2. क्या आप समझते हैं कि खुदरा धन उगाहने का आपके गैर-लाभकारी संगठन के वित्तीय दृष्टिकोण पर क्या प्रभाव पड़ सकता है?

3. आपका संगठन दीर्घकालिक स्थिरता सुनिश्चित करने के लिए खुदरा धन उगाहने का लाभ कैसे उठा सकता है?

4. क्या आप दानदाताओं को आकर्षित करने और उन्हें बनाए रखने के रचनात्मक तरीके खोजने के लिए तैयार हैं?

‘दान का आनंद सप्ताह’ के निकट आने के साथ, हम खुदरा धन उगाहने पर केंद्रित एक सत्र प्रस्तुत करने के लिए उत्साहित हैं ताकि गैर-सरकारी संगठन इस अवसर का अधिकतम लाभ उठा सकें। दानमोजो के सीईओ और संस्थापक धवल उदानी द्वारा आयोजित इस ज्ञानवर्धक सत्र को देखें।

यह सत्र किस बारे में है?

यह सत्र आपको खुदरा धन उगाहने को समझने और व्यक्तिगत दानदाताओं को जोड़ने और प्रभावी ढंग से धन जुटाने के लिए व्यावहारिक रणनीतियाँ सीखने में मदद करेगा।

आपको इसे क्यों देखना चाहिए?

1. अपने संगठन की समग्र धन उगाहने की रणनीति में खुदरा धन उगाहने की भूमिका और इसके महत्व को समझें।

2. खुदरा धन उगाहने के लिए एक व्यापक दृष्टिकोण के लिए “लिस्ट इंस्पायर फंडरेज़ एंगेज (LIFE)” ढाँचे का गहन अध्ययन करें।

3. LIFE ढाँचे के परिणामों को दर्शाने वाले वास्तविक जीवन के केस स्टडीज़ और उदाहरणों का अन्वेषण करें।

किसे देखना चाहिए?

यह सत्र उन गैर-लाभकारी संस्थाओं के लिए आदर्श है जो वित्तपोषण के एक वैकल्पिक स्रोत के रूप में खुदरा धन उगाहने की खोज कर रहे हैं और जो अपने संगठन के भीतर खुदरा धन उगाहने की गतिविधियों को संस्थागत बनाना चाहते हैं।

इस पॉडकास्ट में, आप बजट बनाने की प्रक्रिया को विस्तार से समझ पाएँगे और समझ पाएँगे कि कैसे स्पष्ट और व्यावहारिक बजट बनाएँ जो कार्यक्रम की प्राथमिकताओं को दर्शाएँ, दानदाताओं की अपेक्षाओं को पूरा करें और आपके संगठन की वास्तविकताओं के अनुरूप हों।

• इस एपिसोड के ज़रिए, आपको इन विषयों पर व्यावहारिक जानकारी मिलेगी:

• बजट बनाने और प्रबंधित करने का चरण-दर-चरण तरीका

• प्रभावी बजट बनाने के लिए टेम्पलेट और उपकरण

• बजट बनाने में होने वाली आम गलतियों से बचना

• बजट पर आसानी से नज़र रखना और निगरानी करना

यह एपिसोड वित्तीय टीमों, छोटे से लेकर मध्यम आकार के गैर-लाभकारी संगठनों के संस्थापकों, कार्यक्रम प्रबंधकों और प्रमुखों, और बजट की योजना बनाने या समीक्षा करने वाले सभी लोगों के लिए अनुशंसित है।

अगर यह आपको परिचित लगता है, तो यह पॉडकास्ट आपके लिए है। यह VIVA सोशल कम्युनिकेशंस द्वारा आयोजित एक IPN सत्र पर आधारित है, और इसे आपके दैनिक कार्य और क्षेत्र के अनुभवों को प्रभावशाली, यादगार कहानियों में बदलने में आपकी मदद करने के लिए डिज़ाइन किया गया है जो कार्रवाई के लिए प्रेरित करती हैं।

कहानी सुनाना केवल संचार के बारे में नहीं है - यह जुड़ाव के बारे में है। यह विश्वास पैदा करता है, जुड़ाव को बढ़ावा देता है, और आपके मिशन को उन लोगों के लिए मूर्त बनाता है जो सबसे ज़्यादा मायने रखते हैं। इस सत्र में, आप सीखेंगे कि कहानियों को कैसे संरचित, आकार दें और साझा करें जो आपकी दृश्यता बढ़ाएँ और आपके उद्देश्य के लिए समर्थन को गहरा करें।

Tens of thousands of nonprofits in India have very limited access to solutions for their organisation development needs. This is changing now.

The idea for a digital platform like India Partner Network (IPN) was seeded, about three years ago, by evidence gathered from data and research, and a hypothesis based on this evidence.

We’d seen data that highlighted how small-medium nonprofits in India struggled to grow and absorb philanthropic capital flowing into the sector [1]. This shortcoming among NGOs stemmed mostly from gaps in their own organisational development. Capital was a key constraint for these NGOs, as donors largely funded social impact programs, not org capacity development [2]. But our market research also revealed that existing capacity building options – either high-touch programmes, or websites with fragmented offerings – did not address the scale of the problem. Tens of thousands of nonprofits in India had very limited access to solutions for their organisation development needs.

Our hypothesis was that a self-service multi-lingual digital platform dedicated to nonprofit capacity building would fill this gap, complementing existing solution providers and reaching a large segment of small to medium-sized nonprofits.

Three years on, new data has strengthened earlier evidence [3] [4], and our hypothesis has proven right in ways we could not have imagined [5] [6]. Along the way, we’ve also learned about the challenges with this approach.

The big picture – two years after IPN’s launch

IPN launched two years ago, in August 2023. Since then:

• 3000+ nonprofits have registered on the platform, forming a diverse, pan-India group.

• Over 4000 users across these nonprofits have engaged with the various self-service solutions the platform provides: Knowledge Resources, Webinars & Masterclasses, Campaigns, Assessments, Directory, and the donor-ready Profile.

• IPN today offers 280+ knowledge resources in 4 languages (English, Hindi, Kannada and Tamil) which have been viewed over 11000 times.

• Over 300 nonprofits have taken close to 400 assessments to determine their current maturity levels in Fundraising and M&E.

