Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 1

MARKET RESEARCH .......................................................................................................... 2
PROPOSAL............................................................................................................................ 3
MOBILE APPLICATION FEATURES ................................................................................. 3
APP MOCKUPS ..................................................................................................................... 6
REVENUE GENERATION MODEL ..................................................................................... 8
PROMOTION ........................................................................................................................ 8
CHALLENGES/RISKS/BARRIERS TO MARKET ENTRY ................................................. 9
STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS ............................................................. 9
BENEFITS ............................................................................................................................. 9

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India, since independence, strives for socio-economic equality and it cannot be achieved
without the cooperation of the private sector. To ensure this, under the Companies Act
2013, it was mandated that the companies with annual revenue of more than 1000 crore
rupees or net worth of 500 crore or more, must spend 2% of last 3 years average net profit
on CSR activity. They can invest in various areas like education, heath, skill development,
cleanliness, poverty, water conservation, gender equality, hunger etc. But, according to
survey by consulting firm KPMG, it was found that 52 of the largest 100 companies in
India failed to meet the CSR compliance of 2%.

Non-Governmental organizations in India that work for these causes find it increasingly
difficult to get domestic funds for their activities. Generally, NGOs have five alternatives to
procure funds- foreign funds, corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds, funds from the
government, Indian foundations or charitable trusts and funds from public. The domestic
funds are mostly targeted towards limited activities whereas there is flexibility in those terms
when it comes to foreign funds. This could be attributed to the lack of awareness about the
various activities and causes that these NGOs are working for.

Our application "Prayas" aims to close these gaps and provide a transparent platform where
the relevant parties can register and help each other out. We will also carry out a due
diligence check and track the progress of the activity to help the donor knows how their funds
are getting utilized utilization of funds has remained low due to procedural difficulties, delays
in accessing resources, corruption and political interference, based on which the NGOs can
be rated for future reference. The model will also provide corporate donors an opportunity to
publicize their activity on social media and increase their brand equity, creating a win-win
situation for all.

At the pilot stage, we will partner with NGOs present in metro and big cities like Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. Since, according to an
analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Expenditure in India, published in the Economic
& Political Weekly in 2014, it was found that firms mostly undertake CSR expenditure for
the welfare of communities around their areas of operation and since these cities house the
biggest corporates of the country, Prayas will provide the appropriate platform to reach new
areas.

MARKET RESEARCH

What is CSR?
CSR is the responsibility of an enterprise for its impacts on the society. Companies integrate
social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their
stakeholders. Although the CSR roots lie in philanthropic activities (like donations, relief
work, etc.) of corporations, the CSR concept has evolved since then and now encompasses all
related concepts such as sustainable development, triple bottom line, corporate citizenship,
philanthropy, business responsibility and shared value.

The law
Under the Companies Act, 2013, any company having a net worth of rupees 500 crore or
more or a turnover of INR 1,000 crore or more or a net profit of INR 5 crore or more has to
spend at least 2% of last 3 years average net profits on as specified in the CSR Schedule of
the Companies Act, 2013 and as amended from time to time. The rules came into effect from
1 April 2014.

With Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) being mandated in the form of Section 135 of
the Companies Act 2013, corporates have now begun to recognize CSR as a core activity,
and are looking to find innovative ways to effectively utilize their CSR fund.

CHALLENGES FOR CSR FULFILLMENT

Although many companies share this broad vision of CSR, they are hampered by poor
coordination and a lack of logic connecting their various programs.

1. Generally, companies fund projects closer to their location. This leads to over
flooding of resources into one area. Consequently, more industrialised states are
getting developed than those with relatively less.
2. Even if a company chooses to fund a socially impactful CSR project, it often does not
have the capability to implement due to lack of understanding of the situation and
shortage of adequately trained personnel.
3. Another challenge faced by companies is finding the partners with credibility and
good projects to support. This leads to company supporting large NGOs which
already receive large sums of money from other organizations and may not even
support all the relevant causes.
4. Often the system of CSR activities has been misused by the companies. It is alleged
that the corporates cheat the system by giving fake donations to NGOs that then
return the monies after deducting their commission.
5. Politics also plays a factor in skewed priorities, with some corporates wanting to get a
 good name in government books by funding only government-led projects rather than
independent initiatives.
6. The NGOs do not have the sufficient funds to carry out socially significant projects.
Their voice is not reached out to people who are willing to support their cause.
7. The NGOs know that they can develop a strategic relationship with a special company
but do not have the right connection and ways to reach out to these companies.

PROPOSAL
The application shall bring together Corporates and NGOs in to address some of the most
critical issues that are prevalent in the country and help in changing lives across the country.
We will work as an intermediary between Corporates who are looking for partners to carry
out projects on their behalf and prospective partner NGOs which are capable of doing and
require the funding for.

COMPANY VISION & MISSION

VISION: To bridge the gap between those who wants to help make the world a better place
to live.
MISSION: We aim to ensure convenient, transparent and effective technological platform to
make CSR implementation hassle free and profitable for everyone. We will empower
thousands of NGOs-partners, by building an ecosystem encompassing financing institutions,
corporate firms, individuals etc.

