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Author: Samhita - CGF

Update to Indian NGO Bright Spots Report reveals important lessons learned for fundraising during the pandemic

Much has changed since we published this report on best practices in fundraising from individuals in 2020. The pandemic has upended traditional methods of engaging donors, making it difficult if not impossible to meet in person (which is one of the most effective ways of asking  for money). The past two years have been very tough on India’s nonprofit sector to say the least. 

What has it been like to fundraise during a global pandemic?
What’s been different, what has stayed the same, and what will endure once this is all over? 

We checked back with our Fundraising ‘Bright Spot’ organizations to see how they have fared. Interestingly enough, this challenging period of lockdowns and shifts in philanthropy towards pandemic response has made these exemplary NGOs more creative and resilient in their fundraising efforts. There is still much to learn from their example!

We have updated our 2020 report with new information about how to go about diversifying your funding and building your base of donors in a post-pandemic (or COVID-19 endemic) world. We’ve even added a new Guiding Principle that you can use to leverage the latest technology to acquire new givers. Please take a look at the update, and feel free to share any information that you think would be helpful as well. There is much to learn from each other!

Download the Report

Wishing you great success in your fundraising journey!

Morry Rao Hermón, MPA
Director of Philanthropy, UC Berkeley 
Fulbright-Nehru US Senior Scholar to India 2020-2023 
Academic and Professional Excellence Award
email: morryhermon@berkeley.edu

P.S. If you’re in the Mumbai area, please join me on Monday, April 4th, 2022 at the Mumbai Cricket Association Recreation Club for a free half-day  workshop on Fundraising from Individuals in a post-Pandemic World: Lessons from the Field. Come meet the “Bright Spot” organization frontline fundraisers in-person at this masterclass featuring a panel discussion on diaspora fundraising, as well as guest presenters Suman Srivastava on Conveying Impact through Powerful Storytelling, and Noshir Dadrawala on Adhering to Compliance Norms.You won’t want to miss it! 

FAQ on CSR Rules, Amendment 2022

How do companies who have given a one-time grant to NGOs account for unspent CSR funds?

  • If companies have provided “One time grant” to the NGOs, that grant has to be spent within one financial year by the NGO.
  • If the project does not stretch over the  financial year. These projects can be categorised under “other than ongoing projects” in the annual action plan. 
    • Under  the annual action plan, the CSR Committee of the company is required to provide modalities for utilisation of funds. 
  • The CSR Committee shall recommend to the Board on budget allocation for any CSR project including modalities of utilisation of funds in every project. 
  • Funds allocated to such “other than ongoing projects” has to be spent within one financial year and there shouldn’t be unspent at the end of the financial year. 
  • If there is an unspent CSR amount, NGOs should return unspent funds to the companies and companies are not permitted to spend the unspent CSR amount which is related to “other than ongoing projects’ ‘, on any CSR activity during the intervening period of six months after the end of the financial year. 
  • Such unspent CSR amount is required to be transferred to any fund included in Schedule VII of the Act within 6 months from the end of the previous financial year. 
  • If companies foresee that there will be an unspent CSR amount at the end of the financial year, they may take the decision to categorise those projects as ongoing projects as well based on reasonable justification. Definition of ongoing projects can be referred below.

How do companies who have given a multi-year grant to NGOs account for unspent CSR funds?

  • If funding is spreading across multi-years, those projects must be categorised under “Ongoing projects”. 
    • Ongoing project has been defined under rule 2(1)(i) of the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014 as: 
      • (i) a multi-year project, stretching over more than one financial year
      • (ii) having a timeline not exceeding three years excluding the year of commencement
      •  (iii) includes such project that was initially not approved as a multi-year project but whose duration has been extended beyond one year by the Board based on reasonable justification. 
  • The project should have commenced within the financial year to be termed as ‘ongoing’. The intent is to include a project which has an identifiable commencement and completion dates. 
  • After the completion of any ongoing project, the Board of the company is free to design any other project related to operation and maintenance of such completed projects in a manner as may be deemed fit on a case-to-case basis. Note: The term ‘year’ refers to the financial year as defined in section 2(41) of the Act. If there is an unspent CSR amount pertaining to ‘ongoing projects’ at NGOs end, such unspent funds should be returned to the companies and companies have to transfer such unspent to a separate bank account of the company to be called as ‘Unspent CSR Account’ within 30 days from the end of the previous financial year. 
  • A company can pay back such unspent CSR amount to NGOs (from Unspent CSR Account) in the next financial year to execute further agreed project activities. 
  • A company can open a single special account, called ‘Unspent Corporate Social Responsibility Account’, for a financial year in any scheduled bank, to transfer the unspent amount w.r.t ongoing project(s) of that financial year. 
  • A company needs to open a separate ’Unspent CSR Account’ (in its accounting system) for each financial year but not for each ongoing project.