• We have run 100+ capacity-building-related Webinars/Masterclasses/Campaigns from ~50 partners. These events and campaigns have attracted 5000+ registrations and received an average rating of 4.1 out of 5.

• The recently-launched Directory lists 50+ service providers. So far ~70 connection requests have been sent from NGOs to a subset of these providers.

• And we’ve shared 500+ capacity-building-related news items from the ecosystem, which have received about 50 clicks on an average.

What do these numbers signify? How well is this self-service multi-lingual digital-platform model working? What are our goals and where are we on this journey?

A micro-transactions approach

IPN is not opinionated about the way nonprofits must build capacity: users choose the option on IPN that best meets their needs.

One type of nonprofit may wish to follow a structured, mid-term plan: for instance, to improve their M&E readiness in the next 6 months, starting with an assessment and following the score-based recommendations. Another may want to up-skill their team in an upcoming area of interest, through a webinar on AI or the new DPDP law. Yet another may seek guidance from an external consultant on how to draft proposals better, or register for a programme to improve their digital marketing function. And there may be those whose curiosity is triggered by an item in IPN’s weekly news digest notification.

We track such user actions as “value transactions” on IPN. The “value” here has a micro character, and our thesis is that engaging in many such micro-transactions is a good way for NGOs to approach capacity building. And that this approach often complements the high-touch (macro) capacity building programmes that run for several months1.

We now have growing evidence that gives credence to this micro-transactions thesis. Engagement data on such transactions – the most important metric we track – has been growing steadily in tandem with user adoption:

On an average, each month 20% of total IPN users have been engaging in these transactions2.

Further, qualitative feedback from users – an equally important measure – reveals that they really appreciate this one-stop shop where, depending on their need, they can pick and choose the option that fits best.

“For grassroots civil society organizations like ours, which often struggle with limited resources, this platform has been a game-changer. It offers a ready-made solution that enables us to develop essential tools and reinforce our internal systems without having to invest heavily in developing these resources ourselves.” (Navprabhat, Executive Director, Mountain Valley Development Association)

“I treat IPN as the first stop for building my and my team's capacity, developing my perspective on ecosystem trends by reading curated articles of news & updates, and keeping the Org profile updated for branding and funding opportunities.” (Nikhil, Founder, Upkram Educational Foundation)

“As a small organization based in a remote location, having access to the right resources and support is crucial for our success. Before discovering IPN, we often struggled to find the right resources, or keep up with the latest information and opportunities. Now, logging into IPN every week has become a ritual for us.” (Adv. Kaivalya Rajaram Dandekar, President and Managing Trustee, Lokmanya Public Charitable Trust)

Read more user testimonials here.

Why do these nonprofits like the IPN approach to capacity building? The reason is not hard to grasp. The time these nonprofit leaders need for organisational development competes with the time they must devote to their core mission. Given this constraint, even leaders keen on capacity building prefer the flexibility of taking up small offerings – micro transactions – that can be consumed on-demand3.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence has come from the aggregated data of hundreds of nonprofits users who engage in capacity building via IPN, regularly and voluntarily – that is, without any push from donors. Nonprofits on IPN have cumulatively completed over 30,000 micro-transactions so far.

Let’s reflect on this a bit.

Here is evidence that nonprofits not only want to build institutional capacity and improve their resilience, but are also acting on this intent without a push from donors or a capacity building intermediary (which typically happens in the context of a donor-funded programme run by an intermediary). And they are doing it regularly, on a continuous basis.

This argument is strongly supported by the Net Promoter Score of 54 (which is a really good score!) we received from our first NPS survey in July-August 2025. The optional feedback remarks from our “promoters” (70% of the respondents) indicates how strongly these users feel about having access to a platform like IPN [6].

Given the scale IPN is targeting4, the group of nonprofits who engage proactively in capacity building is still a minority. But early feedback from this cohort reveals something important:

In tech/product parlance, IPN has now crossed the Problem-Solution-Fit stage. Which means there is a clear alignment between an identified “customer” problem and the solution being offered to address it. Our goal now is to achieve Product-Market-Fit by expanding consistent usage of IPN by the broader “market” of small-medium nonprofits.

The philosophy of curation (And why we are cautious about AI)

Early in our journey, in one of the meetings where IPN was being presented to an external stakeholder, someone asked: “How does IPN sit next to the already existing capacity building solutions out there? Are you competitors? Do you partner with some of them?”

Our immediate response was that (a) through our on-demand and self-service approach we complement the existing high-touch capacity building providers who offer courses and programmes, and (b) as a platform we connect the supply from these providers to the demand from NGOs.

A salient aspect here is how we do this.

IPN is not an aggregator platform: it offers a curated collection of best-in-class solutions and solution providers. We take the time to research, collect, review, and publish “content”: knowledge resources, webinars, masterclasses, service providers, news items, etc. Content that matches our guiding principles, like prioritising practice and action-orientation over theory, targeting needs of small-medium non-profits over large ones, considering vernacular and regional geography related needs, among others. Further, we have well-defined processes that govern how we onboard or link to new “content” (including service provider entities) on the platform, and how often we revisit and review old content.

Content on the internet is already a commodity, and NGO capacity building content is no exception. AI today is accelerating this trend. In this environment, where users feel overwhelmed by the available choices, getting access to curated content from a trusted advisor is what nonprofit users need: this is what defines IPN’s stance on how we surface content to NGO users.

So instead of exposing NGO users directly to the output of Gen AI tools, we’ve chosen to first act as the expert in the middle and share only vetted content, like AI-generated video translations whose scripts are edited by the IPN team. The Gen AI bot use-case will need — in comparison — a lot more effort and cost to validate and monitor results for a general audience, and it currently is not high on our list of priorities5.

The magic of connections

Earlier this year, in an IPN webinar with speakers from Project Tech4Dev and Center for Mental Health Law and Policy, Sonali from the CMHLP spoke about how they discovered Tech4Dev’s Fractional CxO program via IPN. Following this discovery, they went on to onboard a Fractional CTO into their organisation, and now, a year later, they were co-presenting on IPN the results of this collaboration.

The circle was complete: we couldn’t have scripted a better narrative.