MOBILE APPLICATION FEATURES

NGOs will register on our portal and send for a request to become a partner. Thereafter an
external agency which will be our due diligence partner can verify the NGO for its past
impact and transparency. After verification of the NGO, it will upload its projects and will be
listed on our portal.
The homepage of the app will show some of the projects that have been listed by the different
NGOs. Here the details displayed will only be limited to Project cause, location, prospective
start and end date. The Corporates can choose the desirable project. After this, the users
(companies) would be required to sign up for further usage. A company can choose to fund
some part of one or more projects. Depending upon how much they are willing to spend, our
fee will be calculated. The details the NGO will be revealed only after the fee payment.
The information shall be available on our portal and can be searched for under the following
heads:
Program name
Cause:
Education child, women
Health
Skill Development
Obesity
Cancer
 Child rights
Vaccination
Water
Sanitation
House and Shelter
Disaster relief
Financial Inclusion
Location
Budget
Completion date
Target Beneficiaries
Scope of Work
Eligibility Criteria for NGOs

OTHER FEATURES:
CSR Budget Calculator: There will be a feature of CSR budget calculator wherein the
company will enter its profit and revenue and accordingly we will calculate the
estimated budget that the company should spend on its CSR.
Project Tracking and monitoring: This feature will help companies track the progress
of the projects that they have funded. There will be internal milestone creation for all
projects and the company will be notified when a milestone is reached. We shall be
providing personnel for verifying the claims of the NGO regarding milestone
achievement.
Rating of NGOs: depending upon the past experiences, meeting deadlines for
milestone achievements etc. the NGOs will be rated. This feature will help companies
make a sound decision while selecting an NGO as its implementation partner.
Social Media Publicity: After the completion of the project, the Company can choose
to share it on Social Media directly through our portal.
Chat Box: to facilitate a seamless discussion between Corporates and selected
implementation partner NGO, there will be a feature of Chatbox where the
representatives from both the sides can communicate.
 NGOs register on our Due Diligence of NGO
portal by our partner
organization

Companies register Browse the Projects CSR Budget Calculator

on our portal

Details of Projects and Bank details of the

selected NGOs are NGO are shared, our
revealed fee is deducted

Project Allocation

Internal Milestone Progress Monitoring

achievement and reporting

Project
Completion

Share on Social Media

APP MOCKUPS

APP-START INTERFACE SIGN UP/LOG-IN PAGE REGISTRATION

MAIN ACCOUNT PAGE PROJECT FILTER PROJECT OPTION

 NGO DETAILS MORE DETAILS CHATBOX

PROJECT SELECTION ALTERNATIVES PAYMENT

 SHARE TRACK

REVENUE GENERATION MODEL

Subscription: The focus here is to work to get people to sign up and purchase the
subscription of the app. The company shall pay a certain percentage of the total
budget it is willing to fund for the projects listed on the portal.

Operating expenses:
1) Application creation and maintenance.
2) Personnel hired for verification of project progress claimed by NGO
3) Staff expenses
4) Office Space and other rental for utilities

PROMOTION

Build a micro website: This will showcase our product to web audience & will contain
description & feature of the app.
Start a Blog: Blog will contain articles related to CSR projects, our product related
articles from websites like yourstory.
Product Video: The Product video will have characteristics of our product & try to
tell our app story, but in a way people can identify with. This video will be shared on
social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube several times a week
to promote the app.
Partnership with NGOs: The NGOs who will be willing to subscribe to the app are
going to be asked to put the name of the app Prayas in their billboard ads & flyers.
CHALLENGES/RISKS/BARRIERS TO MARKET ENTRY

Accessibility of NGOs on the web.

Acceptance of the application by companies.
Capital Requirements for the project.
Low willingness of firms to pay for CSR projects.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS

Partnership with major banks for payment gateways like HDFC, SBI, Axis, PNB,
ICICI etc.
Partnerships with e-wallets like PayTM, Airtel Money for individual contributions.
Due diligence partner like Charities Aid Foundation (CAF India).

BENEFITS

Benefits accrued to companies:

The objective of CSR activity is to maximize the firm's overall impact on the society and its
stakeholders. CSR policies, practices and programs are being continuously integrated by a
number of companies throughout their business processes and operations. A growing number
of corporates feel that CSR is not just another form of indirect expense but is important for
protecting the goodwill and reputation, defending attacks, reduced regulatory oversight
and increasing business competitiveness.

Income Tax deduction: Companies will get benefit under the Income tax act where CSR
expenditure is not allowed as business expenditure under Income Tax Act 1961. If a company
were to undertake CSR activities on its own, there would be no tax deduction. Therefore, to
get the benefit of such activities it has to partner with an NGO that has a tax deduction
certificate, the company could claim a tax deduction benefit

Tracking of Project: The app will have a feature of tracking the progress of the project. The
project will be divided on the basis of milestones. When a milestone is achieved, a
notification will be sent to the company.

Social Media Publicity: On successful completion of the project, we will share the report on
our website and also post it on our social media page.

Benefits accrued to NGOs:

Many non-governmental organizations in India are engaged in social development and
environmental development activities. These organizations can support the socio-economic
development by ensuring community participation the developmental process.
Today, NGOs need to explore the various possibilities of funding their projects. NGOs will
get benefit as they get chance to attract potential donors. This app will provide a very good
platform for active participation, networking and building relationships with prospective
donors. These may result in fruitful associations in long run.
An NGO can avail income tax exemption after getting itself registered under section 80G
then the person or the organisation making a donation to the NGO will get a tax deduction of
50%. The cause also gets publicised and talked about with the feature of sharing on social
media.