE STUDY

The study was conducted in the house of Mr. Jayant Shankar on 4th June 2011 at 7p.m. Indian time and the moderator was Mr. Rahul DSa who asked the questions wherein there was a discussion about each question and each person had the freedom to answer the question or not. All the 3 members of the study were present from the start to the end of the study. The total time allotted was a half hour which was sufficient and the study finished in 25 minutes. The study has been recorded on tape and has been typed out so as to get a better understanding, since the tape was not very clear. Also at the same time the answers were written out by the moderator as well.

Q. What are the major challenges facing NGOs? A. Shweta: In the last few years, the biggest challenge has been the transition to a professional sector. The ongoing process has taken place inside the institutions but has involved convincing society of the need of a more professional way of doing things. Ronnie: The financial crisis is also a big issue; it has made the process of professionalism and collaboration more difficult by making access to public and private funds more challenging. This makes it difficult to maintain projects and to be able to develop them in the way they were originally stated. Altogether, it makes executing organizations objectives very difficult.

Q. Can digital media really bring about a social change? A. Shweta: In the urban areas digital media is being used in very interesting manner but there are many who are just using social media for being there. They dont want to bring about any change in the society. But that is fine because everybody doesnt have to change the world. It is a

huge achievement that so many people are expressing themselves on social media because we live in a repressed and suppressed society. We are told not to speak up against elders or in school so Facebook and Twitter have brought a change in that and also our relationships and I see it as a positive change in the society.

Q. People say that the digital media is empowering those who are already empowered. A. Jayant: Yes there are a lot of people who do not have internet access but they are slowly opening up to this media and I think that the gap can be filled. So, people need to go out and understand how nonprofit organisations and social entrepreneurs are working in the rural areas and bring these stories online rather than just talking about films and gadgets. Ronnie: For example, if you have a blog you can write about an auto rickshaw driver or a taxi driver and other such people, who cannot take their stories to the internet as they dont have time for blogging while struggling for their two square meals. But those who have time and the means they can bring out these voices and the stories.

Q. What do you think are the challenges that face NGOs who have little or no social media presence? A. Jayant: I remember this NGO called Bell Bajao which had a website and were also present on Twitter and Facebook, but the challenge was that nobody wanted to take interest in it as NGOs are perceived as boring and working for some agenda by the youth. Also, domestic violence is a sensitive issue and people did not want to talk about it. However, the reason that Bell Bajao became a success was that we were not communicating in the typical NGO language;

they talked about day to day things like regressive TV serials etc. They used more friendly language and also partnered with TV serials and brought that on Facebook and Twitter. Shweta: Through social media NGOs have to talk about the work that they do and also connect with people who are also willing to share and listen. Being more conversational and getting into dialogue with potential donors and volunteers is of prime importance. This can be done by replying to all the links and comments and discussions on Twitter. Also NGOs must invite people to write on the blog and comment.

Q. Isnt it a challenge to engage people? A. Ronnie: Yes, it is difficult as people have a very short attention span. They are more self engrossed but the youth is very enthusiastic. If you tell them that they can make a change and motivate them that they are important and in that way the Tata Tea Jaago Re campaign has been very successful. There are plenty of companies and groups out there who have awesome ideas for communities and want to use social media tools to create those communities, but designing for participation is not particularly for people who are used to a traditional broadcast style of communication. Trying to invite people into a conversation is really challenging to people who are used to simply pushing their message out.

Q. Which role do NGOs play in the online space? A. Jayant: From our point of view, a great part of society uses online media to get information about the work and the need of NGOs. Organizations are using more and more tools online to increase the awareness of their activities, since it can be faster, cheaper and more efficient than traditional media.

