Social Sector: Does donors help India's NGOs or hold them back?

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Donors need to change how they engage NGOs for India to achieve better social outcomes Anurag Behar 4 min Read 15 Oct 2025, 12:30 pm are the most important practical support donors who cannot offer government organizations are not just financing, but fast and clear decisions. (IStockphoto) Summary in India’s NGO ecosystem, financing alone is not enough. The way in which donors involve NGOs – from their clarity of purpose to the speed of decisions – can empower these organizations or complicate them and drain the energy to go into work, which has a real social impact. In India’s complex ecosystem of social change, the relationship between those who offer funds and those who dedicate their lives to work on the ground deserve much more attention. It is a relationship that can contribute to real change at best, but also suffocates. My reflections are rooted in our ladder (and some mistakes) at the foundation of which I am a part. We currently support more than 1400 NGOs across the country, from new entities to established institutions. We receive more than 300 formal awards requests each month. These numbers provide a great bed experience to identify good practices and mistakes. It is an unsolicited note for fellow Donors – Philanthropic Foundations, Social Responsibilities and Individuals for Social Responsibility – on how we can try to better fulfill our roles. The role extends beyond the approval of financial grants. The crux of this is to ensure that the process of getting such an award is a minimal burden for organizations that encounter enormous challenges every day. I will not reflect on the question of what causes should be funded, but about the matter that is often overlooked, how we finance it. Consider the daily reality facing the leadership of a typical non-profit organization. Leaders are asked to solve deep -rooted social problems while ensuring that they can meet next month’s payroll. In this grueling context, time and focused spiritual energy are scarcer than money. The most important practical support we can offer them is not just financing, but fast and clear decisions. Prolonged uncertainty is a luxury they cannot afford because it forces them into a state of suspended animation that impedes operations and creates tremendous tension. Yet this ability to decide quickly cannot be called by a decision. It can only result from deep internal clarity. It has two dimensions. First, a donor must have an empathetic understanding of the specific domains he wants to support, balanced with an equal appreciation for his own limitations, so that it does not start prescribing things to the NGO. Broad categories such as ‘education’ or ‘gender justice’ are only a starting point. ‘Education’ can include the management of preschoolers in tribal hamlets, improve pedagogical practices in government schools and provide digital literacy in urban slums. Each represents a clear approach to change, demands a different set of abilities and works on a separate timeline. Moving from the generic to the exact way is important, and articulates not only the ‘what’, but also the ‘how’ of the work to be done. The second dimension is procedural clarity. What are the steps that a proposal takes within your organization? Is it well defined, understandable and communicated in advance? Ambiguity forces NGOs here to navigate a labyrinth and spend precious energy on guesswork. Achieving this double clarity requires sustained effort. It is not a one-time exercise that can be done in a conference room through data analysis. The organization’s core values ​​and sense of purpose must be the test. Why do we exist? What change do we want to see? Perfect clarity is not possible, but a constant effort to hone it helps. The more we are with the help of soil realities – not as far evaluators, but as doers and learners -, the clearer we will be. The true test of internal clarity is whether it means a simplicity to the Grant-Seeker. A complex process full of back and forth is often a symptom of deep confusion. We must have the courage to constantly question our own requirements. Are the documents we request the simplest possible? Is every information needed for decision making? The language we use is critical. What does the Jargon of ‘Log Frames’, “theories of change”, “impact statistics”, and so on, actually in real life? The responsibility to explain what we rest on our shoulders in clear and accessible language. Apart from the need for speed and simplicity, lies a more subtle, but in many ways more powerful element: the tone of our involvement. We need to be aware of the inherent power asmetry in the donor-grench relationship. We have the resources; They need them. This structural reality places a profound ethical and professional responsibility on us to act with humility and respect. A determining, self -righteous or pure transactional tone is corrosive. It undermines the dignity and agency of the people who do very demanding work in often impossible circumstances. It becomes most important at the moment we say ‘no’. We must resist the impulse to tell NGOs how to perform their affairs, especially if we have chosen not to finance it. We would only have seen a momentum of their long and complicated story, without the deep context that formed their approach, choices and constitution. If an organization asks why its request was rejected, it may be harmful and it is often inaccurate to criticize the perceived shortcomings. A more constructive and honest response would be to explain that our specific criteria or focus is not in line with work. It is not a evasion; It is a recognition of our own limitations and choices, and an acknowledgment of the NGO’s autonomy. It retains the dignity of the relationship and leaves the door open for future dialogue and connection. Clarity, operational simplicity and a tone of equality, along with money financing, can help a long way to help NGOs invest their energies where they should: their own work. The onus is on donors. The author is CEO of Azim Premji Foundation. Catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More topics #funding #fundraising #education read next story