NonProfit Management Case Study Essay

gateThe nearly-be holdd guild has interpreted a precise active theatrical administration agency in the quest for democracy that continues to spread across the continents till it reached the affectionateness East region tho late. This is mop up given the successive revolts that score taken place in galore(postnominal) of the Arab countries calling for real democracy. T here(predicate)fore, peculiarly in Egypt, efforts should be directed toward defending accomplished cab art b superannuatednesss and activists who ar being flagellumened by the coercive authoritarian goernment actions over the past decades (N payoo, 2007).The courteous clubhouse as identified by Khallaf (2010) comprises non- political organizations (NGOs here after(prenominal)), companionship groups, professional stands, trade unions, media organizations, research institutes/ think tanks, and advocacy and human rights courtly inn organizations (p. 2). However, the modern paper aims at focusi ng chiefly on the business office of NGOs in streng accordinglying democracy. This is imputable to the major role NGOs constitute in some(prenominal) aras in social club to enhance democracy.Among these be their role in (1) al mooing a wider range of interest groups to gather in a vocalization, pluralizing institutions to act in a watchdog role vis-a-vis the state, net pass watering and creating alliances of civil actors to place pressure on the state, (2) operative with grassroots organizations comprised of poor and marginalized groups, and (3) exerting legion(predicate) pressures on the state by pressing for change and developing utility(a) policies (Mercer, 2002). Previous Studies of civil cabaret in Egypt, over the past xx years, havebeen some(prenominal) superficial and confined to only limited beas, namely (issue found in the semi human race eye(predicate)ations, academic publications, plaster castulation materials/ manuals, directories, conference public ations, empirical comparative studies, civil society organizations (CSOs) publications, donor guide books and publications, CSOs coalitions occasional papers, rating studies, and web ground sources) (Khallaf, 2010). (Figure 1). Figure The vicissitude of civil society research in Egypt Therefore, more detailed studies should be directed toward deeply investigating the civil society organizations operating in Egypt.Khallaf (2010) has menti iodind that more research has been directed recently to train the actual magnitude of civil society through with(predicate) donor efforts in Egypt. However, the literature has pointed to serious gaps in the study of NGOs in Egypt. These include starting eon Updated statistical information on procedure of NGOs. Second The overbearing evaluation of NGOs activities. Third periodic assessments much(prenominal) as the CIVICUS or Civil conjunction Index and the Philanthropy study. Forth studying participatory governance and the pastime of c ivil society in decision making processes. ordinal changing Laws and regulations governing NGOs in Egypt.Sixth An impact assessment of all unseasoned NGOs rifleing in benevolence or development. Seventh an assessment of aid goodness to Egypt (Khallaf, 2010). Finally a detailed diagnosis of the NGOs operating in Egypt is needed. This should focus on both internal and external analyses of the selected NGOs and provide form _or_ system of government recommendations for realizable improvements in the sector. The current paper attempts to draw light on how the civil society operates in Egypt. A well recognized Egyptian NGO was selected in this ethnographic research. It is called the Future Protectors Association for C atomic number 18 and nurture or Homat Al-Mostakbal.The reason behind selecting it is the risqueer believability and the good record it is enjoying. This is quite well comprehend by the researcher based on her personal receive with this standoff. The current r esearch bathroom add of import insights both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it attempts to wrap up few of the gaps mentioned around the civil society research in developing countries and Egypt in particular. Practically, maked recommendations abide assist as strategic agendas for improving the serveance of the selected NGO in particular and the perfect NGO sector in full general.The current paper is organized as fol commencements the first sh ar impart provide detailed information ab erupt standoffs background. This will be followed by the analysis section which would sum up the major facts collected about the connectedness. The analysis is based on qualitative in-depth interviewing1 conducted with five severalise persons in the railroad tie including its founder. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented, to guide future research directions, at the conclusion part here later. BackgroundFuture protectors connecter for care and developm ent (homat al mostakbal) is one of the well known non-governmental organizations in Egypt. It is located at 425 Avenue Road, Roushdy, Alexandria, Egypt. It is a group of young people who work in the champaign of developmental work and tenderism in for a unwrap future and a current conversion to Egypt. It serves in the great Cairo area and approximately former(a)wise governorates including Alexandria, Dakahleya, Gharbeya, Menoufeya, and others. It was originally founded on the 2nd of Novermber, 2004 by Eng. El-Dreiny and his daughter engineer Marwa El-Dreiny.It was in general founded pursuance residential area development. The vision of the tie is to be one of the bragging(a)st civil society organizations working in the field and leading the areas of development, community care, and voluntary work in Egypt and the Arab world by year 2020. The mission of the friendship is the development and care of the community through several dimensions including airlift the general take of education