Shweta: Working in social media with both social change organizations and for-profit businesses is extremely interesting because social media creates a space in which it becomes not just socially beneficial for profit seeking organizations to undertake community projects, but also financially profitable. Social media is very well disposed to bringing people together on issues they're passionate about. Really, it's very hard to bring people together on issues they're not passionate about, and most people are way more passionate about social issues or creative endeavors than they are about most brands. There are very few brands that people are so passionate about that they just want to come together to talk about the brand. Ronnie: We often use the example of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty as an example of how a business benefits from promoting social change. Everyone and their dog is trying to get on the social media bandwagon, every company out there is really hot to get into some kind of social network, whether it's doing something on Facebook or trying to create something viral on YouTube. They're all obsessed with it, but it's actually nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are in a far better position to use these tools because an NGO's core message issue all about getting people where their passion is. NGOs have spent years learning to mobilize people around issues. What's happening now is that businesses are playing catch-up and having to learn to go to the psychological and emotional space where people actually live. What we haven't seen yet, but I'm hoping we'll start to see, are partnerships where business who want to do social media projects sponsor NGOs to build community efforts that actually resonate with people. I think that would be a fantastic

partnership for a lot of companies, and the NGOs would greatly benefit from that kind of sponsorship. Q. What kind of potential do you see in a relationship between social media and NGOs? A. Jayant: The Internet does have the potential to erode relationships among people, but I believe that social media has a tendency to actually strengthen relationships and rebuild relationships among people. We as youth are concerned with how social capital helps support the economic health of communities, the political engagement of communities, and even the personal health of people who live in communities with high amounts of social capital. It's really remarkable how many positive outcomes are associated with high levels of social capital. In particular, the kind of social capital that seems to matter is social capital that's created when people build relationships of trust across differences. Ronnie: For instance, if I spent all my time on Facebook talking to random people, I'm probably not building much social capital, in that I'm not helping make our community more trusting and sustainable. I might feel really happy and social, but I'm probably not doing much for the world. So, we're really interested in social media projects that build relationships of trust across differences. A funny thing about social networks is that despite the name, most social networks online are built by people who know a lot more about networking than they do about socializing. So, social networks that exist to a large degree reflect the pathologies and preferences of developers. If you were faced with the task of rebuilding society from the ground up, I'm not sure you'd want to put your developers in charge.

Shweta: I used to do a lot of online chatting, blogging on random issues but then I moved away from that because I felt like I was more called to do direct social change work. I've since come full circle because I've concluded that, at the end of the day, meaningful change only comes from conversation. Conversation is the agent of change. What social media does beautifully is enable large scale conversations across many dimensions across huge distances, across gaps in time across personal differences. Those conversations are key to enabling change. Our challenge is fostering conversations that build social capital. To me, this reaffirms the value of social media as a tool that continually drives us back to listening and storytelling, which are the oldest and most powerful social practices in the book.

FOCUS GROUP STUDY ANALYSIS

Talk is cheap

The members of the focus group study stressed on the point that, as opposed to traditional media, social media offers good return on investment as most popular social media sites are free to join. This is why most NGOs have taken advantage of this and have reached large audiences with little financial investment. Social media is a route to the younger generation

The younger generation is notoriously hard to reach through traditional media. Social networking sites are common places for young people to interact. Demographics of audiences vary across applications but many attract high proportions of 18-24 year olds, which can be invaluable for reaching target audiences for education and fundraising campaigns. All of your audiences are online

Most of the people who took the survey and who participated in the focus group study are online for a minimum of 3 hours a day, so the study claims that social networks are not just a route to the younger demographic. Increasingly, even the less likely suspects are beginning to catch on, particularly policy makers and celebrities. This means the different forms of social media will become increasingly important advocacy platforms.

Its easy

As well as price, ease of use is another reason why social media has caught on so quickly. Take setting up a blog for instance. Word press systems may seem daunting to begin with, but one soon realizes that its no different from writing an email, and the preview button is useful damage limitation for those worried about making mistakes. Human interest stories are inherently visual

The focus group study mentioned that many NGOs deal with subjects of human interest. Being able to transparently represent those you seek to help in your communications is often the end goal. What better way to do this than through visual applications such as Flickr and YouTube, which are excellent platforms to use to humanize campaigns. Social media is a hot button for funding bodies and media alike

Social media is a hot topic right now, not a day goes by without seeing Twitter mentioned in the news. Seeing the golden words social media in a proposal may win points with donors who are keen to embrace this area, and innovative use of Twitter is likely to pick up lots of coverage. Social media can be inclusive

Many NGOs are global and have offices in developing countries. Increasingly mobile phone and internet use is skyrocketing in the developing world and is only set to increase. Social media platforms can give civil society a greater voice in the conversation, which is incredibly important in advocacy campaigns that deal with developing world issues.

