Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) has been awarded the Guide Star India Champion Level-Platinum Certification by Guide Star India for NGO Transparency (Financial Transparency) on September 27, 2016. The award was given by GuideStar India at a special programme in Mumbai. More than 51,400 NGOs had applied through mail and workshop for GuideStar India Transparency Awards 2016. Only 307 organisations emerged winners at various levels. KISS is one of the 14 Platinum winners. Earlier, KISS had won Gold star award for its financial transparency.

This recognition follows KISS’ inclusion recently in the Top 500 NGOs in the world, widely regarded as the ‘non-profit Ivy League’, and top 10 NGO’s in India by the Geneva-based organization, NGO Advisor. As part of its commitment to maintain the highest level of transparency, KISS always publishes its accounts details, annual report and all other relevant information on its website, besides filing these documents regularly with authorities concerned. It is matter of pride that KISS has achieved Platinum certification despite being an NGO of only 20 years.

The award acquires added relevance as recently Hon’ble Supreme Court of India had noted that only 8% to 10% about 31 lakh NGOs in India filed their accounts with the Registrar of Societies, detailing their receipt and expenditure. KISS has always fulfilled all its regulatory obligations, maintaining the highest level of transparency in all sectors, including finance. KISS got Platinum award along with only 14 other Indian NGOs.

GuideStar India launched the GuideStar India NGO Transparency Awards to recognise organisations that practice and voluntarily demonstrate their transparency and accountability in the public domain. While there are many awards for NGOs, there is a need for awards to recognize transparency level of civil society organisations to inspire greater trust in their work and garner support for their cause. As many as 717 applications were received out of which 307 were declared winners.