and the development of production philosophy, increasing sentience of medicate taking problems, providing health awareness, raising the cultural level of young people, and providing a variety of amicable services.These are to be reachd patch taking into count the mastery of work and commitment to the principles of ethics and team work coope dimensionn. The uncreated objectives to fulfill the pre-mentioned vision and mission include the next Providing guidance and better utilizing the power of potential volunteers in mixed activities of the connectedness and developing their skills time strengthening their moral shelters. Increasing the awareness of community members about the dangers of medicates and rearing of cadres for different age groups.In summing up to providing technical hold back to partners and trainers in the field of awareness against the dangers of addiction and drug. Training community members by gap the production thinking and helpin g youth and poor families in establishing clear craft controls to supply industries with high quality products at competitive prices. Providing social services (in gracious physical technical) and the work projects for poor families, orphans, deaf and obtuse matters. Developing different segments of the society, e oddly children and young people both culturally and scientifically.This would entitle them to acquire freshly skills, open their horizons to different lives, and raise the level of education among the educated classes with aim of mothering progress and prosperity to the society in large. The major values of the companionship comprise the following Intentions extend action Our basic principles are our main precedentity. Understanding the priorities and giving a high commitment to them. Mastering our work. Best employing our resources. Our clients are our core interest. group work spirit. Commitment to a safe purlieu.The familiarity is registered under the oc togenarian NGO law. This entitles the standoff to be under the scrutiny and supervision of the directorate of Social Affairs. Here is the copy of the registration certificate. Figure Formal adaptation Certificate The association tries as much to manage its institutional stock. This cigarette be manifested in the form of reports including information about what happened in the past. different reports are prepared for each activity and collected yearbookly to be archived and documented for each committee.Also, thither are few attempts to record phantasmal seminars and cultural meetings either video or audio. mosttimes the association registers the campaigns to serve the unsanded members by providing them with information about the work flavor. These tentative mechanisms are aimed at saving association heritage of cognition and transference it to the future generations who would complete the mission. The organization chart of the association was revised recently. There are purports to modify it also however some limitations hinder this at the current period.The chart is decomposed into the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the wickedness-Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, the Chairmen of the conglomerate Committees the Vice Chairmen of the various Committees -who are appointed by the administration according to experience and seniority- the decision maker heed including Secretary, the monetary management. There were areas for development and the last updated organization chart was reproduced recently in 2011. The association was built on the substructure of predominantly volunteerism however in that localization of function are 17 formal employees who are getting paid monthly.There are mainly three managers executive, pecuniary, and level-headed affairs. Staff members do not perform overlapping roles, instead there is a clearly specified job description for each undivided role. This would allow for the upper m anagement to apply a strict office procedures based on assigned responsibilities. The association is able to deal smoothly with the threat of losing any/all lag member(s). Sometimes, the operations of a highly specialized department, which loses a key staff member, lavatory be postponed until the battle of a saucy person.However, in the key roles same secretarial work, work elicitnot be stopped and duties mickle be referred to any interested volunteer. The collectivity and share team working spirit that characterize the association alter it to boldness sudden problems of this sort. The association is having a lineup of directors. It is composed of 9 members, 1/3 of them are dropped during each nomination period. The nomination is made for 6 upcoming years. It is preferred to nominate persons with strong public relations to support some facilities and those who have the expertise and strong knowledge about associations policies. The association is membership based.There are different types of members including volunteers, affiliated, and working member. The membership status is documented only for continuing members who are then entitled to receive a formal membership card. Members pay a symbolic annual fee of about 20 pounds which represents one of the financial resources received by the association. The following chart represents the progress that has occurred in associations membership from 2004 to 2008. In 2010, the material body of volunteers has reached 4000. Figure The number of volunteers The following chart represents the geographical allocation of volunteers across the different governorates.Figure The geographic allocation of volunteers The social and stinting background of the members is diverse. Majority of members are categorise to be from the middle to upper middle social class. They are nearly well educated having a clear intent toward the importance of sympathy and development societal roles in their country. They have stro ng religious understandings which