CHANGES TO WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA

A few changes but important ones were made to the Make A Wish India website and social media which are mentioned below An absolutely new look has been given to the website. All the latest branding requirements by the international office have also been incorporated. The website would be continuously updated from the administrative office end as well as the web designers end. As a result of this newer content will be added at a faster rate. Old content like that of the auction of bats by Sachin Tendulkar have been removed. Also the logos of the new sponsors and donors would replace the old ones. Also most of the content which includes updating of website with new photos would be done every month including new wish stories. Microsites of the various divisions which would include the photos of wishes being granted and wish stories that have granted by that division and also their addresses and contacts and head of the branches would be mentioned as well. A new official Facebook account has been created and will be linked to the main website. The content of the Facebook page and the Make A Wish India website would be the same. Links to the new official Facebook, Twitter and Youtube accounts would be put on the main page. At the same time a Twitter account has been created and also a Youtube account will be created where all the content would be directly controlled by the head office.

The various divisions that have blogs and Facebook pages will be inter-connected with the Facebook page controlled by the National office. So there would be benefit for both the National Head Office and the Divisional branches as well.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Following are the recommendations for Make A Wish India to further improve their online presence The website has to be continuously updated with photos and wish stories at least every month. This will make donors feel that their contributions are accounting for something. Also children who have received wishes as well as volunteers can have a look as to what the companies not only in their division but other divisions are doing. There are no videos and hence videos should be put upon the website so that it becomes more interactive. Maybe the Home page could be a little animated since the NGO deals with children. The Facebook, Twitter and Youtube content should be directly handled by the National office which includes having the username and password. If content is not handled by the National Office, then it would lead to the National office not knowing what is happening online. Also integration of the website content and social networking content should be there. Neither should lag behind the other. Also there should be integration between the various blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts of various divisions with that of the National offices social pages. Slowly Make A Wish India should adopt a process wherein they use social media to get volunteers by having an online volunteer registration link or even have an online auction as well. But this must be done when only a huge number say for example say 500 people or more are subscribed to the online presence.

CONCLUSION
Non-profit organizations, by their very nature, work on wafer thin budgets. They do not have viable access to traditional channels of financing, unless they can demonstrate value and unfortunately demonstrating value via normal media channels television, newsprint, radio, requires money. So, how does such an organization build its brand and reach out to more people to act on its behalf and support activities? Facebook has entered the annals of history in a few short years since its inception for the sheer magnitude and scope of the networking possibilities it allows. Twitter is now the internet version of snack food. Blogs allow the every Joe to express his opinion without having to meet a newspaper editors exacting standards. Advertising companies watch, aghast, as teenagers with video cameras walk away with the kind of attention that carefully orchestrated month long media campaigns inspire. Social media has come to mean the means to connect to tens of thousands of people without burning a hole in the pocket. Many enterprising NGOs are using the power of the internet remarkably effectively to spread their word, build campaigns and raise funds. Social Media is based primarily on the word-of-mouth philosophy. To take advantage of the viral culture, any NGO starting to build a brand online, needs to build a strong community of individuals who feel strongly enough about the cause to be spokespeople for the said brand. When individuals engage in conversation with an organisation and are exposed to experiences

and stories that move them, they form bonds with each other and effectively self-organise into a community. It is the job of an NGO seeking to leverage social media to encourage the right sort of conversations and effectively curate the information out there. A good example to conculde would be that of Fund-A-Cause which started on a whim in 2009. However then they decided to use Twitter to share the mails related to financial appeals. Two years later, Fund-A-Cause has spread the word about thousands of individuals and organisations seeking and offering money. Through over 3500 tweets and 1550 blog posts FundA-Cause has documented what people in India are asking money for, as well as information on funds available through institutional grants, individuals, CSR projects, and contests. The blog has been viewed 279974 times and the Twitter page has around 2000 followers. So is the return worth the effort? It seems to be a hard question to answer. After all, it is difficult to quantify conversations and human interaction. But, has it translated to non-profits moving the collective conscience enough to actually goad the community to action? It is perhaps too early to also talk about impact and efficacy, as most are still exploring this "new media". Yet social media has caused a shift in the way we think, perceive our world and communicate with each other, and represents "change" in a mammoth way. Change is really what NGOs are also looking for, and it is only likely that the association will go deeper.