General Members

Q. Can I be a Founder member ?

A. No, Founder membership is closed as founder members are mostly organisations that have been with us from the start and / or have supported us with time, advice and collaborative efforts to build the iCONGO mission. This membership is now closed and will be open by invitation only after 2-3 years based on the transparency & accountability and the collaborative efforts we engage in with our members in other categories.

Q. Can I become a Chartered member ?

A. No, Chartered membership is by upgradation only and one has to start as a General Member. The corpus fees are much higher in Founder and Charter category as the benefits are also a little more therein.

Q. What is General membership category ?

A. We created the general membership as there was a huge demand for membership, by thousands of NGOs ranging from international and large organisations like SOS villages to Amnesty to IPPAI, and from grassroots NGOs like SEVA, Maher, Gramodaya Sansthan and various others. Hence we created General Memberships from 2011, as an entry point into the iCONGO family, with a small one time corpus fee of Rs.10, 000 and annual membership fee of just Rs.1, 000.

Q. Why do we have to pay the Corpus Fee and the annual Fee ?

A. The iCONGO Team is working vigorously to create infrastructure and visibility for the member NGOs. There are relentless efforts through the year, for trying to mobilise financial & human capital, for the Member NGOs, by involving them with a widespread network of individual & corporate supporters for the long term.

We are sure, you would appreciate that an annual fee of Rs.1, 000 is less than 100 Rs. per month while you get a full workforce of development professional, fundraisers, advisors, trainers and internet gurus to work for you. We are positive, you will realise that this is a cost that is less than the cost of the junior most officer in any organisation or an office assistant working on minimum wages.

You will also agree. that you have to pay a onetime Corpus/ Entrance Fee as well as maintenance charges even when you join a professional membership association or to your housing society etc. Even when you register a society/ trust, you need to pay registration fees to the registrar and service charges to the CA etc (in lieu of services) which probably would be much more than the sum total of the small corpus fee and annual fees asked for by iCONGO to offer you 100X services, benefits, privileges and advantages in return.

The annual fee and the interest generated on the Corpus Fees helps us sustain the organisation secretariat and frugal overheads.. It also helps us meet costs involved in promoting the ecosystem and the various infrastructure that we have created for helping all member NGOS to get the 100X benefits, services, privileges and support with financial & human capital.

Q. Can I become a General member without paying corpus fees ?

A. No. Membership may not be accepted without paying the Corpus Fee as it does not help our sustainability and stretches our bandwidth to provide all the member privileges and services sans the fees.

Q. Why do I have to pay 5 years fees in advance ?

There is a huge investment in terms of money, time and efforts in coding various websites, helping format your listings as a General member on www.iseethechange.com etc. General members can list up to 3 projects for funding on iSTC (I See the Change) and to integrate this itself, there is a transaction cost of much more than Rs.15, 000 that general members pay on joining. Hence to ensure seriousness of intent and long term alliance, we insist on 5 years annual fees, along with the corpus fees. This helps us with our sustainability, failing which it is absolutely not cost effective to engage. Secondly, it also helps your NGO ,as you can reap the member benefits fully only through a long term membership. I am sure you would appreciate that there are senior professional involved here who charge a huge consulting fee to engage with NGOs and you get all their efforts and support for just Rs.1, 000 per annum.

Q. How do NGOs benefit through iCONGO membership ?

A. Please check Membership summary, the NGO Advantage & Benefits ppt. and the CNBC story on iCONGO and you shall get your answers.

Q. As a General member, how and when can I be upgraded to the charter category ?

A. General Members may be upgraded to Charter members once we evaluate and see how they report on a timely basis and when we audit their input to people who have donated and supported them through our network. We would love to have all General members upgraded to Charter members but this depends on the proactive nature of the General members to make things happen and help maintain iCONGO integrity and credibility by being proactive with punctual well-timed reports, time bound content posting etc.

Q. You are revising annual fees and corpus fees from 2011, so will we have to pay arrears ?

A. The fees are being revised from the next financial year itself that is why it makes sense for you to join now as you will avail of current fees. Please also note that corpus fee for people who join now would not increase, however after 5 years the annual fees would be applicable apropos the fees at that time (I am sure you appreciate that there is inflation cost which applies to us also). So while no additional corpus fees would be asked even if corpus fees are more, the annual fees would be applicable as per what it is 5 years later. For example, in 2015 if the fee is Rs. 3,000 then you would pay annual fees of Rs. 3,000 which would be a small thing considering the support and funds you would get from our network. However, there is a way to beat this inflation and you may pay annual fees for up to 15 years now @ Rs.1, 000 and not pay any increased annual fees for 15 years. This facility is open only up to 15 years i.e. till March 2026.