About iCONGO

iCONGO = CITIZEN MOVEMENT to sensitize & create awareness amongst people at  large about socio-political issues, to build Individual Social Responsibility and encourage Citizen Action for Social Justice thru the People Sector (i.e. the NGOs).

iCONGO is the acronym for the "Indian Confederation of NGOs". However we are not just a NGO, charity or just a coalition of NGOs and over the years have become PEOPLE SECTOR & CITIZEN ACTION movement. Thus we are sited as a CITIZEN UNION and bring people together to address the wrongs that plague our society, nation and world.

We believe that every CITIZEN is a “CHANGE LEADER” and has the right and responsibility to "be the change" in a democracy. Failing which each of us is responsible for the lack of good governance, transparency and accountability in our society as this is due to our apathy and indifference. Our humble endeavor is to build Individual Socio- Political Responsibility and encourage citizen action for social justice and communal harmony by creating action against apathy and IGNITING CITIZEN ACTIVISM, with our humble thought leadership & ideas. Over the years we have created various ideas  like The Joy of Giving, RIGHT every WRONG, Karmaveer Puraskaar, etc which have become movements on their own and also inspired other movements like Lead India, Teach India, Real Heroes and other NGO awards. The thought leadership created through our conclaves, has also sparked clear & present movements to encourage action to address various social issues including electoral reforms, humane capitalism, climate change, corruption and communal harmony & global peace.

Over the past 6 years we have worked with various citizens & multiple stakeholders, created partnerships and have brought together a wide cross section of citizen movements, unions, networks, campaigns, bilateral & multilateral organisations, NGOs, Government & Corporate organisations & bodies, and concerned citizens from Government, Corporates, Academia, Civil Society, Media, Celebrities, Youth, children and Student bodies to stand up and speak out.

"Together as ONE we can RIGHT every WRONG" is our passion mantra. Our bedrock ethos is that it is not mindless & arrogant charity, but humble & involved social justice that is wanting in our world.  Our mission mantra and message to Citizens at large is "Please do not JUST GIVE MONEY, get involved with the cause dear to your heart, understand issues plaguing our society and BE THE CHANGE to advocate long term social justice". Therefore we try to sensitise people, that when there is something wrong in our society/ country, WE THE PEOPLE who are WE THE POWER and if we have the ability to take action we must own our responsibility to take action and lead the change. This is the method we encourage as "Philanthropy for social justice" (iCONGO Registered Trademark)

We also inherently believe that, along with being good humans, we all need to be GOOD CITIZENS and know our responsibility towards our state and all our people. This is also the ethos of the preamble of our constitutional pledge which teaches us our responsibility, adopt all the values of our constitution and to be worthy citizens. iCONGO encourages these values towards investing in and building an EGALITARIAN, RESPONSIBLE, JUST and HUMANE society. If we cannot set things right, because we do not follow these values as a citizenry, then we can only blame ourselves for all the wrongs in our beloved country. iCONGO attempts with every approach to build a collective people union & citizen movement, that embodies the courage of conviction of our constitutional preamble.

"We, The People of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens justice, social, economic and political, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. Equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all. Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation. In our constutuent assembly this 26th day of November 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this constitution."(Please note iCONGO along with the people of India has been promoting 26/11 as the NATIONAL CITIZEN ACTION DAY for the past 6 years)

Our "founding oath" at the very conception is to always be a selfless catalytic facilitator and never to raise funds for ourselves or keep any percentage of funds we raise and facilitate for member NGOs. A vow we have lived up to over the years and we are probably the only organisation worldwide that lives by this principle. Funds are directly channeled to member NGOs and we do not even receive funds into our bank account but monitor the process and reporting and also encourage donors to visit projects and be involved at every step. We pioneered the concept of LIVE REPORTING, where the donor gets to see the impact at the project in the first person.

We have thus raised the bar and sustain ourselves purely on earned revenues through consulting assignments and our social ventures. Over the years citizens and various supporters, including the corporate world, media & government bodies have recognised our selfless efforts as the hallmark of trust and seek our advice to fund the right NGOs. We created "THE OMEGA RATINGs- (TOR)" (a benchmark to screen NGOs adhering to best practices) to reclaim and preserve public trust in the people sector, by promoting transparency and accountability through NGO pre-screening and accreditation. NGOs need to be approved by meeting the standards of the process before we accept them as members. TOR is now recognised globally and various organisations like One World in UK and other accreditation agencies in Europe and the US have studied the process and adopted this in their countries. Through this section you can read more on how we work at different levels with different sectors, our guiding principles , our genesis (or rather the thoughts behind our reason to be). We also have videos on our home page including the CNBC story which shall tell you more about all we do. Under Meet the iCONGOANS you can meet with all our volunteers who proactively participate to drive the mission and all iCONGOANS follow the JUST ANOTHER VOLUNTEER code.

iCONGO over the years has come up with cutting edge IDEAS FOR CHANGE and have pioneered and ideated campaigns in India like RIGHT every WRONG, KARMAVEER PURASKAAR & THE JOY OF GIVING (to name a few) which have now become huge movements with the people and people sector in India.

"Indian Confederation of NGOs" will soon be changing to International Confederation of NGOs as we are now in the process of registering our foundations in the UK and USA.