Another user, Kaivalya Dandekar, President and Managing Trustee of Loksadhana, shared with us that “Through IPN, we discovered and successfully participated in the SVP Fast Pitch and NSRCEL’s incubation program.“

The beauty of digital platforms is that they enable connections and synergies that may not have been imagined by its creators. Such platforms simply facilitate connections, matching relevant demand to credible suppliers. When this works the result is a win-win for both, and it also triggers a feedback loop that leads to more connections. The network grows stronger, and the overall ecosystem is the biggest beneficiary.

IPN offers multiple pathways for discovery and connection6. The IPN Directory, in particular, addresses the well-known problem of discovering credible partners. In the words of Subramanya Shastry, Consultant Media and New Initiatives, Agastya International Foundation:

"We recently used the IPN directory while doing an impact assessment for a program run by Agastya International Foundation, and it was such a great resource. Finding the right vendors for social impact work is usually difficult. The directory made it simple to connect with trusted vendors quickly, and it saved us a lot of time. Honestly, it’s the kind of resource the sector has needed for a long time."

Currently there are 100+ connection options (for nonprofits) waiting to be discovered on IPN. We plan to expand this further by onboarding providers from regional (tier 2 and tier 3) areas and with more vernacular options.

Current challenges, Audacious goals

Earlier this year, the results of a user-research we conducted via Peepal Design gave us insights into the NGO-leader mindsets towards capacity building:

Reflecting over this in an earlier blog post, we’d written: “Most NGO capacity building today is problem-led or pressure-driven — rooted in immediate needs, not long-term vision. This highlights a critical opportunity for platforms like IPN: to both support reactive needs and to move NGOs from reactive to proactive capacity building.”

Targeting this behaviour change (from a reactive to a proactive approach to capacity building) is an audacious goal, and it requires an ecosystem-wide effort. At IPN, beyond all the platform specific offerings and nudges, we’ve also been engaged in creating more awareness on capacity building and its benefits, amplifying the efforts from other players keen on furthering the NGO capacity building agenda [3] [4].

We’d known about this challenge early on, but in the last year we’ve learned about another one: Nonprofit users typically find it hard to navigate and effectively use a self-service digital platform. This is reflected in current behaviour patterns we’ve seen:

This is a challenge and an opportunity. Through our digital platform model we have an opportunity to guide users to improve their skills on this front. No one knew much about social media marketing until the rise of platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. This skill then emerged from repeated use of such platforms. The question we are asking ourselves is this: can we teach nonprofit users the skill to use – in a self-directed manner – a digital platform to meet their capacity building needs? Early experiments (like cross-positioning of related solutions, cohort-specific notifications) have shown promise.

These are early days – we still have a long way to go. But this digital self-sufficiency is both a prerequisite (to achieve the goal of capacity building mindset change) and a foundation upon which nonprofits can grow without always depending on external assistance. Hence this will remain a priority for us in the years ahead.

Data and insights for the ecosystem

By facilitating transactions, platforms also generate data about demand and supply. This data can reveal insights relevant for the broader ecosystem. With IPN, we see this facet emerging in multiple dimensions: basic compliance data from nonprofits who complete their IPN profile, usage data based on registrations/views/connections triggered by nonprofit users, and data on OD-area readiness (like Fundraising readiness or M&E readiness) we receive when nonprofits take an assessment.

Aggregated data from IPN Assessments can reveal a lot about the organisational maturity of the nonprofit sector. Here’s a sprinkling of these nuggets (taken from our sample of ~300 nonprofits who have completed the assessments so far):

• Only 30% of nonprofits have a funder-renewal rate of 50% or higher.

• Only 7% of nonprofits engage with retail donors. This number goes down to 5% for nonprofits with less than 2 Cr Annual Budget.

• 40% of nonprofits use Pen-Paper or Excel for data collection.

• 30% of nonprofits have no Theory of Change defined.

IPN currently offers assessments on fundraising readiness and M&E readiness. A marketing and communications readiness assessment is underway. Compliance will follow after that. Our aim is to publish a “State of Sector” report on capacity building each year. We hope this year-on-year exercise will also reveal trends around what’s working and where gaps still persist.

An Ecosystem Initiative, not another silo

India Partner Network, at 2, is still a toddler. We’ve just learned to walk, and along the way we’ve acquired a few ardent followers.

We now understand a little about what works with such a self-service-multi-lingual-digital-platform-micro-transactions-curator-connector model. And the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead if we pursue this approach.

Two-sided platforms can be tricky to incubate. How to generate demand when there is limited supply? And how to incentivize “suppliers” to participate when there is hardly any demand? We’ve now passed this barrier: two years after IPN’s launch, there is enough demand from nonprofits to spark interest from the supply side of the equation.

This supply-side, our IPN partners (capacity building intermediaries, service providers, NGO networks, and Donor networks), will continue to be an important success factor in the years to come. Without them, IPN regresses into yet another offering nonprofits have to choose from; with them, IPN can become the single portal NGOs use to discover and connect with relevant solutions and solution providers in the ecosystem. In the words we’ve heard from several of our NGO users: “The one-stop shop for everything related to nonprofit capacity building.”

When this works, it will be a win for all stakeholders keen on nonprofit capacity building: NGOs, NGO Networks, Donors, and Capacity Building Intermediaries. Together, such a network can transform this ecosystem.

Manohar Sreekanth

Partner & CTO, Sattva Consulting

Sources:

[1] The sorry state of Fundraising in Indian NGOs

[2] Time for new funding practices

[3] Strategic Investments: Fueling NGO Fundraising Success and Resilience

[4] Case Studies in Nonprofit Capacity Building

[5] IPN 2nd Anniversary Report

[6] IPN Testimonials

The Power of Proactive Communications

For any entity aiming to shape public discourse, clear communication is paramount. The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a legal research organisation, initially perceived communications as a mere "implementation function" or a "defensive tool". A public backlash over their role in the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill forced a re-evaluation; their core values and the public interest intent of their work were failing to reach their intended audience. The remedy was found not in external PR firms, often ill-equipped for nuanced, content-heavy research, but in an in-house communications team. This strategic pivot yielded significant returns: a five-fold increase in website views, a 62 percent growth in social media engagement, and widespread media citations. Crucially, Vidhi learned to integrate communications with research from a project's inception, allowing them to strategically leverage findings—as seen in their work on drug decriminalisation—to inform public thinking and move beyond mere reports gathering digital dust. The lesson is clear: communications must be fundamental to an organisation's strategy, not an afterthought.

