aikyam fund - Making resilience accessible to early stage NGOs, ideas & at risk NGOs

Making resilience accessible to early stage NGOs & at risk NGOs

Abundance of good people doing great work...

1. Right to information(RTI), Forest Rights Act - FRA,Act, Protection of  Children from sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Juvenile Justice Act, Right to Education, Internet Freedom, Digital Personal Protection Act, 2023(DPDP Act) are a reality because of Civil Society efforts in India.India
   
2. JustIndians 10are yearsgiving ago - 15L-20L Active For Impact , Not For Loss orgs(NGOs) (~130-150NGOs/1L Citizens)

Donations have increased.more. Private philanthropy at 1.3 lakh crore in FY24 (1.05 lakh crore in FY22) even with FCRA Inputs reducing. More Talent studying,Students preparing to work in the Social Sector (through universities like APU, TISS, APUs, IRMA, etc)

But, there is scarcity of resilience in Civil Society Organisations

1. Only 4.1L active NGOs (July 2025) are listed on DARPAN. The ratio of NGOs to citizens in India is approximately 28 NGOs per 1L citizens, compared to 186 in Brazil, 64 in China, and 200 in Russia. 
2. IndianIts Trustsnot &just Foundationsthe estimatenumbers but also the effectiveness too. Its estimated that number of fundable effective (>1 Cr/year) organisations in India could be less than 4000.
3. 6/10 early-stage NGOs do not get funding due to challenges with capacity around compliances, outreach.
4. 3/10 mid sized NGOs do not get repeat funding from trusts and foundations due to capacity and systems around compliance challenges, program delivery and monitoring frameworks.
5. 5/10 NGOs (all sizes, stages) have less than 3-month cash runway.
6. 8/10 NGOs (all sizes, stages) struggle to obtain indirect costs funding (capacity building, technology, operational infrastructure, team building) leading to organisation stunting
   

What do we mean by 'resilience'?

A resilient NGO is one that survives disruptions and keeps serving the vulnerable communities they work with.

Let's imagine two NGOs lose their main funding.

The non-resilient one closes in 2-3 months - NGO can't pay rent, team quits, programs for vulnerable communities abandoned. The resilient one tap their other funding streams, use their 6-month cash reserve, team takes temporary pay cuts but stays because they trust leadership. programs for vulnerable communities continue.

Unpacking

Interconnected

Organizational Componentschallenges aren't isolated problems - they're symptoms of resilienceinterconnected forsystemic NGOsgaps

WorkingWe withobserved partner50 NGOs,NGOs wethat brokesurvived 5+ years versus 30 that shut down Resiliencewithin 3 years. We noticed that organizational challenges aren't isolated problems - they're symptoms of interconnected systemic gaps. A compliance failure often stems from team capacity issues & rapidly changing regulations. Fundraising struggles connect to its key components

Mostly Internalstorytelling and canprogram bedesign controlledgaps. Team burnout links to operational inefficiencies and unmet needs of team members.

4 Key interconnected components of Resilience

Mostlystood External/Changingout in the NGOs that 👩🏼‍💻are resilient:

Compliant & Efficient Operations Psychologically Safe Workspaces, Teams

 

 

🏛️ Compliance

🏛️ Efficient Operations 🌍 Measurable, Impactful Programs 💰 Diverse, Predictable fundraising streams

There Importantcould be more components like Community trust, Government relationships, etc. We will continue to workobserve urgentlythese onwith improvingeach statecohort ofto Resilience of Civil Society Orgsrefine.

Below is a an estimation (Desk research,  Inputs from 80 NGOs) of the maturity level across each of the key components of resilienceresilience.

This is based on a set of 100 Ideas/NGOs that we have worked with at various levels.

 

TEST: Tiny Experiments for Social Transformation as a way to finding practical solutions

We didn't have many of the answers to improve the above metrics so we ran 200+ Tiny Experiments with partner NGOs to solve for parts of the above challengeschallenges. We succeeded in some and failed in many but we learnt from each experiment. TEST.

One of our objectives was to understand the key barriers in increasing maturity levels across various components of resilence (e.g Website is not a tech challenge but a storytelling challenge, ERPs are not a tech challenge but a Internal Policies, Training Challenge, Firing is a hiring problem, etc)