enable them to volunteer their efforts for the sake of making others happy while earning credits (thawab) and sweet the only god (ALLAH). The association has completed a enormous number of successful projects2 and some of which are seasonal.The seasonal projects include distri neverthelessing El Kheir bags and Ramadan lamps. It is mean to undertake some continuous projects not to be owned by the association but by encouraging the youth to execute them and the association can be a partner by 10%. addicted here below in the appendices is a list of the projects and activities the association is regard in. The primary beneficiaries of the association are Volunteers, university students, school children, widowed women, poor families, knowledge seekers, patients, orphans, and the elderly at large.The association is not specifying a trustworthy creation to focus on serving. Activities are therefore not based on the coverage of a particular area, but they are tailored to achieve certain goals across the various geographic segments. 3 The association has strange policy for recruiting both members and staff. For the former, recruitment is based on the real intention to perform volunteer work. For the latter, recruitment is based on the exact mission to be completed within the functional department the potential view will join. The association views the current recruitment policy to be an effective one.Therefore, there are no plans to change its policy during the current period. The ratio of associations founders to its members is roughly estimated to be 10%. Taking into considerations that the number of registered volunteers is roughly 4000, only 100-200 of them are active ones. The association depends on a self financing scheme. Majority of stocks come from membership fees, donations (in funds or in kind), and revenues from profit-based committees. There is one company which operates in the field of quality and 75% of its in come is transferred to the association.There are some funding projects such as the share the good, CSR, and Ijada company. Only 10% of the directed donations are taken to cover a proportion of administrative expenses but the money of Zakat is unbroken untouched. The association collects money from Egyptians. The money comes in forms of Zakat, sadakat, and in cash or in kind donations. It utilizes no foreign funding alternatives except for the star initiative with the united Nations. This partnership agreement was made under pressures from Dubai police force and entitled the association to receive a fund of $ 10.000 in order to execute some projects. The association has neither an initial endowment nor an hand brake fund. It depended mainly on donations during the initial construction phase. There is a marge account for the association where the money collected from the various sources is being deposited to or withdrew from when necessary. The association does not always profit from most of its projects because they have low profit margins. Some seasonal projects might generate profit like the partnership with Toshiba caller-out to distribute Ramadan lamps.Donations are considered as part of the revenues. The association uses money coming from donations, sadakat, and the yield of some revenue-based activities. The general overhead cost of the association are estimated roughly to be from 30-40% of the figure. The ways to manage be to the least possible level include, inducing members to rationalize consumption rates, about monitoring monthly expenses, rationalizing staff recruitment process, and covering the be of high telephone bills, hospitality and administrative outlays through collecting in kind donations.The association does not recognize any kind of support offered by the Egyptian government. The old government has provided only some facilities to make agreements with some concerned authorities such as ministries. This was mostly perceived prio r to the revolution. However, the picture of the new potential government is still vague and there is no assurance that the new government would adopt a pro-civil society philosophy or not. There are tentative expectations about possible cooperation from the ministry of environment in the future. AnalysisBased on the results of the in-depth personal interviews conducted with key persons in the association two types of analysis were made. The following section starts by presenting the first type of analysis which is the SWOT. This will be followed by the pestilence analysis. 1. SWOT analysis The association enjoys a number of strength points. These strengths include, but not limited to, the following a. Strong team spirit is a huge asset, good and efficient management system, good public relations, raising the skills of volunteers through gained experience, and very good reputation perceived by partners and the community at large.b. The carriage of strong networks both locally and interthemely. Locally with government institutions such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, the Adult Education in Alexandria, the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Environment (protocol of cooperation),partnership training with the engineering industries sector TV ITVs affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, Alexandria Biblotecha library (Department of Public Relations and Information), Morkoseya Church, the Food Bank, and the Egyptian (permanent agreement).Internationally, networks with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Organized Crime in the United Nations, the Dubai guard (working as technical/training consultants to raise awareness of the damages of drug addiction. c. Good coordination with other local and transnational organizations. Examples include organizing joint training programs with renaissance makers club in Kuwait, the Ministry of Awqaf in Kuwait, the American University of Kuwait, Gulf Univer sity, CID in Kuwait and the Ministry of Defense, Union of Arab Doctors (donations to Libya), the office of Dr.Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Toshiba Arab company and Ocean Express Company and Isam Abu-setta for heavy transport, New Horizons and Xeon, Arab Academy for perception and Technology, University of Pharos, Alexandria University, Cairo University, Helwan University, Ain Shams University, Menoufiya University, westward University , Mansoura University, Assuit University. Alshanek ya Balady Association, Alexandria west investors association, and set your goal association, the future hands Hospital. In addition to cultural partnership cooperation with the Egyptian-Turkish Friendship Association.d. The comportment of a strong floor in the main headquarters in Alexandria. It is located in a prestigious location, well furnished, and highly accessible. However it is not a snobby property and thus imposes the burden of paying high monthly rent. This location is equipped by personal com puters, laptops, wireless network, and they have electronic merchandising forces empowered by strong specialists in the field. e. The presence of an independent financial management and independent social affairs and legal affairs units whose staff are paid.The cycle project, the specialized teams used in field case studies, the illiteracy teachers, and volunteers. f. The drop of specific religious or political directions and the presence of strong family relationships with respectable figures in Alexandria. The inclusion of small associations in the many events organized by the association. Dependence on respectable personalities in providing certain services. g. Partnering with the association provides the partner several privileges and huge returns.A list of those privileges and returns to partners and individuals can be found later in the appendices. The obvious weakness points discover in this association include the following a. Funding problems (almost self-financing by 9 9% from members) and the presence of many projects in second row but (senior management has recently begun to train the middle class members to complete these projects and continue the transfer of expertise to their followers). b. There are no integration links betwixt the projects. c. Some personal conflict problems might arise sporadically among members.d. administrative problems, and lack of strictness and formalization procedures due to a conflict among the role of leader and manager, but they overcome this problem by appointing an executive director. e. Inadequate promotion for the association in the media compared to other competitors. The reasons are mainly to reduce expenses and due to the imposed security restrictions. f. The absence of headquarters in some governorates like Dakahleya and Gharbeya which constitutes a big problem because the teams there are highly specialized and they need the proper setting to grow on it.g. The lack of specialization between the work forc es in undertaking the projects. h. Some communication problems were present however, the Human Resources Director has solved them. i. Lack of volunteers and problems with their perseverance/tenure. In some cases the volunteer has a desire to see the straightaway result of his voluntary work which makes them less patient to continue. Most of the projects carried out by the association have longer term impacts and feasibility. j. Shortage in financial resources and operational tools.The major opportunities, brought from the external environment, facing the association for the time being include the following a. Activating some agreements with the Union of Arab doctors, the Ministry of Environment, various associations, political awareness teams, in addition to different charitable and awareness-raising teams seeking support from the association in terms of logistics and training. b. A strong deactivated relationship with Al-Jazeera training center which is currently under study. c.Th e existence of many public figures, associations, and young modest advocates who have neither political nor religious direction. The association can take advantage of their cooperation efforts. d. A number of donors from America, Canada and Morocco who have appeared after the revolution as service volunteers like doctors. e. Localities and the Council of the People elections. This can be achieved by nominating independent members. Any successful nominated member can offer some facilities and services to the association.Also, this will give the chance for the association to be presented as one of the active civil society organizations combat-ready in crafting the new constitution. f. Offering many partnerships to join the association with large well known institutions such as New Horizons, the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, and other new companies through exhibitions. Their offered contributions come mainly in the form of donations. g. The existence of smart facilities to complete some strategic projects through governmental entities.h. Reducing some of the strict scrutiny procedures imposed previously by the old government and the security apparatus. i. The expansion and proliferation in the environment of munificence work, the launch of various public events and the intense presence of the civil society activities. j. The potential for participation with other unknown may be small, associations to perform some other projects outside the scope of work of the association. This represents the potential for diversification and expansion of work coverage. k.Peoples Openness and their new balancing with the community with the desire to join the civil society institutions to provide charity services. l. The presence of various finance institutions through which the association can overdraw its operations scale after getting approvals from concerned authorities. m. The neutrality of the