Companies who have written a cheque to their own foundation who in turn are supporting NGOs and there is an unspent CSR amount at foundation level

  • The similar treatment would be followed as per above. Two points to keep in mind:  
    • Foundations are to be treated as first recipient of the CSR amount just like NGOs receive CSR amount from companies directly. 
  • All formalities related to getting unspent CSR amount from the foundation/NGOs and depositing into a separate unspent CSR amount or depositing into any fund included in Schedule VII of the Act, as the case may be, should be done by companies itself. A foundation cannot do so on behalf of the companies.

Companies who have given FCRA funds: If there is unspent FCRA funds at the end of the financial year

  • It can be spent in the next financial year as per agreed project objectives and existing agreement with the donor. The agreement should be valid in the next financial year as well.
  • If there is unspent FCRA funds at the end of project period, the modalities of the unutilised balance can be decided in consultation with the donor and as per donor’s direction.
  • FCRA funds cannot be returned to the donor.
  • Also, FCRA funds cannot be onward granted / sub-granted by the NGO

Will funds at the 2nd  implementing agency account be treated as unspent or not ?  If a company’s foundation transfers money to NGO hence there is nil balance in their account, whose utilisation is considered final- the foundation or implementing agency?

  • Implementing agency utilisation would be final and an unspent amount should be considered as per implementing agency account.

If it is unspent on 31st March , would the  2nd implementing agency need to transfer money back to the foundation account? 

  • Yes, and the foundation will return an unspent amount to companies back.

Can a company’s foundation open an unspent account on behalf of the company? 

  • No, Companies need to open their own unspent account

In case of any queries, feel free to reach out to us at research@dev.samhita.org

Women At Work In New India

In India, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the lives and livelihoods of working women compared to working men. To understand the extent of this impact on women workers, Samhita-Collective Good Foundation(CGF), commissioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in India, undertook a study that analysed the pandemic experiences of thirty women workers and entrepreneurs across professions in India. The findings and recommendations of the study are presented in this report.

The research study adopted a qualitative approach and exploratory design. Furthermore, it looked at the challenges through an intersectional lens, since the pandemic has affected women differently based on their demographic, geographical and socio-economic backgrounds. While for some women, economic and social recovery has been relatively easier and faster, given their social location, networks, skill sets, nature of their trade, access to digital and other infrastructure, most women continue to struggle to bounce back.


Prior to the primary data collection conducted on field across the ten cohorts and five states the women belonged to, certain themes were identified from a secondary review of existing literature. Thereafter, several of these themes were corroborated through a thematic analysis of the narratives presented by thirty women participants.


Four major themes emerged from this research, which are listed as below:

  • Challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Social and systemic support availed during the crisis
  • Adaptation and transition in livelihood choices during the pandemic
  • Aspirations and ambitions of women workers


This research study advocates using the learnings and evidence from the women’s narratives to inform policy and programme design. With an intended target audience consisting of private sector, development funders and social purpose organizations, this research serves to be a call for action for commitments to support women in the workforce and in business value chains. In aligning its recommendations with the ILO’s Decent Work framework and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), as a way forward, this report also proposes collaborative models such as building large multi-stakeholder and multi-cause alliances to deliver at scale, innovate and integrate core competencies of all development stakeholders, to ensure continuous and sustained support for women to enter, sustain and grow in the workforce. In this report, as a way forward, Samhita-CGF proposes the ‘SACCI model’ – stakeholder Alliance Creation for Collaborative Impact, given the problem’s magnitude, complexity, and urgency. An Alliance will bring together different development stakeholders such as the government, private sector, institutional funders, development experts and social purpose organisations to plug in the gaps in the current system and actively promote and support women in the workforce.

Download Full Report

Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

The COVID – 19 lockdown has adversely impacted the most vulnerable sections of society, such as informal workers, farmers, street vendors, gig economy workers, etc. Even among the sections of society hit the hardest, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) have been among the worst affected due to an intersection of circumstances which include economic vulnerability, reduced mobility even in regular times and other hindrances which resulted from the lockdown.