Embedding Capacity: A Cultural Imperative

The Universe Simplified Foundation (USF), dedicated to STEM education for underserved students, offers a testament to embedding capacity building within an organisation's very DNA. Even with a small team, USF prioritised continuous learning and upskilling. A post-pandemic scaling-up, from 350 to 1,500 students, starkly underscored the need for pre-emptive investment in capacity to maintain quality. Founder Henna Khan personally sought out leadership and fundraising training. As the team grew, the need for a robust organisational culture became apparent, leading to structured processes for conflict resolution and clear roles, supported by programmes like Pravah’s Sanstha. The departure of a co-founder necessitated a deliberate effort to cultivate mid-level leadership from within, particularly challenging given USF's rural base and the difficulty in attracting senior talent. USF's success in continuous knowledge transfer, co-creation, and regular debriefs illustrates that capacity building demands not just financial outlay, but significant time and unwavering commitment from leadership, fostering a distributed decision-making and learning culture. Such investments were largely enabled by flexible grants from like-minded donors willing to fund non-programmatic costs.

Cultivating Fundraising Acumen

Fundraising, the lifeblood of nonprofit operations, often diverts founders from programmatic work. Adhyayan Foundation and Reap Benefit (RB) faced this conundrum. Adhyayan endured a near-fatal blow when its major donor withdrew during the pandemic, revealing the peril of single-funder dependency. Both organisations struggled to recruit suitable fundraising talent; experienced senior hires often recoiled from the painstaking "socks and shoes" groundwork—lead generation, meticulous research, and consistent follow-ups—vital for grassroots organisations. Success came from hiring early-career professionals with strong research and writing skills, who embraced this preparatory work. This freed founders for higher-level donor engagement. A disciplined process, combined with cultivating relationships, proved pivotal. Crucially, they actively worked to decentralise fundraising, embedding it into the organisational culture, for instance, by involving programme teams in proposals and annual team-wide campaigns. This distributed ownership and eased pressure on leadership, empowering them to negotiate terms with funders and even decline misaligned opportunities—a powerful mark of financial health.

Mastering Talent Management

Arpan, an organisation dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse, exemplifies how sustained investment in human capital underpins growth. Initially lacking formal HR processes, Arpan systematically built a robust talent management system as it expanded from 18 to 140 members. Beyond statutory compliance, Arpan offers discretionary benefits, including annual training allowances and a therapeutic allowance, acknowledging the demanding nature of their work and prioritising staff well-being. A key enabler of their exponential growth was the early development of a strong second line of leadership, hiring senior directors across programmatic and support functions like HR, finance, and M&E. This distributed leadership enabled parallel initiatives without compromising quality. Arpan fosters a culture of continuous learning through internal case study discussions and coaching, preparing staff for future leadership roles. The emphasis on clear values, open communication channels, and responsive feedback mechanisms reinforces a supportive environment where employees feel valued and heard.

The Efficacy of Robust M&E Systems

Tapasya, a grassroots nonprofit assisting vulnerable families in accessing government welfare schemes, demonstrates how comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) frameworks drive both impact and growth. From its inception, founders recognised M&E as essential for assessing impact and fostering employee growth, despite limited resources. They leveraged incubators and intermediaries to build capacity and develop robust M&E strategies encompassing both qualitative and quantitative impact. As Tapasya scaled its operations—from focusing on a single scheme to multiple, across diverse communities—a well-calibrated M&E system became indispensable. The adoption of tech-driven data collection proved transformative, enabling precise tracking of individual progress, field worker efficiency, and overall program outcomes. This automation enhanced accountability internally and fostered trust with external partners through transparent, real-time data. Tapasya's journey underscores that M&E practices and program design must adapt with organisational expansion, and that funders should grant the freedom to experiment and evolve, fostering a co-learning environment between donors and nonprofits.

Enduring Principles for a Stronger Sector

These diverse case studies collectively articulate a singular, powerful message for India's social sector: capacity building is not merely an expense, but a strategic investment yielding disproportionate returns. Funders, therefore, must reconsider their approach, moving beyond narrowly prescriptive programmatic funding to embrace flexible, long-term support for core organisational capabilities. And nonprofits must consciously focus on building these capabilities, looking beyond short-term fundraising focus towards long-term resilience and growth.

The imperative is to invest in the right talent—often early-career professionals willing to tackle foundational work—and to empower them with distributed ownership over functions like fundraising and communications. Embedding these critical functions deeply into the organisational culture, fostering continuous learning and adaptability, and prioritising the well-being and professional growth of one's team, are not luxuries but necessities for nonprofits aspiring to achieve sustained, amplified impact. The pathway to a more resilient and impactful social sector lies in ensuring that good intentions are matched by robust institutional capabilities.

The study emerged from the observation by A.T.E. Chandra Foundation (ATECF) founders that many NGOs struggled to scale their impact, often approaching donors solely for programmatic grants while neglecting "institution building" and, critically, fundraising. This led to a pivotal hypothesis that forms the core of the paper: investing in fundraising as a foundational capability can unlock exponential growth and amplify impact.

The study included 11 diverse NGOs, with a median age of 17 years and median annual expenditure of INR 4.2 crores during the intervention year. These NGOs received median annual grant sizes of INR 9 lakhs, with support periods ranging from 4 to 8 years. Sectors represented were 50% in education and 50% across community development, policy advocacy, sports, and urban governance. The white paper evaluated NGO performance across three key dimensions: Payback on Fundraising Investment (POFI), Financial Growth, and Donor Growth & Diversity. The NGOs were categorized into two performance groups: the Leading 5 and the Trailing 6. While the Leading 5 excelled across most indicators, the Trailing 6 also showed notable progress, demonstrating the transformative impact of strategic fundraising investments.

Key Findings: A Closer Look at Performance

Payback on Fundraising Investment (POFI) measures the time it takes for an NGO to recover costs incurred from fundraising efforts through donations. The study found an impressive median payback period of one to four months. When funds were specifically allocated to hiring dedicated personnel, the payback typically began once the person was settled, usually around 4-6 months. NGOs that invested in technology saw the quickest payback periods, as technology often leads to immediate improvements in efficiency.

