Giving Compass' Take:

• India Development Review's Swarna Rajagopalan provides insight and advice on helping smaller nonprofits thrive and shares challenges with her own organization in the sector. 

• What can smaller nonprofits do to be recognized and build connections and partnerships with larger organizations? How does the development sector sometimes impede progress for these organizations?

• In 2015 a group of leaders in the sector, funders, and consultants created a framework to guide nonprofits towards high-quality performance -- a resource that various organizations might find helpful. 

I founded and run a small nonprofit, Prajnya, far from the capital city and off the radar of foundation offices; our work features neither in CSR schedules nor in government schemes; we have no FCRA or marketing genius.

All I had when I started off was a decent slate of academic and interpersonal skills, an idea about what needed to be done and how one might do it, and a sense of urgency—I had no clue that most of my work would be better suited to an MBA or administrative genius.

I continue to seek fundraising advice because we are constantly short of money for the things that nobody thinks nonprofits should need—space, cleaners and disinfectants for that space, paper, ink cartridges, storage devices, anti-virus and, of course, salaries. I search desperately for solutions. People tell me things like, “Money gets money” or “Scale is everything.” They sound good to me, but irrelevant, as is most advice that I read.

I worry about organisations that no one hears about, braving horrendous political and social odds in small towns and remote areas, doing wonderful work that those of us with shinier degrees cannot.

The slick, shiny world of fundraising and philanthropy discussed on platforms like this seems distant and they tell us that scale and large amounts of money are the only way to drive change. But there’s another way to bring about this change—and there are ways in which funders can support this approach.

  • Reach people where they are
  • Be accessible and responsive to queries
  • Simplify measurement and reporting
  • Plant grant-making trees

Read the full article about helping fund smaller nonprofits by Swarna Rajagopalan at India Development Review