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Philanthropic collaboratives gained significant momentum in India during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when diverse NGOs and funders came together to reach vulnerable communities. These collaboratives pursue a shared vision and strategy for achieving social impact, using common resources and agreed-upon governance mechanisms.Building on research conducted in 2020, this new study finds that the number of collaboratives in the country has grown over threefold, with invested capital having grown at least sixfold. This research, which includes a Net Promoter Score survey, indicates that this asset class is likely to grow significantly, however, there are critical areas to keep in mind to succeed. To develop a deeper understanding of factors driving collaborative action, how collaboratives can create disproportionate impact, and the challenges they face, Bridgespan interviewed leadership teams, funders, and key operating partners of major collaboratives and CSR organisations that have invested in collaboratives. The result of this research is encouraging insight into the growing potential of co-operatives and domestic philanthropy as a whole, leading researchers to question how these areas can be better developed and supported.

A decade ago, a Muslim religious scholar named Hussain Khan was a vocal critic of the Mahila Mandal Federation (MMF), a Mumbai-based grassroots women's group, which has been nurtured by an NGO called CORO for the past 20 years. He questioned MMF's efforts to help women take on leadership roles in their communities in urban informal settlements. But instead of viewing Khan as an adversary, MMF believed he might one day become an ally.Today, Khan hosts MMF meetings at his madrassa (school), which traditionally excludes women. And he has developed a course, "Quran and the Constitution," which builds community members' awareness of their constitutional rights and their moral responsibility to help neighbours in need.What prompted Khan's change of heart?Along with MMF, CORO spent three years conversing with Khan about the challenges women living in urban informal settlements encounter, including domestic violence and low access to education. CORO was well-positioned to engage in those meetings, since it is largely led by Dalit and Muslim people who live in the communities in which they work. Khan was later selected into CORO's Samta Fellowship, where he spent a full year reflecting on the values enshrined in the Indian constitution and acquiring leadership and movement-building skills that he took back to his community.It is not an accident that Khan now champions the work of a grassroots group that he formerly opposed. It is an outgrowth of CORO's core approach to supporting community-driven change: to meet people where they are and earn their trust. The idea is to unlock their "power within" to advocate for the rights of Dalits, Muslims, and other historically marginalised communities to have an equal opportunity to advance their lives.To learn more about how this kind of ground up, community-driven change comes to life, a Bridgespan Group team spent several months researching and interviewing CORO as well as three other NGOs in the Global South: Mumbai-based Youth for

There's a gap between funders' perspectives on how much they support indirect costs ("overhead") and organisational development, and NGOs' perspectives on just how much funders are willing to support it. Improved communication between funders and NGOs would help to build trust and shift entrenched attitudes and practices. This research along with our assessment guide and tips can support NGOs and funders in this important work.

This report is the product of a newly launched, multiyear Pay?What-It-Takes (PWIT) India Initiative committed to building stronger, more financially resilient NGOs. The initiative is led by The Bridgespan Group and the five anchor partners: A.T.E. Chandra Foundation (ATECF), Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), EdelGive Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Omidyar Network India. Each partner believes strongly in the importance of better understanding true costs and approached the initiative from a different perspective.

Exceptional NGOs rely on exceptional leaders. In the Indian social sector, a senior team's competence is often the make-or-break factor in an organization's ability to make strides toward such ambitious goals as providing equitable healthcare, ensuring high-quality education for children, or providing access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Yet widespread doubts persist about whether there is sufficient investment in NGO leadership teams to achieve these important outcomes.Against this backdrop, The Bridgespan Group, with support from Omidyar Network, undertook what we believe is the first data-driven study of NGO leadership development in India. We looked into NGOs' efforts to strengthen their leaders' skill sets and build their leadership bench.Our findings were sobering. Drawing on a survey of approximately 250 leaders from Indian NGOs and the Indian offices of international NGOs—supplemented with more than 50 interviews with funders, intermediaries, and NGO executives, as well as secondary research—we found a systemic gap between the sector's leadership development aspirations, and the reality of its investments and efforts.The consequences of this underinvestment are threefold:Overdependence on individual leaders, often foundersLack of a second line of leadershipLimited organizational leadership skills such as change management and strategic thinkingReflecting this, 53 percent of surveyed NGOs do not feel confident that anyone internally can effectively lead their organizations in the absence of their senior-most leaders.Yet we also found cause for optimism. Even as NGOs struggle to attract and sustain strong leadership teams, some NGOs and funders are taking replicable steps to close the gap. Their approaches and ideas—detailed in Sections IV and V—hold promise for both bolstering leadership teams and nurturing the next generation of senior talent.The implications represent a threat to these organizations' ability to sustain and scale impact. A ful