In terms of Financial Growth, the Leading 5 NGOs achieved a 39% Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), significantly outperforming the Trailing 6 at 13%, and the sector median of 15%. This highlights the impact of strategic fundraising investments and organizational readiness to scale.

Donor Growth & Diversity demonstrated significant expansion. NGOs achieved an overall 2.5x increase in their donor base. This underscores the impact of improved donor outreach. Donor retention rates notably improved from a median of 50% to 70%. Furthermore, grant ticket sizes for institutional donors increased by a median of 59%.

What Worked Well: Best Practices from Successful NGOs

The success of leading NGOs was attributed to several best practices:

• Strategic Fundraising and Budget Planning: Leading NGOs implemented three-year financial plans with clear fundraising strategies, aligning with organizational and operational goals. They set clear, specific annual targets, broken down by donor type and ticket size, aiming for a 10-20% increase from existing donors.

• Effective Donor Engagement Strategy: This included regular and personalized communication, providing targeted updates, and creating meaningful opportunities for donors to engage directly with beneficiaries. They also focused on building "champions" at every level within donor organizations, fostering advocacy and strengthening trust.

• Hiring Dedicated Fundraising Personnel: Initially, founders often drive fundraising, but as organizations grow, investing in dedicated teams becomes essential. Six of the 11 NGOs allocated over 90% of their grants to hiring these professionals. The median team size grew from one to three members, allowing founders to reduce their time on fundraising from 60% to 40% (median) and focus on strategic priorities. The payback period for these hires is short (1-4 months), making it a low-risk, high-return investment.

• Investing in Building Systems & Processes: Accelerating NGOs recognized the need to invest in systems for compliance, reporting, and end-to-end donor management. Technology, such as donor databases, was transformative, enhancing efficiency and opening new funding opportunities, particularly for organizations with large donor pools.

Challenges Hindering Growth

Despite successes, challenges persisted:

• Inability to Raise Corpus: This remains a significant hurdle, as donors often prefer programmatic funding with short-term outcomes over unrestricted corpus funds. NGOs also struggled to effectively communicate the long-term importance of corpus funding.

• Hiring Senior Fundraising Professionals: Many NGOs found it challenging to determine if a senior fundraising or communications professional was the right hire. For organizations with complex interventions, process-based support (donor research, pipeline management, reporting) managed by junior staff was often more effective, with founders still needing to be involved in securing specific funding types.

• Challenges in Retail Fundraising: Most NGOs did not explore retail giving due to limited bandwidth and perceived high costs, despite its potential for flexible, untied funding and public awareness.

Recommendations for Donors and Future Outlook

The white paper provides clear recommendations for donors to maximize their impact:

• Fund Strengthening of Fundraising Function: This includes investing in talent (hiring skilled professionals), building capacity (upskilling teams), enabling systems and tools (technology), and offering multi-year and flexible funding.

• Provide Mentoring Support: Beyond financial aid, donors can offer strategic fundraising guidance, connections to sector experts, and assistance with designing or adopting open-source tools for donor management.

• Advocate and Influence: Donors should share success stories of targeted fundraising grants, engage in thought leadership, encourage collaborative funding models, and create peer learning platforms to influence sector-wide change.

The white paper makes a compelling case for reimagining fundraising as a strategic enabler rather than just an administrative cost. The evidence strongly suggests that targeted investments in fundraising capacity lead to financial resilience, expanded donor bases, and sustained mission-driven work. For the social sector to thrive, donors and NGOs must collaborate to embed fundraising capacity as a cornerstone of organizational strategy, fostering a resilient ecosystem that drives profound and lasting change.

A recent research conducted for India Partner Network by PeepalDesign uncovered five distinct mindsets that guide how NGO leaders approach capacity building:

1. “We Learn by Doing”
   Leaders with this mindset emphasize learning on the go. They respond to real-time challenges by on-the-job mentoring to learn from experience, or evaluating a failed proposal and looking for improvements, and so on. This is especially common in lean teams where firefighting takes precedence over long-term planning.
   

2. “We Build Our Own Systems”
   Some NGOs embed capacity building into their organization’s DNA, formalizing training with SOPs, onboarding modules, and structured learning pathways. For these leaders, learning is systemic and tied to organizational culture, not a one-off event.
   

3. “We Seek Help from Others”
   Peer networks and sector mentors play a critical role for many. Instead of relying on top-down instruction, these NGOs thrive on community-driven learning, grounded in trust and shared experience.
   

4. “We Call in the Experts”
   When the stakes are high — donor submissions, legal compliance, or digital visibility — leaders often turn to external experts. This mindset reflects a desire for professionalism but is also shaped by limitations in internal capacity.
   

5. “We Train to Let Go”
   A more aspirational mindset focuses on developing second-line leadership. These leaders actively mentor team members to take on greater responsibility, reducing dependency on founders and enabling scalability.
   

Despite the diversity in these approaches, a common thread runs through all: capacity building must be practical, contextual, and immediately relevant. NGO leaders are not looking for abstract frameworks or generic workshops. They want tools, templates, and guidance that meet them where they are.

The research revealed that triggers to capacity building can be based on two key dimensions: when they act (proactive or reactive) and where the need originates (internal or external).

Most NGO capacity building today is problem-led or pressure-driven — rooted in immediate needs, not long-term vision. This highlights a critical opportunity for platforms like IPN: to both support reactive needs (by providing easy discovery of highly relevant solutions) and to move NGOs from reactive to proactive capacity building (by, for instance, embedding capacity building into their regular workflows).

Understanding these mindsets thus provides the foundation needed to design solutions that cover this broad space.

For such organisations, an IPN Assessment first provides an overview of their maturity in the org development area (for example, M&E or Fundraising). If a nonprofit then wishes to act on the identified improvement areas, the platform highlights multiple options and gives clear recommendations, based on the nonprofit’s maturity level.

So far 150+ nonprofits have taken one or two ( of currently available) assessments on IPN. Together, they have completed close to 200 assessments. About 25% of these attempts are motivated by curiosity: they want to know where they stand. The rest want to act to improve their maturity levels.

Across the two available assessments, the distribution of maturity levels looks as follows:

Analytics of this nature also highlights the value of IPN Assessments for others in the capacity building (CB) ecosystem: Intermediaries (who offer CB-related programs and services) and donors (keen on CB-related contributions).

