Pay-What-It-Takes India Initiative: Publication Directory
Reports
Momentum Builds to Fund Indian Nonprofits’ ‘True Costs’
Funder–nonprofit relationships in India are improving, with more multiyear partnerships and support for operational and core costs, but a sustained effort is needed to close remaining gaps.
Survey Data from the Pay-What-Takes India Initiative
Datasets from Bridgespan’s 2020 and 2025 Pay-What-It-Takes India surveys, available in Hindi, Marathi, and English.
Funder Practices that Strengthen Nonprofit Resilience: Lessons from India
A set of Pay-What-It-Takes principles all funders can adopt to support strong, resilient nonprofit partners in India.
Bridging the Gap on Funding the True Costs of NGOs in India
A gap exists between funders’ perspectives on how much they already support nonprofits’ indirect costs and organisational development, and nonprofits’ perspectives on how funders could much more. This research can help bridge that divide.
Building Strong, Resilient NGOs in India: Time for New Funding Practices
According to research, India funders broadly share practices that inadequately fund nonprofits’ true costs, rendering the sector perpetually subscale. This report shared new practices that can change this.
India CSR: reflections from the last decade, visioning for the next
This report, sponsored by Give Grants, highlights how CSR must evolve organisationally and systemically to play a more catalytic role in India's development trajectory.
Toolkits and Other Resources
Assistive Funder Toolkit
This toolkit, developed by Bridgespan’s Pay-What-It-Takes India Initiative, helps funders self-assess how aligned their current funding practices are with the five PWIT principles and offers practical steps to address gaps and strengthen practices. The toolkit is hosted in partnership with the Indian School of Development Management.
How to Build an Organisational Development Plan: A Toolkit for NGOs and Funders
This toolkit, developed by Bridgespan’s Pay-What-It-Takes India Initiative along with five leading Indian intermediary organisations, helps funders and NGOs address the challenges faced in addressing organisational development needs of NGOs.
Tips for Grant Pitches: Know Your Funder’s Mindset
This guide acts as a “tipsheet” for NGOs to develop nuanced fundraising approaches based on pay-what-it-takes funder archetypes; it lays the groundwork for mutual trust.
Database of Intermediaries Offering Organisational Development Support
This intermediary database, a partnership between Bridgespan and Atma, is a searchable listing of 120+ intermediary organisations and professionals providing services across 13 organisational development capabilities described in the ‘How to Build an Organisational Development Plan’ toolkit.
True Cost Computation and Communication Guidelines
These guidelines equip NGOs with the tools to accurately calculate, communicate and fundraise for their complete costs, including definitions, key concepts, and a step-by-step guide to the calculation of true costs of the NGO.
Articles
How to Overhaul Grantmaking in India
A Bridgespan article in Stanford Social Innovation Review describes how strengthening relationships between funders and nonprofits, and investing in capacity, will create more resilient organisations and create more impact.
Building Resilient Non-Profits: The Role of Organisational Development Financing
The Bridgespan Group contributed an article in a compendium published by Reliance Foundation, Observer Research Foundation and United Nations which outlines the ‘Pay What It Takes’ approach to funding nonprofit organisations. This was featured among practices at the forefront of delivering development initiatives at the grassroots.
Why Donors Should Focus on Funding Capacity Building While Investing in NGOs
Amit Chandra and Poonam Choksi of the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation write in Fortune India that donors should earmark multiyear, flexible funding for organisational capacity–sharing five practical recommendations and evidence from a recent white paper.
Why Can’t More Philanthropists Think Like MacKenzie Scott?
Unrestricted grants for nonprofits are hard to come by. Writing in India Development Review, Vanessa D’Souza and R Sriram from the Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action (SNEHA) make the case for funders to place bigger bets on the social sector.
Pitching Your True-Cost Needs to Funders
While nonprofits often prioritise organisational development for long-term sustainability, funders may have different perspectives. By understanding funder motivations, we can better align these priorities, as discussed by Bridgespan authors in India Development Review (available in Hindi).
Nonprofits Build Organisational Strength by Getting to Know their Funders
A Bridgespan article in Forbes India stresses the importance of building relationships with funders and uses two prominent nonprofits, Saajha and Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), as role models.
Four Steps Funders Can Take to Invest in Organisational Well-being
Nagham Mulla of EdelGive Foundation explains in India Development Review why it’s time for the funding community to look inward and redesign their approach to grantmaking.
Grantmaking Must Become More Inclusive
Traditional funding structures often overlook the unique needs and challenges of smaller nonprofits serving historically marginalised communities. Bridgespan authors, writing in India Development Review, explain why this needs to change.
Four Practices to Build Stronger and More Resilient NGOs in India
Writing on the AVPN website, Bridgespan authors describe four practices that result in greater social impact for funders and NGOs.
Pitching Your True-Cost Needs to Funders
Nonprofits and funders don’t always align on the importance of funding organisational development. A Bridgespan article in India Development Review describes how understanding funder motivations can help bridge this gap.
It’s Time for Funders to Pay-What-It-Takes
In this article for India Development Review, Bridgespan authors explain why the chronic underfunding of administrative costs undermines the impact both funders and nonprofits strive for (available in Hindi).
Enabling Philanthropy to Achieve Its Potential, Effect Social Change
Is Indian philanthropy ready to turn a critical lens on itself? Bridgespan’s Pritha Venkatachalam and Ingrid Srinath of the Center for Social Impact & Philanthropy make the case for philanthropy to act now in the Hindustan Times.
