Survivors functions under 5 fundamental principles: Community Centric, Solution Oriented, Value for Money, Transparent and in Solidarity with the Survivors.
We use our years of our experience, and lessons learnt from other organisations, especially from those that did not work, to implement programs in the fastest and most effective manner. Our end-to-end model rests on the foundation of fairness and equity. We strive to stand out as the most transparent organisation. We have nothing to hide, no surprises, no excuses, no long story, and we believe that openness sets us at par.
100% of public donations are used for relief purposes only. We don't raise or use funds to run our office. So, not a cent of your donation money will be used for salary or office expenses. We do not take money for overheads or administration from donations.
The Survivors secretariat in Nepal runs with a small, effective team, which consists of paid (from personal sources) workers, and draws energies from hundreds of committed volunteers, who work for free, in the field. As running a world-class organization costs money, the secretariat costs are covered by a separate pool of personal donation, exclusively from the salaries (from actual jobs) of the executive committee members and a few close friends, who contribute directly to office expenses. To make it even more transparent, a separate bank account has been set-up just to run the office so we can ensure that there is no leakage of public donation, or any cover-up what so ever
We believe that solutions do not necessarily need to be expensive and we focus on not wasting any of the money that you donors have worked so hard to earn. We are against all forms of charity dumps and take great care not to overspend on anything.
We are patiently building community ownership by asking for counterpart financing, using our experience and local contacts. If there is a way to get things done at minimum cost we will discover it. We also leverage the generosity of people and agencies that are willing to donate materials. If it cuts down costs, we will accept the help with proper acknowledgement of the original contributor. It should here be clarified that, we would never accept the materials from any agencies with hidden political or religious agenda.
We identify the importance of national response, and liaise closely with local governments at the village level. Going directly to the grassroots level saves vital time and money. It also provides an opportunity to deliver our services and monitor their impact directly.
Not everything we do will be sustainable. However, we use approaches that are more likely to have sustained outcomes. Our work is based on the key principles of sustainability:
The people who run Survivors have world-class educations and 100+ collective years of experience in the fields of development and program management, the private sector and the sciences. We are collectively as diverse and experienced as everyone else in the field, but we are also open to learning and adapting quickly. As our organisation has expanded and developed we have striven to set a benchmark for any organisation working in the field of development.