association both politically and religiously is a major strength. It is manifested in attracting bodies of various ideologies either as beneficiaries or participants. These include for example, Morosely Church or El-Azhar in my life project.The major threats or challenges, brought from the external environment, facing the association include the following a. The societal nakedness can produce many competitors some of them are supported by huge funding schemes and are biased toward the fulfillment of certain political religious agendas. b. Security threats to volunteers and the possible action of exposure to risk in places where they provide services. The possibility of being ill-treat by law breakers due to the lack of security in the Egyptian streets mainly after the recent events.c. Exploiting associations activities for the respectable interests of others. This is totally rejected. This might impose the threat of diluting the associations public image. Examples include candidates coverage for elections or political support using association s name and good reputation. d. The presence of some competitors with high media coverage, such as resala. e. The culture of voluntary work is still somehow tentative. The lack of awareness of others about the culture of volunteerism and societal responsibility. f.The necessity to invest in volunteers to improve their skills and derive maximum value out of their participation. g. The unstable economic situation of the Egyptian State. h. The role of the Ministry of Social Solidarity has been hindering the progress of the work of the civil society for long years ago. i. The emergence of the Muslim trade union and the ancestors (salaf) as major competitors. j. Lack of human rights and political awareness and the habitual unjustified freedom leading to chaotic results. k. The culture of the conspiracy against Egypt and the presence of some many unnaturalEgyptian T. V talk memorialise moderators. l. The owners of certain rented headquarters are drug dealers. This represents a major thr eat calling for immediate actions in moving those headquarters. 2. The PEST analysis a. policy-making Factors The political environment in which the association operates appears to be unstable. This status has recently turned to be much intense following the revolution due to the emergence of new political groupings. There are some promising expectations that the new democratically elected government will set new policies that are pro the civil society.The new policies are expected to tick off modified laws that regulate taxation and provide more support and facilities to NGOs operations. The old government economic policies seemed to be incredibly inefficient resulting into a deteriorated national economic act. This government had also no hand on regularisation the marketing ethics of operating NGOs. Its major concern was on prohibiting religiously oriented activities and banning NGOs participation in the political life. b. Economic Factors The lag in Egyptian national economy has impacted the role of the association.This was reflected into low interest rates on savings and high interest charges on borrowings. The inflation rate continued to grow reducing the purchasing value of the Egyptian pound. The long-term prospects for the economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and other economic indicators will depend on the policies and procedures adopted by the new elected government. c. Socio-cultural Factors The dominant religion in Egypt is Islam. The association is not neat against either religion or gender. The partnership with morkoseya church is an evidence to support this claim.The role of women continues to grow largely and rapidly in the Egyptian society. They are becoming well educated, highly paid, and having a self commitment toward volunteer work. The majority of people the association is targeting its services are illiterate. The general race lacks a solid awareness regarding green environmental issues. This is a very important role of the association in advocating for a green environment and promoting green activities. These include reducing consumption and disposal rates, saving energy, recycling disposed itemsetc.d. Technological Factors Technological innovations make life easier for all. The association utilizes as many of the technological facilities like wireless connections, fax, and international calls to pack out daily activities. The emphasis should be directed toward strengthening associations technological infrastructure to be able to do tune through online communication channels. There are strong promises regarding what the future can bring to the civil society in general and to the association in particular. This is manifested in several key points.First the majority of people are becoming motivated to volunteer work. Second the increased public awareness of the importance of civic and collective actions in contrast to confining the role of the individual to achieve purely personal goals. Third th e strong promises and irresponsible perception maintained by the majority of the poor toward the role of the civil society due to government failure to satisfy their needs. Forth the diversity in working areas removes many of the restrictions imposed on the civilian work.Fifth the potential for cooperation from the new elected democratic government. Sixth the potential for receiving huge inflows of international donors funds. Finally, the presence of many initiatives aimed at community and society renaissance that could be built upon. Conclusion and Recommendations Based on the previous systematic analyses, the following conclusions are reached. The selected association is one of an above medium size. It has several branches covering a range of governorates in Egypt.In addition to that it has tenfold international partnership agreements abroad with some countries like Kuwait