Reflections: Philanthropy in India During COVID-19
In an interview with India Development Review, Vidya Shah, executive chairperson of EdelGive Foundation, shares what funders did and didn’t get right during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what the way forward should be.
How Leading Funders Build Strong, Resilient Nonprofits in India
Chronic underfunding of nonprofits' “true costs” hinders the impact that both funders and nonprofits aim to achieve. However, many funders in India are adopting principles to support strong, resilient nonprofit partners. Bridgespan authors highlight these practices in Alliance Magazine.
Proposal Budgets Should Strengthen Your Case for Support: Here’s How
A Chronicle of Philanthropy writer presents advice from funders and nonprofits on how to create a strong budget proposal, including a pitch for covering nonprogramme costs. (Subscription required)
Clampdown on NGOs Strangles India’s Public Health Services
Government tightening of regulations on organisations receiving foreign funding “is having a devastating effect on India’s public health landscape,” contends an article in The BMJ.
Capacity, Capability, and the Promise to Give Forward
In an article posted on the LivingMyPromise website, philanthropist Govind Iyer writes that transformational giving requires investing in both organisational capacity (people, systems, funding) and capability (the ability to use them well). He urges donors to provide flexible, long-term support that helps nonprofits scale sustainably.
Case Studies
Case studies published in India Development Review:
Everything You Need to Know to Fundraise Successfully
A detailed examination of the strategies employed by two organisations – Adhyayan Foundation and Reap Benefit – to strengthen their fundraising capabilities, and the significant, multi-level impact achieved within a year (available in Hindi).
Getting Your Nonprofit Communications Right
A guide to effective communication: best practices, pitfalls, and key considerations (available in Hindi).
Embedding Capacity Building into Organisational Culture
Shows through the example of Universe Simplified Foundation how capacity building becomes durable when it’s woven into values and daily routines.
Getting Nonprofit Talent Management Right
Resource constraints often hinder strong team culture development in nonprofits. The talent management practices used by Arpan, a nonprofit that works on the prevention of child sexual abuse, demonstrate how to overcome this challenge (available in Hindi).
The Importance of Nonprofit M&E Systems
Why are monitoring and evaluation frameworks important for grassroots nonprofits? This case study presents the experience of Tapasya, a grassroots nonprofit, and the critical role these frameworks can play in driving impact and growth.
To Scale or Not to Scale?
Identifying the right moment to scale and building the necessary capacity to do so are major challenges for grassroots nonprofits. The experience of QUEST, a nonprofit that supports elementary education and teacher professional development, offers valuable insights.
Organisational Development at the Grassroots
This case study examines the impact of formalising structures, policies, and processes in a grassroots nonprofit.
Funded Today, Funders Tomorrow?
Nonprofits often struggle to secure long-term funding. This case study examines how the Foundation for Excellence, which awards scholarships to promising students with limited financial resources, successfully mobilised programme beneficiaries to become active contributors to the organisation's financial sustainability (available in Hindi).
Scaling Impact with an External Consultant
This case study explores how external consultants can accelerate nonprofit impact, providing insights for both nonprofits and funders (available in Hindi).
Building a Robust Data Management System
The journey of SAFA, a nonprofit working on education, skill training, livelihoods, and access to entitlements for women and youth in Hyderabad, reveals the potential of sound data management and what it takes to develop a system for it.
The Importance of Investing in People and Organisational Culture
Makkala Jagriti, a nonprofit based in Karnataka, spurs organisational growth by investing in its people and culture.
Multimedia (Video, Infographics, and More)
Pay-What-It-Takes to Maximize Impact
Nonprofits can’t effectively scale impact without true-cost support. Here are five principles that grant makers can adopt to unlock nonprofits’ full potential.
NGOs Grow Faster When They Invest in Organisational Development
Organisational development means investing in areas critical to growth, such as strategic planning, leadership, talent development, and fundraising.
You Cannot Have Scale Without Inclusion
In a video interview with India Development Review, Mariwala Health Initiative Director Raj Mariwala talks about MHI’s approach to philanthropy, how it has evolved over time, and how donors can be more efficient in their giving to help those at the margins.
As a Philanthropist, it is Your Failures that Shape You
Amit Chandra, co-founder of A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, reflects in an India Development Review video interview on his philanthropic values, the challenges donors face, the need for a community-centric approach to giving and the lessons that failures teach.
Pay What It Takes Philanthropy: Building Stronger and More Resilient NGOs
Introducing our initial research at Dasra Philanthropy Week 2021, Bridgespan described the magnitude of the indirect cost funding gap and how it impedes rural nonprofits and Dalit, Bahujan, or Adivasi-led organisations more than others.
Pay What It Takes for Impact: From Insights to Action
At Dasra Philanthropy Week 2022, Bridgespan presented the initiative’s latest insights, including the three funder archetypes identified by our research and implications for each as they strive for greater impact.
Transforming Grant Making: Investing in a Stronger and More Resilient NGO Sector
This session at Dasra Philanthropy Week 2023 shared practical approaches adopted by select funders to redefine their grantmaking practices and make these more inclusive, fair, and supportive for their nonprofits partners.
A Philanthropist’s Job is to Connect the Dots and Build Synergies
In an India Development Review video interview, Rekha Koita, co-founder of Koita Foundation, discusses her journey as a philanthropist and her reflections on the potential of Indian philanthropy.