The insights from IPN assessments can reveal micro-patterns within a growing dataset. For instance:

• 60% of the organisations have no dedicated budget allocated for M&E

• Only 40% of the organisations have an effectively designed LFA for majority of their programs

• Only 35% of organisations use a standardised set of digital tools for data collection

And since IPN also collects detailed NGO profiles, we are able to slice this further based on other attributes like Annual Budget, Number of employees, etc. For above three indicators, if we look at organisations with annual budget of less than 2 Cr, we see the following pattern:

• 70% of such organisations have no dedicated budget allocated for M&E

• Only 35% of such organisations have an effectively designed LFA for majority of their programs

• Only 23% of organisations use a standardised set of digital tools for data collection

For ecosystem players invested into the theme of nonprofit capacity building, such insights can be highly beneficial. Capacity Building intermediaries can choose to focus more on areas of need; donors can allocate more resources to areas at the intersection of a large need and high impact. To this end, we plan to share (near the end of the year) a “State of the Sector” report on capacity building.

As more users take these assessments, benchmarking also becomes a possibility. We’ll be able to tell a nonprofit where they stand on a relative scale, in comparison to other nonprofits of a similar size or budget, for instance.

Feedback from early adopters of IPN Assessments highlights what’s working:

“The exercise was very helpful to plan short term and long term strategy for our organisation."

“It provided clarity, boosted confidence in our approach, and offered actionable steps for improvement”

“It helped us to understand the different aspects of M&E and in depth understanding about its relevance.”

While this feedback is positive, platform analytics reveal a low usage of generated recommendations. Users have expressed a need for guidance and handholding to translate generated recommendations into concrete implementation. Making this work through a self-service model will need further thinking and redesign.

The IPN Assessment journey is still in its early stages. We have exciting plans for the year ahead, including more assessments, customised recommendations, and an NGO dashboard that provides an org-level overview. Stay tuned for more updates!

“Atma administered the Life Stage Survey (LSS) [2] with Saaras. The LSS is a diagnostic tool that allows us to understand the organisation’s areas of strengths, what processes need to be developed, or the key areas where support is needed.

This exercise helped us define the priorities for our partnership and plan our interventions”

This is a typical pattern: a capacity building journey of any organisation begins with an assessment of its current strengths and gap areas. For a nonprofit in India, there currently are two main options to take such an assessment.

The first is to enrol into a longer capacity building programme, like the ones offered by Atma, Dhwani Foundation, or Jan Saahas (among others). These programmes start with a baseline assessment of the nonprofit, and then define specific interventions to address the identified gaps. The second option is to hire an external consultant (a person or an organisation), who then uses a custom assessment tool and guides the nonprofit based on the results.

The first option demands a significant time commitment and is open to not more than a few hundred nonprofits each year. The second is expensive, and given its high-touch nature, this option too is accessible to only a small number of nonprofits.

For thousands of small to medium-sized nonprofits in India unable to access these options, the current alternatives are limited. The few standalone self-assessments (like the Data Maturity Assessment from Data.org or ID Insight M&E Health Check) are one-offs, each targeting one OD area or a subset thereof, and they do not offer a directed plan for capability improvement.

All this hints at why we at India Partner Network (IPN) developed the recently-launched Assessment feature.

IPN Assessments allow nonprofits to assess their maturity in multiple Organizational Development (OD) areas, and receive tailored recommendations to improve their capacity in each. We’ve started with M&E and Fundraising – more OD areas will follow in the coming months.

An IPN assessment has the following characteristics:

• Offered as a micro-diagnostic: Each IPN assessment takes just 10 to 15 minutes to complete. This allows nonprofits to take up assessments in specific areas they wish to target improvements in, instead of taking a full-blown org diagnostic covering all areas (which, given their broad scope, are hard to fit into an annual improvement plan).

• Designed as a self-service: Both assessment and the generated recommendations can be consumed independently – nonprofits do not need an external consultant to manage this process. (A recommendation may nudge the nonprofit in the direction of an external intermediary as a follow up step, though.)

• Multiple pathways to build capacity: An organisation’s capacity building journey is both highly context dependent and can involve multiple players. To address this, the recommendations generated after an IPN assessment cover (in that OD area):

  • Actionable knowledge resources mapped to the organisation’s maturity

  • A list of intermediaries offering capacity building services

  • A list of courses and programmes available

  • Connection opportunities with a few experts

• Deep platform integration: Unlike a standalone tool, IPN’s assessment capability is integrated with the rest of the IPN platform, from Knowledge Resources to Webinars to the Organisation’s Profile. Users who’ve completed the assessment receive regular nudges to act on their recommendations, and also receive notifications on related capacity building opportunities. For a nonprofit using IPN as a gateway to capacity building, this reinforces the “one-stop-shop” metaphor we’ve often heard from our users.

So far around 60 nonprofits have completed the M&E Assessment that was published in the pilot phase last quarter. Feedback from early users has revealed that (a) the assessment was easy to follow and complete (b) the recommendations shared are comprehensive both in depth and breadth and (c) following these recommendations is not an immediate follow up step: this will require nonprofits to set aside a dedicated amount of time to act on the recommended plan.

We are excited about the potential of IPN Assessments to help nonprofits understand their current maturity levels and structure their capacity building journeys. Even with that first step – of helping nonprofits understand where they stand, creating awareness of their strong and weak areas – we see a lot of value being created.

If you are a nonprofit keen to understand where you stand on M&E or Fundraising readiness, do consider taking an assessment. And let us know how we can improve this important capability.

References:

[1] Atma Annual Report 2020-21

[2] Life-Stage-Survey

I recently watched the recording of a panel discussion that did precisely this. Titled “Leadership and Development in the Social Sector”, it was moderated by Sharon Weir of 4th Wheel Social Impact, and featured Priya Agarwal (Antarang Foundation), Kashyap Shah (Bridgespan), Kavneet Kaur (Dasra), Gayatri Nair Lobo (A.T.E. Chandra Foundation).

The topic under discussion was learning and development (L&D) – or Capacity Building – of nonprofits. The hour-long conversation turned out to be a superb overview on the subject, covering the importance of L&D, current approaches to L&D (and gaps therein), constraints and challenges, L & D strategies relevant for all nonprofits, and calls to action to both nonprofits and donors.

