NGOs in India struggle with financial resilience. The Pay What It Takes (PWIT) India initiative has shown us that even tenured, larger-sized NGOs lack operating reserves, let alone an endowment.
Illustration: Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur
For Mumbai-based Jai Vakeel Foundation (JVF), 2019 was a pivotal year. Even though the NGO was emerging as a leader in the field of intellectual disability, it was struggling to make ends meet. That was until it built its target corpus—a large sum mobilised from multiple funders to provide many months of operating costs. This key moment allowed the NGO to unlock its potential. Back then, JVF served 700 students directly with a staff of about 200 and an annual expense budget of ₹11.25 crore ($1.6 million). It supported an additional 2,000 students per year through two rural medical camps.
When Archana Chandra, who had been with the organisation since 2009, took over in 2013 as CEO, she knew the institute’s financial base had to expand. JVF, established in 1944, had historically been funded through the largesse of the founder’s extended family and their personal networks. At the time, JVF “had two sources of funding: The government and a few individual donors,” says Payal Wadhwa, JVF’s head of fundraising and donor management. “Today, there is government funding, support from trusts and corporates, individual funding, and more.”
(This story appears in the 10 March, 2023 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)