non profit - GIC & ORC | Changengine
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Non Profit Organisations

So you are deeply passionate about a problem area and have spotted a big market failure that you want to solve. You even have some innovative ideas on what to do to solve and now you are wondering whether to take the plunge and spend the next few years working on it? We got you covered. We have designed a systematic process to help you evaluate your idea for systemic impact and assess organisational readiness as you start working on it.

 

The good idea checklist provides you an easy to use template to assess if you have picked a high potential idea - one that can help fix the market failure and create systemic change instead of providing a band-aid solution. The organisational readiness will help you assess whether you have the right team and structure as you start building on your idea.

Good Idea Check-list (GIC)

 

  • Deep problem understanding: Have talked to at least 10 people/orgs who face the said problem

    • How many people are affected and what are their exact demographics?

    • How are they affected – if problem is solved, what will be the gain

    • What kind of problem is it? Massification/Excellence/Efficiency/others

    • What all issues/factors lead to the problem – is it validated which issue if solved, will lead to problem solution. 

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  • Intervention design analysis: what is your intervention design to solve the problem

    • Is the intervention scalable - what makes it scalable - state capacity/technology/markets/thought leadership

    • What is unit economics of intervention - will it be too expensive to sustain/scale

    • Is intervention narrow enough to build/scale as opposed to broad - trying to solve multiple issues in value chain simultaneously

    • Will intervention solve the problem even if other allied issues aren't solved.

    • Is there a way to measure intervention impact

    • Are there any tailwinds which makes the intervention attractive (major technology or policy shifts)

    • Theory of Change: Do you know how your solution approach will ultimately solve the problem

      • Is there a clear scale strategy? Who is going to be the payer-at-scale(users, government, philanthropy) and doer-at-scale (your org, government, other non-profits, market)?

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  • Risk identification: Have you identified risks to the success of your intervention? Have you talked to 5 people working in your area to get feedback on your intervention?

    • Why are existing models/interventions not able to solve the problem?

    • Are there comparable models in other countries or for other problems?

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  • Metrics: What are measures of success for your organization

    • Northstar metrics: What quantitative data will show that the problem is solved at scale; and you have accomplished your mission

    • What are 3, 5, 7 year quantitative leading metrics to measure to see you are on path of meeting northstar indicators?

    • Pilot Metrics: Do you know the quantitative measures of success for pilot

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  • Uniqueness: Is the intervention already being done by others? If yes, what is the problem with current intervention and how will you do it differently?

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  • Funding Friendly: A compelling case of impact that attracts support from donors

    • Is it a funding friendly area of work

    • Is it already crowded with other players

    • Have you identified the profile of funders for the intervention

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  • Team Idea fit: Team has skills, expertise and passion to execute the idea

Organisation Readiness Checklist (ORC) 

  • Team: Do you have a co-founder? Teams of 2-3 founders with complimentary skills are best suited. Based on the nature of your intervention and scaling models, recommended combinations are:

    • Tech focussed:

      • Tech: Knows coding and can build product

      • Business: Domain expertise/user insights, fundraising, GTM 

    • Policy focussed:

      • Policy/Research: Research, advocacy, data collection

      • Business: Fundraising, communication

    • Service delivery focussed:

      • Operations: Program Implementation, User insights

      • Business: Partnerships (Government, private), fundraising

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  • Hiring plan for next 2 months: hire interns for frontend/backend, product etc.

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  • Budget plan for next 3-4 months
     

  • Company incorporation:

    • Have you started your incorporation process? Will you be registered as a trust or section 8?

    • Have you applied for 12A and 80G registration?

Download the Good Idea Checklist and Organisation Ready Checklist 

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