Like any good primer, the webinar covered the basics many of us are familiar with. But what struck me were the more nuanced aspects one tends to miss from a high-level view of L&D for nonprofits.

Priya Agarwal highlighted narrative building as a significant gap in the L&D opportunities available in the social sector. While there are programs focused on areas like human resources, finance, fundraising, and communications, she felt there's a lack of focus on developing the ability to craft compelling narratives in public-facing content. Connecting diverse ideas and weaving them into a clear narrative is a skill that goes beyond basic communication or strategy building – it’s really the art of shaping a powerful story.

Priya also brought up the importance of budgeting as a strategic skill beyond basic accounting. She emphasized that budgeting should be seen as a process of translating an organization's strategic vision into a concrete financial plan, and highlighted the role of budgeting in connecting an organization's strategy with its funding needs. A budget should effectively convert strategic goals into a clear and compelling ask for donors.

Both Kashyap and Kavneet stressed that Capacity Building or L&D is not just “training”: effective capacity building can take various forms, including cohort-based programs, mentorship, coaching, and collaborative knowledge sharing. Further it is not just about money but also time: L&D requires a conscious commitment from leadership to carve out dedicated time for learning and reflection, both at the individual and organizational levels.

Gayathri challenged the practice of treating L&D as a separate, non-programmatic expense. She encouraged nonprofits to integrate L&D costs into their core budgets, arguing that it should be considered a fundamental investment in people, and therefore an essential expense. This reframing of L&D costs can help nonprofits make a stronger case for funding support from donors. And the more we speak this language and do it consistently, the more this will become the norm rather than the exception.

Gayathri also highlighted the need to gather data and insights to demonstrate the impact of L&D and advocate for increased investment into capacity building. She encouraged nonprofits to participate in research initiatives and share their experiences: their contribution here was key to building a stronger evidence base for capacity building.

One point echoed by everyone was the need to expand capacity building opportunities beyond the founders and leaders to encompass all levels of an organization. Priya pointed out a concerning trend of "over-capacitating" top leadership while neglecting the development needs of those in the next tier. Kashyap added that developing second-line leaders is often more appealing to CEOs and founders because they recognize the need for a strong second-in-command to support their own work. Gayathri shared her experience of learning from partners like Priya, who identified the lack of L&D opportunities for second-line leaders as a critical gap: this feedback prompted ATE Chandra Foundation to prioritize funding for programs targeting this group and smaller organisations who cannot join L&D programmes. Kavneet stressed the importance of recognizing the crucial role of middle management and first-time managers in this context.

This last point also resonated a lot with us at India Partner Network. Our aim is to make Capacity Building accessible to all. One form of this approach is to amplify the reach of excellent webinars related to capacity building . Watch this one: it will be worth your time.

- Manohar Sreekanth (Partner & CTO, Sattva Consulting)

Our team at India Partner Network (IPN) was delighted to participate in this annual event, which spotlighted the complexities of development management in India. One of the discussions highlighted the dual sides of governance and compliance - their critical role in fostering accountability and resilience, paired with the significant challenges of implementation. Equally nuanced was the exploration of funding, underscoring the need to go beyond programmatic budgets to fund vital internal capabilities, a cornerstone for resilience. The conversations also delved into the intricate balance between scaling interventions and sustaining community development; debated the feasibility and implications of standardizing impact metrics, and examined why and how a public good framework for outcome readiness can empower nonprofits to access outcome-based financing. These dialogues encouraged us to visualise the interplay between the depth and breadth of development management challenges in diverse and evolving contexts, making the event a true reflection of its mission.

A standout session on financial sustainability and operational independence, co-hosted by ATECF, featured the inspiring journeys of three diverse organisations - Adhyayan Foundation, OGQ and Vidhi, highlighting approaches to creating reserves, securing unrestricted grants, and diversifying donor bases. Another intriguing session anchored by Magic Bus India Foundation focused on the transformative power of bold strategic plans, emphasizing intentional planning and adaptability to strengthen resilience. Sessions on storytelling by Story Rules and leveraging data for designing better interventions by ISDM deeply resonated with us. These candid discussions didn’t just question norms, but catalyzed fresh perspectives, allowing us to recalibrate and reimagine how Samaaj, Sarkar, and Bazaar can collaborate for a lasting impact for all.

Such dialogues are indispensable. They offer us the rare opportunity to pause and reflect on our course - hits, misses and the lessons in between. As a team, we found ourselves revisiting several questions throughout the day such as:

1. How can we make capacity building solutions “accessible” and “relevant” to small and medium sized non-profits, operating in diverse and underserved regions?

2. Given this diversity, how can we bring partners to better share their expertise in organisational development with a wider audience?

3. With resilience in focus, how can we enable donors to recognize capacity building as a critical investment in confidence and trust, particularly for smaller non-profits with capable teams that hold the potential to deliver sustainable impact?

These are not just intellectual exercises anymore; they are the real-world challenges we, as a sector, must address to build a thriving ecosystem.

DoDM wasn’t just about sessions and panels; it was also a great space to connect. We reconnected with old friends, met several new ones, and listened to changemakers whose passion and creativity are driving meaningful change in their own ways. We left the event inspired, carrying back not just ideas but connections and collaborations to catalyze growth in the development management space. A heartfelt congratulations to ISDM for curating such an impactful gathering. The event reinforced why organisational development, financial resilience, and collaborative action are at the heart of creating sustainable impact. Onwards and upwards!

- Aarti Krishnan (Head - India Partner Network)

This year, India Partner Network (IPN) dedicated its Daan Utsav efforts to helping NGOs within our network run powerful campaigns and tell their unique stories. Here’s a look at what we did to empower and support these inspiring organizations:

1. NGO Learning Session on Fundraising: We kicked things off with a learning session on effective individual fundraising in partnership with danaMojo. The focus was on the “LIFE” (List, Inspire, Fundraise, Engage) approach, a simple yet effective way to organize fundraising efforts. With real-life examples and case studies, NGOs saw how others have successfully raised funds using the LIFE framework.

2. danaVriddhi e-Learning Campaign: Following the session, we launched a campaign that offered NGOs a chance to dive even deeper into the LIFE approach. Through the danaVriddhi e-learning platform by danaMojo, NGOs could access the training at a discounted rate and build their fundraising skills with practical, structured guidance.