and Dubai. It is ripe due to the creativity exercised by its members in proposing and launching new projec t initiatives given the limited financial and physical resources getable to them. The diversity of its projects adds to its lastingness by solving problems in multiple critical areas. Administratively, the association can be run more efficiently than its current status. The overhead costs can be controlled so that not to exceed 10% of the annual budget.This can be achieved through cutting back on hospitality, renting, and utilities expenses or finding a sponsor company to offer them for free. The remainder of the budget should be entirely devoted to devouring key projects and programs. Once those two objectives are met keeping O. H costs to the minimum and maximizing the pool of resources available to projects the association can enhance its reliability and credibility as perceived by the various stakeholder groups. It has to overcome one of its critical weaknesses which is the deficient public media coverage.Adopting innovative promotional campaigns, through media, flyers, and positive word of mouth, can bring in spare revenues, many volunteers individuals or corporations, government support, and a brotherly public image. It has to integrate advanced sophisticated techniques to save institutional reposition for the next generations. Applying digital archiving, video and audio recordings of important projects, seminars, and events, keeping records of associations best practices are all effective methods to save memory beside the conventional paper-based archiving mechanism.Web presence is very critical to the association. It is not well developed because the current website is down and the main gate to potential members is through the social media like the face book. Thus, developing a full feature website can provide good communication channels for the association both locally and internationally. The association has to allow potential members to register online. The composition of the board of directors needs some adjustments.A combination of co-fou nders, highly prestigious figures, laden capitalists, experienced technocrats given the fact that they are all politically and religiously unbiased will allow the association to leverage each troupes privileges respectively. The reason is that co-founders are well informed about the association, its mission, vision, goals and have an intuitive inner commitment to achieve them. The highly prestigious, well known, famous, and bounteous members who represent the status symbol can bring in extra money through their special donations and strong contacts with bureaucrats.The wealthy capitalists can have a win-win situation. On the one hand, they can enjoy public credibility and commitment toward social responsibility and on the other hand they will cash in the association to derive this legitimacy. Experienced technocrats can propose better structural reforms, manage operational complexities, and implement strategies to improve performance by capitalizing on strengths and overcomin g weaknesses. The association is membership-based and it serves multiple interests. It channels members annual fees to implement projects serving members of the poor communities.It also develops the skills and competencies of its members in return for their volunteer time, money, and efforts. The non-profit temperament of the association should not hinder its attempts to implement profit-based projects. These projects are important to cover the high overhead cost, keep an emergency fund to hedge against heavy(p) economic tallys, invest surplus in revenue earning initiatives, finance new developmental projects, and finally keep work flow smoothly while enjoying the tax exemption privilege.Providing full fledged free support should be only restricted to severe cases. These include very poor, eldery, disable, and young project children in highly marginalized areas. Otherwise, providing services should have something in return. For example, providing microfinance for poor families can be balanced against donating a certain percentage of periodical revenues to fund other projects. One more thing that should be emphasized specially after the revolution of January 25th is augmenting international funding options.The association has to bone up an effective strategy to share a large portion of international donor money coming into Egypt to support democracy. Only with a clear schedule of valuable projects, the association can guarantee international donors support without facing the threat of policy conditionality i. e. , imposing a certain development agenda on fund recipient as a condition to be granted the money. This can secure associations activities financially, allow it to cover O. H costs, implement expansion plans, and better serve societys compelling needs.General recommendations to improve the civil society in Egypt 1. The presence of a regulatory environment for transparency preferably than for control. 2. Ensuring comme il faut flexibility in law a pplication and enforcement i. e. , the law versus the implementation issue. 3. Promoting an openness commitment to partnership between government and public institutions and the civil society. 4. support a bottom-up approach to development from donors side. 5. Supporting the creation of institutions rather than only short or medium term programs to promote for sustainable development.6. Mobilizing mechanisms to maximize the real value perceived by the beneficiaries from the donors dollars. Page (2011) mentioned that only 10 to 30 percent of this actual grant will go to the real beneficiaries. 7. Supporting the youth-led NGOs so that they can actually participate in leading the winds of change toward democracy in Egypt. P. S. for those interested in accessing the association for donations, or more research work, here are associations contacts. Address