Ease of doing good
Report 1: The flexible funding gap for non-profit unicorns
India needs 100s of non-profit unicorns. But despite their importance in driving the country's social development, non-profits face structural challenges in scaling up.
Through our Ease of Doing Good series, we examine the systemic gaps that make it harder to build and grow high-impact nonprofits in India.
Drawing on responses from 146 organisations across India, this first study in the series focuses on
access to flexible, unrestricted funding.
We identify key gaps and barriers and offer recommendations for funders and policymakers alike.
Latest Analysis
Women are shaping India's social sector
6 in 10 non-profits have a female founder, compared to 2 in 10 for startups.
More women are founding non-profits
57.5% of the non-profits surveyed have at least one female founder — more than three times the share reported among Indian startups.
Women founded organisations are better funded
70.2% have annual budgets above ₹1 crore, compared with 43.6% of organisations founded only by men.
They hold more long-term funding
27.4% have multi-year grants above ₹1 crore, compared with 11.3% of organisations founded only by men. Flexible funding stays scarce for both.
Inside the full report
Insights based on the survey of India’s nonprofit ecosystem to diagnose why flexible funding remains scarce, how it can enable scale and what must change.
01
What's the status quo?
How common are multi-year unrestricted grants? Does it become easier for large scale organisations?
03
How would flexible funding enable scale?
What would organizations prioritise if they had more freedom? Stronger leadership teams? Better technology? Research and experimentation?
02
Who is giving flexible funding?
We unpack who funds flexibility, who doesn’t, and why institutional capital remains programmatic.
04
What can we do to unlock flexible funding?
If India wants institutions that impact millions, we will need angel philanthropists, innovation fund-of-fund by government and CSR that are willing to invest in data and technology.
Request the full report
Team behind this report
We are founders & builders with experiences scaling products, startups, and non-profits. More importantly, we want to see more nonprofits creating impact at scale.
Varun Aggarwal
Founder, Aspiring Minds with $100M exit, MIT alum
Shubham Bansal
Founder Leapclub.in - a YC backed startup, EPFL & IITD alum
Tanvi Bikhchandani
Founder at Tamarind Chutney; Philanthropist
Prisha Jain
Research Associate, Change Engine
