| |January 20208By Arun Pingaley, CIO, LabourNet Services IndiaA very large percent-age of donations for Social Enter-prises (SEs) and/or Not-for-Profits (NFPs) are from the CSR Budgets of corporates and a majority of these funds are spent on educational and vocational skilling programs. So, I am draw-ing on the needs of these programs to throw light on the technological needs of social enterprises. Now, the various stakeholders who are interested in the data and success of these CSR Programs are each looking at it from different perspectives:Corporates: Many of these cor-porates, have aligned their CSR Activities along with one or more of the 17 SDG (Sustainable Devel-opment Goals) adopted by the UN for achieving a sustainable future for all. Hence, measuring the suc-cess of a CSR aided program with achieving the respective SDG is key for them which means, the impact caused by the programs is something they are very keen to monitor.Additionally, since CSR Spend is mandatory, therefore it is criti-cal that they demonstrate full uti-lization of their CSR Budgets in an auditable manner.Governments: Since, a portion or all of the CSR Spend is tax-de-ductible under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, Governments and Tax authorities are keen to ensure that the spend was indeed made and can be audited.Social Enterprises: The So-cial Enterprises themselves need to gather suf-ficient data about the programs to ensure sharper mobilization of the target groups and achieving of greater im-pact through their activities. There are other needs, but for the purposes of this article, the above stakeholders identified and their perspectives are more universally applicable. So, when we analyze the needs of the various stakeholders, we can distill down their requirements to the following shortlist:- Evidence - of the impact creat-ed and of the CSR Spend made.- Compliance with Donor Norms - to ensure that the end goal is achieved.- Utilization Certificates ­ to account for every expense made and ensure that the full budget was utilized.- Proper Accounting ­ that all expenses on the program were accurately tracked and only the applicable expenses are being cor-rectly booked to the program.- Data ­ about the beneficiaries mobilized, the impact created (i.e., Expert OpinionEMERGING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES/NOT-FOR-PROFITS, WITH THE INCREASED TIGHTENING OF CSR NORMSLabourNet is a social enterprise that enables sustainable livelihoods for men, women, and youth in urban and rural areas.Arun Pingaley
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