Additionally, as entrepreneurs look to recover from these economic shocks, PwDs find it harder to obtain capital to start new enterprises or for working capital for existing enterprises. ATPAR is an organization that looks to create an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurs with disabilities. ATPAR works with Entrepreneurs with Disabilities & their family members for their economic empowerment, social inclusion and rehabilitation by training them through NSIC Delhi on entrepreneurship development and mentoring them for 4 to 6 months to enable them to start, sustain and scale their entrepreneurial ventures. 

ATPAR’s NEDAR (Network of Entrepreneurs with Disabilities for Assistance and Rehabilitation) provides business mentorship, handholding support, financial and market linkages to the entrepreneurs over and above the entrepreneurship development training. Many of these entrepreneurs needed financial assistance to restart business and recover from the economic impact of the pandemic.

REVIVE has been working with 35 such entrepreneurs in Delhi – NCR, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Puducherry to provide financial assistance to fulfil their working capital needs, make asset purchases, etc. They have received zero – cost finance in the form of returnable grants (RGs) of INR 20,000 / 40,000 from REVIVE which would be repaid over the course of 1 year. The RG carries a moral obligation to repay as opposed to a legal obligation. During this period, all entrepreneurs will continue to receive ATPAR’s in-depth support through the NEDAR network as well.

Reviving India’s Small Businesses

The United States Embassy in India featured Samhita-CGF’s REVIVE Alliance as “one of the largest private sector and philanthropy-led alliances in India working on economic recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The REVIVE Alliance provides grants as well as returnable grants, which give zero-interest support with a moral, not a legal, obligation to repay. These loans are used as working capital or funding for skilling to enhance the income levels of the recipients. This finance model creates a beneficiary impact multiplier of 5  to 7 times compared to a normal grant. With support from USAID, the REVIVE Alliance is able to bolster its efforts by linking U.S. International Development Finance Corporation-backed credit guarantees with the platform.  

Read More

Samhita–CGF partners with AMHSSC to aid 50,000 women to create thriving livelihood pathways

The REVIVE Alliance was set up with the mission of creating economic opportunities for vulnerable communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the Alliance’s mission, REVIVE Women@Work is to collectively drive economic recovery and resilience for low-income working women (small women-entrepreneurs and workers) through financial and digital inclusion, access to social security, skilling, and market linkages. Through these interventions, we aim to create sustainable and impactful livelihood opportunities for women to enter, sustain, and grow at their workplaces.

As part of this mission, we are happy to announce that Samhita – Collective Good Foundation (Samhita – CGF) has partnered with Apparel Made-Ups and Home Furnishings Sector Skill Council (AMHSSC) to complement the Government of India’s skilling mandate and augment the journey of 50,000 women to grow beyond gainful employment and create thriving livelihood pathways.

“Economically empowered women can be powerful catalysts for change. They tend to invest more of their income into the well-being of their families, have greater control over their reproductive health, and can significantly drive economic growth. Samhita’s partnership with AMHSSC aims to serve as a model to increase meaningful participation of women in the workforce and enhance their journey through skill building, adoption of positive health practices, and eventually become an agent of change in her community”

Priya Naik, Founder & CEO, Samhita Social Ventures.

Through this partnership, Samhita – CGF will enable livelihood linkages of 50,000 women to manufacturing units of large corporate houses, and support AMHSSC in offering customised and relevant services across 4 key areas critical to thrive in the workforce:

  • Worker health & well-being education and services
  • Awareness and Protection from Violence and harassment in the workplace
  • Economic Empowerment and Professional development
  • Encouraging Entrepreneurship

 “In today’s world, one not only needs to be skilled in a Particular sector but must also be aware of his/her rights, especially for women to know their gender related rights. AMHSSC along with CGF is committed to provide such insights to the concerned stake holders, and support their journey into meaningful employment opportunities”

Dr Roopak Vasishtha, CEO, AMHSSC

Through Revive Women@Work, we envisage a better normal where more women are gainfully employed and acquire the necessary skills to take control of their own lives.

Women Micro-Entrepreneurs

COVID – 19 has disproportionately affected women, owing to the compounded effect of generally earning less, saving less and holding more insecure jobs. While women’s participation in the labour force has been in steady decline for more than a decade, the livelihood impact of the pandemic has put 4 out of 10 women out of the workforce. In addition, their situation is made much more complicated by additional factors. One of the major issues is that poorer women entrepreneurs face significant barriers to accessing livelihoods assistance and capital due to factors such as little or no credit history, lack of collateral, etc.

