Blog

To:                  Our Clients in the International NGO Community

From:             Birches Group, InsideNGO and People In Aid

Subject:          NGO LOCAL PAY SURVEYS FOR THE NGO SECTOR

Since mid-2008, Birches Group, InsideNGO, ORC Worldwide and People In Aid have been leading the LiNGO initiative to create a reliable, consistent and relevant compensation and benefits survey for the international NGO sector.  During the pilot phase of the LiNGO project in 2008 and 2009, as well as our experience over the most recent 12 months, we have learned a great deal about the unique challenges faced by organizations working in the development sector, and have also had the chance to provide assistance to many NGOs on compensation and organization design matters.

Recently, it was announced that ORC Worldwide, one of our LiNGO collaborators, would be acquired by Mercer.  As of September 1, 2010, the LiNGO collaboration between Birches Group, InsideNGO, People In Aid and ORC Worldwide has dissolved, and we will no longer be conducting local salary surveys under the LiNGO survey name.

Announcing the new NGO Local Pay Surveys

Birches Group, Inside NGO and People in Aid are pleased to announce that we are continuing the initiative started over two years ago, to create and sustain a compensation and benefits survey designed specifically for the international NGO sector.  This initiative will be known as the “NGO Local Pay” surveys.  Even though our surveys have a new name, we want to assure our NGO clients that the quality of the surveys and our commitment to the them will remain unchanged:  the same survey methodology, the same survey technology, and the same team of survey analysts will continue in the NGO Local Pay initiative backed by three of the original four LiNGO-sponsoring organizations.

There will, however, be two important changes:

• We have taken the decision to dramatically reduce the per country survey price by over 33%! The survey participation fee is now just US$595 per country.  (We will continue to offer a bulk pricing option as well.); and
• Birches Group, Inside NGO and People In Aid will be assuming survey marketing and promotion efforts (ORC Worldwide had led these efforts under the LiNGO initiative).

We are also planning to expand our offering, including more opportunities for training, and tools which compliment the survey outputs and enhance their utility to our clients.

We want to assure all of our clients in the international NGO community that these developments will have little disruption on our surveys while presenting new opportunities.  LiNGO Surveys already underway will continue, and will be delivered as promised.  Future surveys will be launched as “NGO Local Pay” surveys as soon as sufficient organizations have registered for participation in each country.  We very much look forward to working with you and your organization as together we continue to build the premier database of compensation information designed specifically to meet the needs of the NGO Community across the developing world.

Visit Our New Website

You are invited to visit our new website, www.ngolocalpay.com, to learn more about upcoming surveys, review the new pricing, and get reaquainted with our survey offering.

September, 2010