1. In Bilateral / Multilateral Business Councils, which government do we work with? You can reach out to governments in both countries with specific asks.
2. Is this policy-focused work? Yes, influencing Policy is a priority, along with equal emphasis on business-to-business networking and community outreach.
3. Who are the Councils reporting to? Councils are flexibly structured with freedom for self-determination. Working with trust and togetherness, Councils are led by Council Presidents, and their set up is coordinated by WICCI Secretariat/Headquarters.
4. How does a Council evolve its Roadmap? Simply follow the given process of setting up a Council- wherein Council President nominates 1 VP and minimum 20 women leaders as Council Members.Initiate exchange and interaction with all with spirit of participatory leadership to evolve your own unique roadmap.
5. Where does funding come for a council's activities ? Unlike other associations that charge hefty membership fee, WICCI does not charge any of its members. Therefore, it expects each council to fund its own activities via its members/their companies. This is in line with our ethos of participatory/distributed leadership. Expenses of WICCI Secretariat/headquarters are funded by the Founder President.
6. Do all activities of the council need to be ‘not for profit’? Yes, Not-for-profit. If you have a surplus, it is to be used for general good of society.
7. Are all activities supposed to be business and trade oriented? Yes. Activities such as research, mentoring, training, knowledge sharing are also included.
8. How do we build B2B connections through WICCI Councils? Best way is for your Council / select Councils together to organise Conferences with an inclusive B2B agenda and program having diverse topics and speaking opportunities for women worldwide to share about their work and what they seek as business collaborations. We send circulars to our councils/share on social media to register and join. This brings all stakeholders together for collective energy and synergy.
9. Can the Councils Abroad be registered in their respective countries ? Councils are informal groups under our parent NGO in India. However for Bilateral Business Councils based Abroad, these are allowed to be registered in their respective countries as NGOs and Non-profit entity to receive and spend local funds/sponsorships in pursuance of the WICCI mandate of women empowerment. Please inform the WICCI Secretariat if you’d like to pursue this as we will need to issue a ‘No Objection’ for using the word WICCI in your locally registered Council entity. Please note that in this case, your registered council will be fully liable and responsible for all its local compliances, rules and regulations.
10. Can the Councils in India be registered separately? NO. Councils in India cannot be registered separately in any place, nor can they open or operate any bank accounts. The Central Account at the Secretariat functions as the nodal point for any external project based funding to be received/disbursed on behalf of the council.

Funding FAQs:

1. How do we raise funds for our council (state/national/other):

   We do not encourage councils to take on projects where major funding is required as this is not the primary mandate of WICCI. The main role of a Chamber is to make recommendations for policy changes and incentives required at both the center and state level. Councils further engage in knowledge sharing, skilling, networking amongst its members toward empowering and expanding their women’s businesses and leadership roles.

2. Does the central headquarters provide expenses:

   Unlike other associations, which charge hefty membership fee, WICCI does not charge any of its members. Therefore, it expects each council to fund its own activities via its members or their companies. This is in line with our concept of distributed leadership. In other similar associations, the Presidents contribute considerably of their own funds. In any case since meetings are mostly virtual now, the costs are very low. The members can all pitch in. They can also take sponsorships and small donations but all money must be collected in a NGO they nominate. Central office will not get involved in receipt or disbursement of such funds.

3. What are the options if a council wants to do CSR projects :

   If the council does want to a large CSR/Government funded project then they need to submit their proposal to head office for approval. If your project is approved by the head office, then the donations/sponsorships/funding will have to come to the One central account. We do not allow any account other than the central account to be opened. No council, either state or national or any other, can have a separate account as finally the head office is responsible for all audits and legal and statutory compliances including GST & income tax returns. We do not allow separate bank accounts as we at headquarters are fully responsible for overall accounts plus all government and statutory compliance and hence have to be very careful of receipt of funds and their proper use its the trustees that are personally liable, not council presidents or members.

   Since the overall responsibility of use of funds vests with the Trustees of WICCI, the use of any funds raised or received has to be closely monitored and audited as all CSR funds must be used for public good and not for personal profit. As a cost, if head office is involved, they will deduct 25% of the funds received towards their expenses of audit, legal and statutory compliances. The 75% can be given to any NGO nominated by the council or for expenses for which vouchers are available and audited. Expenses of the WICCI Secretariat and the headquarters are funded by the Founder President.

   If you prefer, you are welcome to ask the corporate/funding body/sponsor to donate to one of the council members NGO and you can do the CSR from there. There is then no deduction. We really do not / do not wish to take any funds at central level, as being a Section 25 company (not for profit company) our accounting and transparency standards are very high, as are our costs of audit etc.

4. Are foreign funds allowed:

   Foreign funding is completely prohibited.

5. Legal Status of WICCI :

   We are a registered under the companies act, GOI, as section 25 company ( not for profit) in the name and style of HR WICCI Foundation Ltd. We have 12AB of the income tax for exemption.