Dear Portfolio Committee on Social Development,
As emailed previously, we wish to provide a support service to the Dept of Social Development, to ensure that non profit organisations are funding compliant.

This service is offered free to the Department!

We verify, and check their certificates, AFS, AR, and many other documents. Furthermore, we collect statistics of NPO''s in the various regions and provinces, which can be used for the Department's planning and budgeting.
We also collect data on the number of staff and volunteers working in this sector, to allow the industry to understand the number of people working to make a change in SA.
Our work is endorsed by DSD and we are also members of Transparency International.

How can this free service offered to this Department not enhance their own work, planning and budget allocations and furthermore allow real time up to date information about the NPO sector? NGO Advisor's listing site is updated every 4 hours, which I am afraid DSD cannot do with their Non Profits names on their website. Many complaints from the NPO sector is that there is never any response to their queries from the DSD office in Pretoria, nor can they wait months for an outcome of their submitted documents.

Let us assist where we can. The real advantage is that the Department does not have to budget or put money aside for this verification service. All it takes is one meeting with the Minister and communicate this with the Non Profit sector. However, trying to organise such a meeting is near impossible. (after 1 year of requests, we still do not get any responses!)

Perhaps, one of you as committee members, can lobby for this free service to be utilised? It will answer many of your questions posed in your meetings about the NPO sector!

Its a win win situation for DSD, NPO's and the Donor Sector.
I implore you not to wait for another committee member to follow up with us, but to personally take this on and drive it forward.

Sincerely
Nelly Burrows
NGO Advisor
nelly@ngoadvisor.co.za