Having been in the USA for most part of the last 11 years or more, I have been a virtual member of several social activity/service groups/organizations. While I do subscribe to parts of all ideologies of all these groups, I do not intend to form my own organization possibly ever! Why? To put it short, decentralized efforts cannot achieve anything but temporary and short-lived satisfaction and scope.
Why do you want to "establish [your] NGO" rather than joining an existing organization? That’s the big question I always have in mind whenever an enthusiastic individual says that (s)he wants to start an organization. In my opinion, it's better to join an existing organization for various reasons:
An established organization has already established its reach in the domain it's interested in.
An established organization has a dedicated/devout volunteer base that has passed through the phases of taking pains and choosing priorities very well, probably the hard way. This means, the "aarambha-Sooratwam" (initial fervor) has already ended and they have already "worked through" the intricacies of the domain of interest.
An established organization would have already devised a channel for donations from people in various cities and even countries. The IT Department paperwork is not something one can simply do, and clearance for foreign exchange donations takes two (or three?) years after applying for it, and you cannot apply for it until you the IT clearance for domestic donations (which takes a year or more, if I remember correctly). In other words, an organization cannot solicit donations from people outside the members' personal reach for up to 3-5 years after registration. Money isn't everything but money does make many things, of course.
Decentralized efforts cannot bring very major change, like I wrote earlier. For example, Hyderabad alone had 58 organizations working in the "traffic improvement" domain as of 2003 (when I last enquired from a sub-registrar Office)! How much has the traffic improved really? Imagine if coordinated efforts are taken up by one organization that can amalgamate all these passionate volunteers working all over the place with whatever meager money they can amass together and working in conjunction with the traffic police department. Can you not imagine a better traffic situation then?
Thus said, I recommend that everyone that has a passion to work towards a better society should join at least one existing organization to see how things work and notice how one would "continue to feel" about the goals, and means, while working towards the same.
For example, I am personally more interested in the society at large, and my motto is "educate the literates" - that's what I am interested in personally. But, I involve myself in every organization that I can come across, so that I can understand my "target" – the Society - better. Some organizations may, on the surface, seem myopic in their goals and reach, but then they're probably doing so very much better in that niche domain; even bigger organizations may probably not be able to cater so much to such remote areas of work/need. Some may want to address individuals and only individuals' personal needs. That's not exactly my "target" audience but I still want to learn how things work at their level, so that I can understand and learn if those, or similar, solutions can be implemented to the society at large.
…So, do I have any recommendations? Well, yes, if you really want some point of start. You are free to choose any of those below or many more out there:
To Make A Difference (TMAD) <http://www.tmad.org/> works towards needs in the domains of education, health, support to individuals and communities, Right To Information (RTI), and so on. You may want to join the Yahoo! Group if you are interested: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tomakeadifference/>. TMAD (I call it “Team-Add” instead of “T-MAD”) started as a group of individuals and runs on regular membership contributions and need-specific donations from donors, members and non-members. TMAD was also instrumental in forming a "syndicate" of likeminded groups titled "Birds of Same Feathers (BOSF)" and is working at larger objectives through this initiative. The best thing about this group is that most people are just individuals that take time and money out for this organization, and the group works on 0% organizational costs, i.e. the donations are used 100% to address the needs; all costs borne by members comes from their own individual pockets.
BhUMi <http://www.bhumi.in/> reaches the lower strata and society at large. Branch-off of Bharat Uday Mission (BM) in Hyderabad, as basic aim shifted from politics to social service.
Karmayog <http://www.karmayog.org/> is headquartered in Mumbai and is essentially aimed towards society at large, enlisting local efforts in various cities, and throwing light on various societal issues.
Youth for Social Change (YSC) is based in Chennai, and is working towards a better society in general through various awareness initiatives; most of the members are part of various other likeminded groups and share responsibilities and information. You may want to join the Google Group if you are interested: <http://groups.google.com/group/youthforsocialchange>
More, bigger (national-level) organizations:
India Literacy Project (ILP): <http://www.ILPnet.org/>
Association for India's Development (AID): <http://www.AidIndia.org/>
ASHA for Education: <http://www.ASHAnet.org/>
Foundation for Democratic Reforms of India (FDRI): <http://www.FDRI.org/>
Lok Satta Organization: <http://www.LokSatta.org/>
Mission Safer India (founded by Kiran Bedi): <http://www.SaferIndia.com/>
No Ragging Foundation: <http://NoRaggingFoundation.blogspot.com/>
5th Pillar: <http://www.5thPillar.org/>
Vote India: <http://www.VoteIndia.in/>
There are much bigger (international) organizations such as Red Cross, GreenPeace, Amnesty International, Child Relief and You (CRY), Children International, UNICEF, and so on that you can be a part of.
N.B.: In no way do I claim that the above list is exhaustive. There are hundreds and thousands of such organizations in India and abroad, thanks to which we are what we are today. Kudos to all the volunteers in all such organizations!
Lastly, I say this: I am an engineer, and therefore, if I don't know how to approach a scientific problem, what I'd rather do is see how others do it, and then if I can't still devise my own way of working out a solution, my best approach would be use a statistical approximation - perform an integral/summation over all possible solutions and therein is a plausible solution! That's what I do for real world problems too.