Despite women entrepreneurs’ excellent repayment records when running micro–businesses, they are not often graduated to larger individual or business loans beyond microfinance programs. Thus the share of women served declines as microfinance institutions diversify or transform into banks. Women are less conspicuous in programs with larger loan sizes that could support higher levels of business development. 

Financial institutions can proactively and profitably engage with women entrepreneurs as clients. Reports demonstrate successes where this has been achieved in ways that benefit both the creditors and their expanded female clientele. Understanding the depth of the problem, REVIVE was built to offer comprehensive solutions by partnering with three different organisations: Arthimpact Digital Loans, SEWA, and Chaitanya. 

One of the areas of its focus has been on providing returnable grants to 569 micro-entrepreneurs in the customer network of Arthimpact Digital Loans (Arth), an NBFC which provides collateral-free credit solutions to small enterprises, farmers and micro-entrepreneurs. 96% of the cohort supported by REVIVE are women entrepreneurs engaged in a wide range of occupations including agriculture, dairy, handicrafts, catering and small restaurants, tailoring, grocery stores, e – rickshaws among others. They are spread out over 7 districts in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Depending on their needs, the entrepreneurs were provided with either of:

  1. Zero-cost working capital support in the form of a returnable grant of INR 20,000 / 30,000 over a 1-year tenure or 
  2. For entrepreneurs requiring bridge financing during the devastating second wave of the COVID – 19 pandemic, zero-cost working capital support in the form of RG of INR 5,000 over 9 months but with a generous deferment period of 3 months

Another area of interest to REVIVE were initiatives of SEWA: RUDI – Rural Distribution Initiative, a production company owned and managed by small-scale women farmers, and Kamala, a food joint, providing nutritious dishes to its customers using millets and fresh produce procured directly from farmers. As the pandemic soared, the sales at both RUDI and Kamla sharply fell. The only way to revive the situation was by providing working capital to the entities to resume/accelerate the business operations. In view of the situation, Samhita/CGF supported SEWA in setting up the ‘Livelihood Recovery and Resilience Fund’:  a returnable grant of INR 25,42,373 lakhs (after TDS deduction) to support the end-to-end production process of RUDI and Kamala.

In addition, REVIVE is currently working with Chaitanya India, an organization at the forefront of the micro-credit movement for underserved women to provide affordable finance in the form of zero-cost returnable grants to 125 women in Vasai and Mankhurd areas of Mumbai. The women are engaged in a series of occupations from fruit/vegetable vending and selling fish (Vasai) to beauty services, tailoring, jewelry making, snack making, etc. (Mankhurd). The women have received access to finance amounting to INR 15,000 / 20,000 depending on their occupations and would have to repay on a monthly basis over one year. Chaitanya India’s model for financial support is actioned through a strong grassroots network of SHGs and clusters which are federated to provide financial services and training.

Women Artisans

COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown severely impacted artisans across the country. A KPMG study estimated that approximately 7.3 million people depend on handicraft and allied activities for livelihood. The handicraft and handloom sector in India is a Rs 24,300-crore industry and contributes nearly Rs 10,000 crore annually in export earnings. 

According to a survey by Dun and Bradstreet, 82 per cent of 250 MSMEs that were surveyed, said that Covid-19 had hit them hard. A Reserve Bank of India report states that MSMEs are one of the five worst affected sectors in India. Artisans and weavers form even a smaller number within the industry that is largely unorganised.

Since the lockdown, artisans witnessed production come to standstill. Huge unsold inventory piled up, while sales opportunities through exhibitions and through orders either came to a stop or dwindled quite low. Added to that, they had no working capital to reinvest. Some of the artisans reported their savings drying up and not having enough to meet the daily expenses. 

Most artisans have an important job of carrying forward and keeping alive the art. However, with so many additional problems during the pandemic, there were possibilities that many would look for alternative forms of livelihood. 

In order to revive these severely affected groups of artisans, Samhita-CGF with support from MSDF, S&P Global, and Vinati Organics, introduced Returnable Grants for women artisans. It is pertinent to mention that most of these women artisans are usually remotely located and spread across rural areas. Therefore, social enterprises take up the role of connecting these artisans, training them and skilling/upskilling them. It is also the enterprise’s role in such cases to source good quality raw materials and trains the artisans to produce high-quality products while simultaneously ensuring market linkages and sales. 

