Essay Example on NGO Resources: How Boards Manage for Needy Groups

Non-governmental organization and other bodies which support needy groups obtain their resources from various institutions and individuals. This may be in terms of donations, charity, civic engagement, and volunteer work. The board of directors is the one responsible for the management of these resources to the beneficiaries of the products and services. The organization may be servicing a distinct group in the society or maybe serving the community at large. There are various approaches that these organizations use in the distribution of these resources. They control several resources intending to meet the mission and vision of the organization. One of the ways that these organizations use to manage the funds is the Asset Based Community Development, which has its various benefits and shortcomings. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast charity, volunteerism, and civic engagement and also to discuss the significance of using asset-based community development in achieving the mission and vision of the organization.

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There I thin line between the difference in charity, volunteerism, and civic engagement. Charity is the free donation of resources to an organization or a group of people basically for their excellent. In most cases, charity is given in terms of financial assets to the organization. Volunteerism is the act of offering one's services to an organization or a group of people without pay. In essence, volunteering is offering services for free to others. Civic engagement is an activity done by an individual or a group of people to protect or achieve some that are of public interest. An example of charity is the funds that the world health organization gives to third world countries in terms of food, money, and medical health service. An example of volunteer work in when members of the world health organization, such as doctors and nurses, offer to go to third world countries to provide medical services and expertise without being paid anything. Civic engagement would involve activities like conservation of the environment by members of a community. The members of the town address political and non-political concerns that affect the community and, therefore, promoting wellness and quality in the city.

The similarity between charity, volunteerism, and civic engagement in the three activities, the doers do not have any direct self-benefit or gains. Their services and donations are for the betterment of the others. The three also address the issue of concern in the community that is somehow out of control, and the national government may not adequately control or manage. The three also require free will from the door who decides to do the actions out of goodwill without any cohesion.

The activities engaged usually are not subject to taxation by the government so that they are in full support (Ledwith, 2020). All three events serve to be part of the corporate social responsibility of businesses. In this case, the company may decide to act as charity donors to some needy people; they may also volunteer to offer services to the community. Also, the business organization may decide as a group to engage in community development or conservation activity that would protect the interests of the city and benefit its people.

There are several assets of the organization that charity and volunteer individuals can work on. The common ones include giving cash outrights, securities, and real estate. Others include tangible items, donor-advised funds, charitable gifts annuity, family foundations, and a charitable lead trust. Community development projects may also fall under the category, especially under civil engagements.

The volunteers are the ones who work on these assets to ensure that they serve the purpose in which they were donated. For example, when a donor offers to drills water boreholes in a dry community, a volunteer may come in to provide free labor to those who will w=be working in the drilling sites. When the organization received all these, it would be recorded under its asset portfolio from which they would be managed. The organization would be needed to make annual reports to the public and the government concerning their activities, reporting the audited news just for transparency and ensure the donors that they are using the resource well.

Asset-Based Community Development is a bottom-up approach that focuses on what the community has and uses it for development. This approach analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the community capitalizes on the strengths and work on minimizing the gap (Green & Haines, 2015). It is focused on continuous improvement and quality development of the community at large. This approach serves to enhance charity and volunteer work in several ways.

The approach identifies and mobilizes people, assets, passions, and skills in the community. Thee accumulated resources would then be directed towards an aspect of common interest. For example, the city may want to improve the roads. People would be asked to volunteer in terms of labor, organizations would be invited to give resources required, and the members would repair or make the roads by themselves. It also focusses on building relationships and promoting cohesion in the community. Such an approach improves the charity works in the community and also enhances civic engagement by uniting the members of the city. This way, the vision and mission of the organization would be achieved, which is generally improving the lives of individuals and having a better and healthy community.

Asset-Based Community Development contributes to a better understanding of social responsibility, civic engagement, and community building in several ways. The approach requires volunteer work from individuals, and the effort is towards solving social problems that affect everyone. Therefore, knowing the purpose of the activity and the benefits creates an urge for action, which encourages social responsibility. Members of the community would be building their social responsibility through volunteering in solving social problems. The activities that are done are for the benefit of the public at large, and therefore, it is promoting civil engagements (Winter, 2015). This little but continuous process would lead to community development as a problem would be tackled one by one.

Other benefits also include the establishment of healthy relationships within the community, which promoted peace and harmony. It allows every member of the community to contribute by identifying potential problems, suggesting solutions, donating assets, volunteering in the works, among many other activities. It also deters the vast gaps and disparities between the poor and the rich as it involves pulling of resources within the community to serve the purpose for the more significant benefit. The developments are long term and continuous and thus would serve the community for long.

References

Green, G. P., & Haines, A. (2015). Asset building & community development. Sage publications.

Ledwith, M. (2020). Community development: A critical approach. Policy Press.

Winther, T. (2015). What lies within?: an exploration of Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) (Master's thesis).