There’s a whole lot of curious expectations that many corporates and their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) wings have of non-profits: eradicate child labour, fix education, empower women, eliminate malnutrition, and while you’re at it, please ensure gender equality and climate resilience too. Oh, and do it all at little or no cost.
It is as if Indian non-profits have a secret vault filled with cash and pixie dust. Because, why else would people imagine entire teams, programmes, and infrastructure run on good intentions alone? Now imagine holding corporates to the same standard: airlines flying us around for free because, hey, the world needs connection; tech companies handing out laptops and Wi-Fi for free, because education is a right; food companies feeding millions at no charge, because hunger is bad PR.
Of course, none of that happens. Every product, every service comes with a price tag — and hefty investments in marketing, robust R&D, state-of-the-art digital systems and quality talent acquisition. The irony? Those are the exact same things non-profits need too. Yes, non-profits also need to invest in:
- staff training at the grassroots – because the frontline needs more than just passion to deliver impact
- an appropriate level of salaries – so we don’t lose good people to your own HR/CSR departments
- technology and digital access – even empathy needs good connectivity
- monitoring and evaluation systems – since CSR reports don’t write themselves
- management and governance capacity – addressing problems in society requires talent to design, strategise (UK spelling), implement and oversee, on par with if not better than anything on offer in the corporate world
- brand-building – so people actually know we exist – radical, right?
And yet, when corporates do these things, it’s “smart business.” But when non-profits do them, it’s “overhead.”
Take the example of a rural education programme in Uttar Pradesh. An NGO is asked to re-enrol children who have dropped out of school, and to bridge the critical learning gaps they’ve suffered while they were out of school.
Now, with limited CSR support, the NGO manages to rent a room, hire one part-time teacher, and provide basic notebooks. Attendance improves, but children quickly fall behind again – the programme has no funds for teacher training, community mobilisation, effective monitoring or any other type of systemic support. On paper, the corporate can showcase "xxx number of children reached". In reality, change, if any, is fleeting.
Now picture the same programme with proper investment – not just in classrooms, but in the organisation itself. With funds to strengthen financial systems, the NGO could set up robust monitoring and reporting, giving the CSR partner clear visibility into where every rupee went. With resources for staff development and leadership training, frontline workers become more effective.
Investment in technology allows the NGO to track outcomes in real time, while innovation funding would enable the NGO to pilot initiatives that can potentially improve retention. Investments around stakeholder engagement, leveraging this particular CSR grant to attract additional and continued funding and embedding “education” as a culture in the community and presto: suddenly, the organisation isn’t just running a project – it is building a scalable and sustainable model. Within say three years, dropout rates begin to fall and many children transition successfully into secondary school. The corporate partner didn’t just tick a CSR box – they have transformed the trajectory of an entire community, while enabling an NGO to become stronger, more accountable, and more innovative.
The inconvenient truth is that social change doesn’t happen on goodwill alone. NGOs often operate in remote villages, urban slums, and fragile communities, that too many a time amid critical situations during and after natural disasters and emergencies – juggling logistical nightmares, systemic inefficiencies, and under-resourced teams. Corporates may underestimate the complexity because they only see polished impact reports or Instagram snapshots from field visits. Short-term projects or token contributions may look good on paper, but they rarely deliver sustainable impact. Every single rupee invested in building the capacity of an NGO multiplies the impact exponentially – better-trained staff reach more children, stronger systems scale programmes faster, and technology ensures that resources are used efficiently.
So, what you can do is fund NGOs like you fund your own business priorities: consistently, seriously, and with a long-term view. Sustained, strategic investment allows NGOs to plan multi-year programmes, measure outcomes over a longer period of time, and iterate on solutions, creating a ripple effect that transforms entire communities.
CSR leaders have the power to move beyond compliance and token gestures. By committing resources to strengthen NGO capacity, they don’t just fund programmes – they fund measurable, lasting impact. The choice is simple: invest in the backbone of social change, and watch India transform.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.
The author of this article is the Regional Director of CRY (West)
CRY (Child Rights and You) is an Indian NGO that believes in every child’s right to a childhood - to live, learn, grow and play.