Identifying the role of an enterprise in bringing together artisans and the subsequent impact they can have on the lives and livelihoods of these artisans, Samhita-CGF collaborated with social enterprises like TISSER and SEWA Trade Facilitation Centre (STFC) as an effort to revive their livelihood within the REVIVE Alliance. 

The Returnable Grants have filled the gap of working capital for these enterprises. Once there was increased access to working capital, reinvestments in products and diversification into newer products like masks were undertaken by these enterprises. This also meant that slowly artisans could earn back their livelihood while upskilling themselves by making newer products. Products were specifically designed for festivals to increase the number of sales using the working capital given to these enterprises. Once the sales happen, the client money is revolved into the pool of returnable grants to impact more women artisans. 

Within the REVIVE Alliance, nearly 1200 women artisans including warli and pottery in Maharashtra, and textile artisans in Gujarat are being supported. Not only did these women artisans witness an economic revival as the orders increased, but they also underwent training and capacity building workshops to enhance their skills and diversify their products. Their average earnings have started showing an upward trend of slow and steady increase. 

Not only is the REVIVE Alliance supporting these social enterprises to enhance the lives of these women artisans, but are also safeguarding the traditional art of warli and pottery. 

In addition, the REVIVE Alliance aims to protect producer artisans directly linked to its ecosystem. Producer artisans are upskilled through distance learning to enable them to start producing the “Karuna ” range of products from their homes. Karuna products include face masks with designs, wrist bands, dining table mats with embroidered stories, embroidered bookmarks, embroidered handkerchief, tassel, keychains, hangings, natural fiber wristbands, coasters, and trivets among others. Market linkages (online and offline) are also provided to sell these products and thus ensure continued livelihood for the artisans during and post the lockdown. The project is implemented by Greenkraft Industree in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. So far, 400 women artisans have undergone the training programs. The project envisages improving the avenues for the financial stability of women artisans and providing them access to market and financial linkages.

Street Vendors

When a nationwide lockdown was announced, it immediately had a harsh effect on street vendors. An almost empty city without people stepping out of their homes meant that the city’s vendors immediately lost their source of income and were confronted with hunger and deprivation.

For women street vendors, the vulnerability doubled in such cases as they faced sharp repercussions after completely losing their livelihoods in the wake of the pandemic. A study shows that in the initial months of lockdown roughly 90% of vendors lost work, and even when the lockdown was lifted, recovery was slow, and it has not come back to pre-lockdown times. Women street vendors suffered most because they lacked access to assets and savings due to the lack of work and earnings. Most of these women street vendors used their savings to feed themselves and their families. Given this backdrop, restarting livelihood has become even more difficult but also the need of the hour. 

Across the country, many vendors have openly talked about issues in accessing loans since they are not recognised as ‘legal’ while also reporting a slowdown in the processing of loans. 

In the wake of these pressing problems, Samhita-CGF along with Brihati Foundation and S&P Global is supporting SEWA in reviving the livelihoods of 350 women street vendors. Spread across Gujarat, these women street vendors have received Returnable Grants within the REVIVE Alliance to be used as working capital to revive their livelihoods and tackle the cash crunch within their occupation. 

Although they are in the process of slowly recovering from this crisis, it is critical to take action to remove the barriers that are leading to their increased vulnerability. Returnable grants act as a 0% interest loan to these women which they have invested in buying raw materials for their vending business. However, there is an existing social stigma that these street vendors have to face as they are quite often seen as illegal occupants of public space. SEWA reported how these women are frequently targeted, harassed and evicted by officials of gated society, police, and sometimes government officials. 

For so many vendors, their businesses have fallen due to a perceived fear among people that the disease will spread more easily in markets. It is through continuous efforts by SEWA within the REVIVE Alliance that gradually the corporators/government officials have started to support these street vendors and their access to space for vending is not being denied anymore by the police. Challenges of entering gated communities/societies still persist, however, with enough vaccinated street vendors, this picture might change soon enough. 

Overwhelming demand from street vendors remains for support to resume working. Easier and faster access to capital and permission to work without harassment is essential to expedite recovery for vendors. Therefore, as a recovery model, Samhita-CGF along with Brihati Foundation and S&P Global is supporting SEWA in reviving the livelihood of 350 women street vendors by giving them returnable grants as a form of 0% interest loan.

Reach out

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Nagar, Goregaon East, Mumbai,
Maharashtra 400063, IN

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