How NGOs find CSR partners, write proposals and budgets, prepare documents, report to funders, raise money from individuals and tell their story.
9 guides · about 85 minutes of reading · For NGO founders and fundraisers
Guide · 11 min read
Companies spent ₹34,908.75 crore on CSR in 2023-24, and much of it reaches people through NGOs. Here is what makes an NGO eligible, what a company needs from you, and how to go from a first conversation to a partnership that lasts.
Guide · 10 min read
The best CSR partners are found by research, not mass emails. Companies publish a lot about their CSR. Here is where to find it, how to read it and how to turn it into a short list worth approaching.
Guide · 9 min read
A good CSR proposal answers the questions a company’s CSR committee must settle before it can approve a project. Here is the structure, section by section, with the concept note to send first and the reasons proposals fail.
Guide · 10 min read
A proposal’s budget is where a CSR team tests whether your plan is real. Here is how to cost a project honestly, what companies usually ask about overheads, capital items and GST, and how to link tranches to the work, with a sample budget.
Checklist · 9 min read
Before it funds you, a company’s CSR team will ask for a set of documents and check them against public records. Here is the full list, why each one matters, how to keep a ready data room, and what to keep private.
Guide · 9 min read
A CSR funder needs your reports to meet its own legal duties, from its chief financial officer’s certificate to its year-end transfers. Here is what to report, when and how, including utilisation certificates, honest bad news and the final report.
Guide · 10 min read
Money from individuals is the most flexible funding an NGO can have, and the slowest to build. Here is how to start, what the law requires for receipts, tax and donors’ data, and what to check before you crowdfund.
Guide · 9 min read
Beyond CSR, NGOs can raise grants from philanthropic foundations and from government schemes. Each works differently. Here is how they compare with CSR, what you need to be eligible, and how applications and reporting work.
Guide · 8 min read
Stories are how people come to understand and support your work, and they’re easy to get wrong. Here is how to find a story, shape it, write it for the web, and tell it with consent, dignity and honest numbers.