3. Giving Resources: To help NGOs prepare for and execute their own giving-related programs, we shared a comprehensive set of resources. This included a workbook and tutorial from Giving Tuesday, which provided a step-by-step guide to planning and launching impactful giving programs.

4. Daan Utsav Spotlight Series: We also launched the “Daan Utsav Spotlight Series,” a special feature that placed the spotlight on NGOs across various sectors like education, health, and livelihoods and more. Each featured NGO shared its story, giving others a glimpse into their inspiring work. Check out these spotlight stories and learn more about the work these NGOs are doing.

Our Impact This Year

The response to Daan Utsav was truly heartwarming. Nearly 100 NGOs signed up for our event and campaign. For the Spotlight series we featured 21 organisations. Our Daan Utsav posts reached more than 2,000 users, with around 40% of viewers engaging with our posts through likes, shares, and comments.

Through Daan Utsav, IPN was thrilled to help our network reach a wider audience and access more resources. It was an inspiring week, and we’re already looking forward to next year’s celebration of giving!

— Minu Sagar (Lead - Partnerships and Engagement)

This oft-quoted remark by Benjamin Franklin has always seemed incomplete to me. These days one can add more certainties to this list: Traffic, Surveillance, Social-Media Likes (to name a few). And there’s a trend here – more items on this list (including taxes) are moving online. Does that simplify matters? 

One item that’s been a recurring ordeal in my life is ‘Official Documents’, a category that spans certifications, authorisations, approvals, accreditations, licenses, and identity proofs. As an individual or organisation, you cannot escape them. Their importance becomes evident when you seek something: an admission, a visa, an official transaction, or (as an NGO) a grant from a donor. 

Keeping such documents up-to-date (by renewing them on time) is critical, but it’s also something we all wish someone else can do for us, while we get on with our mission. It’s the same with all the information that describes an organization: maintaining it centrally is an important (but, let’s admit it, painful) task. 

How do you manage your NGO’s official documents, and stay on top of their renewals? How do you keep your organisation’s profile up-to-date? 

At IPN, we’ve designed the NGO Profile to address these needs. 

Structured along Basic, Compliance, and Compliance Plus sections, the IPN NGO profile enables an NGO to maintain detailed information describing their organisation specifics, and also attach relevant documents that establish its compliance and credibility.

Here are a few traits that highlight what an IPN profile can do for your organisation:  

1. Alignment with donor needs: Years of experience working with CSR and other donors has given Sattva a strong understanding of their NGO information needs. This knowledge has enabled us to design a comprehensive yet streamlined and legible profile structure.

2. Guided completion: Users filling the profile are guided towards the 100% completion (which includes only mandatory fields needed for a basic Due Diligence), allowing the user to focus on what’s most important, and easily spot what’s missing. 

3. Packaged retrieval of stored information: Users can download the entire profile (including attached documents) into a structured zip file, which can then be used in different contexts. 

4. Personalised Micro-page: From a completed profile, an NGO user can – with a single click – generate a public profile page that can then be shared with anyone. 

5. Automated expiry reminders: The IPN profile warns users (on the UI and via email notifications) of upcoming expiry of official documents, and also nudges users to update their profile for fields (like Annual Budget) that need to be validated after a time-period. 

6.  Guided workflow to update expired fields: IPN simplifies the process of updating such outdated or expired fields through clear visibility and a guided process as explained in this video. 

The last two points on that list highlight how IPN helps NGOs keep their NGO related information up-to-date, and their documentation in a valid state.  

Looking ahead

While the IPN NGO profile is already a mature offering, it will be enhanced further to cover the following: 

• Simplified filling of webinar/campaigns forms, using already available profile data

• Pre-filling of profile during new NGO registration, using publicly available information   

• Automated verification of certain profile data

• Entity Locker integration (for storing/retrieving profile data and documents)

• Adding and maintaining custom fields (beyond what IPN offers as a standard)

• Enhanced Public Profile page (including more visibility controls)

• Personalised recommendations based on profile data

Over 700 NGOs have maintained a 100% profile on IPN, and another 300+ organisations have a 60 or higher profile completion percentage. The fully completed NGO profiles are used by Sattva teams to identify relevant organisations for donor connects – this is another benefit of keeping your IPN profile up-to-date.

If you are already using the IPN profile: Thank You. We’d love to hear about any improvements you’d like to see.

If you haven’t yet spent effort on building an IPN profile, isn’t it time? Like death and taxes, your organisation’s documentation is something that can’t be avoided.

- Manohar Sreekanth (Partner and CTO, Sattva Consulting)

This is a common challenge. Many non-profits, while devoted to their causes, face difficulties in strengthening their internal capabilities. Often, capacity building efforts are need based, lacking a long-term view, and somewhere making the process feel isolated for NGOs. Understanding this serious challenge and the gap in the sector, we created India Partner Network (IPN), a digital platform dedicated to helping mission-driven organisations strengthen their core competencies so that they can deliver programs more effectively. 

As IPN turned one in August 2024, we reflected on a year of collective effort and collaboration. What began as a mission to connect nonprofits to learning solutions has grown into a thriving ecosystem of capacity building intermediaries and donors, supporting over 2,250 change-makers from 1,700+ organisations across India. This journey, marked by significant milestones and partnerships, was fuelled by your trust and support.

Of course, a huge shoutout to our 30+ partners who brought their expertise to the table and amplified our reach. A special thanks to our engineering partner, Dhwani Rural Information Systems for helping develop IPN into the dynamic digital ecosystem it is today. Your contributions have been invaluable, and we couldn’t have done it without you!

Our focus on integrated capacity-building solutions remains more critical than ever. We are at a pivotal point, revisiting our hypotheses, uncovering new engagement challenges and potentials, and evolving our approach to meet the needs of mission-driven organisations like yours. We’ve learned a lot along the way. Strong ecosystem engagement and valuable partnerships have been our pillars, while reaching regional organisations and navigating diverse capacity needs remain challenges we’re tackling head-on. 

Looking ahead, we’re excited to introduce new features like multilingual resources, readiness assessments, guided learning paths, and a comprehensive service listing to better support NGOs. Check out our first anniversary report, with highlights of our journey so far and future plans. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue evolving IPN to meet your needs. Here’s to many more milestones together!

Aarti Krishnan, Head-IPN