Problem & Barrier	Tiny Experiment	Learnings
DrivingFounder Values,has Missionclear vision & Visionvalues fromstatement Leadershipbut toteam Teamdoesn't Level know it. Everyone works hard on different "vision" and believes in different values	A 1 Day workshop with all team members co-facilitated by the organisations leadershipleadership. Details	Workshops around Listening, Appreciative Inquiry, Shared Values, Imagine the Future on a regular basis in psychologically safe spaces helps towards mission aligned teams. ShouldBuilding becapacity ledof bythe Leaders(s)Leadership Linkto do this regularly is crucial.
Resources around compliance mostlyAccountant in English,rural notKarnataka easilyneeds discoverable,GST accessiblehelp. Googles in Kannada - nothing. Googles in English - 40 confusing articles. Calls expensive consultant. Pays ₹3000 for a 10-minute answer that should be free	An online Free library of curated resources on Compliance accessible in 14 Indian Languages with AI podcasts	Finance teams from NGOs across NGOsIndia visit the platform regularly, Content is now more discoverable through Google Search, AI Searches. Content shared by different stakeholders freely to contribute.   Resources are just a start. We need to work on better ways to hold space for them by doing regular webinars.
Challenges around learning to ask for help among Civil Society Organisaions team members.	An online forum for NGO team members to ask questions co created by aikyam, RNPF, Saathi	Questions through Email & Whatsapp easier to collect, Anonymous posting of Questions with Answers around sensitive topics helpful, Language Translate made discussions more accessible.   NGOs were cautious to ask questions publicly as it might affect them.   We need to work to solve for challenges faced by Users to "frame the question"
LawsNew thatgig affectworker vulnerablelaw communitieshas are15 notprotections. accessibleWe totested them50 gig workers - zero knew about even one protection. Why? 30+page PDF in legal English & Kannada on government website.	aikyam fellows did In person campaigns with gig workers in bangalore to share an online Free library of curated Acts with NotebookLM Video Audio summary and translations in 14 Indian Languages	Native Language Video Summaries uploaded on Youtube very helpful to gig workers, Stickers with QR Codes to access the laws,accessible version of the Law.   We did not think through Grievance Redressal workflows arewhile stillspreading lacking.the word.
Funders, Technology and NGO Leadership has more agency in design of programs for vulnerable communities but are least affected if their design fails	In Person and online Vulnerability Centered Program Design workshop with a partner NGOs  Details 🔗	Unlike human centered designs - this framework gives more agency to Vulnerable communities/Planet in the solution of the design. Systems Thinking made it easier to identify Measurement and Evaluation Metrics in a more systemic way. Better Fundraising Slide Deck and Ask to Funders
ScarcityIn of Psychologically safe spaces for Dialogue, reflections,a planning formeeting: 8 people, 1 talks (Founder), 7 silent. Asked privately later - all 7 had concerns about the CSOsplan. None spoke up. Plan failed in 3 months affecting vulnerable communities.	We ran aikyam space a 12 bed stay and workshop space in Kochi and Carefully curated Workshops, bootcamps to bring together like minded folks from CSOs to solve urgent and important problems faced by the teams.	Increased sense of psychological safety, Felt safer to ask for help, Better mission aligned teams, Being away from the day to day field work for a few days in carefully curated workshops provided opportunities to reflect and course correct.
Abundance NGO A helped 1,000 children. Their website says 'We do education.' and a donate link that no one clicked.   NGO B with 100 children raised ₹10L in crowdfunding with story of storiesone ofgirl, impactPriya, butwho scarcitybecame offirst Storytellingdoctor in her village.	Make Zero Code Free & Open Source Tools and Storytelling Frameworks more accessible to 20 NGOs through hands on workshops	Tech is only 2% of the Website Problem, HelpedTools bringmade it easier for NGOs to tell their stories from the joy of storytelling to Change makers,ground, Zero Cost through Volunteer support and Digital Ocean hosting donations for Non profits.
HowNew toFCRA makerule importantannounced. and500 urgentNGOs informationaffected. accessibleInformation toburied changein makersa bypage buildingPDF. anBy onlinethe communitytime NGOs found out (3 months later), 100+ lost registration.	Nurturing PATTIC - an alliance and an online community of finance practitioners members from across CSOs	1800+ Active Members with 76% of them active in the last 30 days. Regular Emails, WhatsApp alerts on important changes. High open rates of above 50% on newsletters and a click rate of 12-14%.    We need to improve to make it more community led and increase membership.
ScarcityIn of curated opportunities for aspiring talent in the500 social sector job posts: Only 10% mention salary range, Only 20% describe actual work the organization does, 90% list 'passion for social change' as requirement.	aikyam jobs - Hand curated jobs from social impact orgs with rich job descriptions to attract talent	SEO friendly content, Adding context about the organisation within the job description, clear salary ranges and an option for NGOs to track applications became valuable to NGOs and job applicants.   We failed at building community of volunteers to add job posts, increase outreach to univeristy placement cells. We are working to improve this.

A Tech System to manage & track all Operations within an NGO to improve compliance and efficiency Worked with an NGO to move them from paper based to ERPNext for their day to day operations.  We Failed and this affected the NGO and us. Policies needed to set up HR workflows were not ready, Employee data was not collated at one place, Leadership was not involved in the implementation and it was delegated. Program teams did not understand why this system was needed.

..and more.

This approach by running experiments on actual problems and creating live solutions with feedback helped us to create a first draft framework for solving this in a systematic way for our partner NGOs/Ideas/projects.

aikyam fund aspires to Make resilience accessible to early stage NGOs, ideas & at risk NGOs

At aikyam fund we believe that organizational challenges aren't isolated problems - they're symptoms of interconnected systemic gaps. A compliance failure often stems from team capacity issues. Fundraising struggles connect to storytelling and program design weaknesses. Team burnout links to operational inefficiencies and unclear mission alignment.

Every year, We identify a cohort of early stage social impact Ideas, non profits & at risk non profits in India working on urgent and Important challenges affecting vulnerable communities and the planet. 

This cohort goes through our 12-month program of Hands on Bootcamps, Workshops, Mentoring that treats organizations/Ideas as complex adaptive systems, addressing four interconnected components simultaneously:

• Compliant & Efficient Operations 
• Psychologically Safe Workspaces & Teams
• Measurable, Impactful Programs
• Diverse, Predictable Fundraising Streams

To set them up for success, We define resilience across these four interconnected components and use a systematic L0→L1→L2→L3→L4 progression framework. The table below shows this level by level approach and the benefits unpacked at each Level in each key component.

Image: From L1 to L4: Participating NGOs are able to unpack benefits at each level.

Level >	L1	L2	L3	L4
Compliance & Operations	Regulatory Foundations Complete   12A, 80G, DARPAN, Audits, Statutory Filings, Banking, PAN	Core Policies Implemented   Team trained on HR, Procurement,  Travel, Expense Claims policies. PoSH ICC Committee formed. Data Privacy, Financial Procedures manual and Monthly reporting	Tech Systems Integrated   Accounting, Fit for purpose ERP, Compliance Calendars, Quarterly internal audits, SOPs for key processes	Compliance & Efficiency Optimized    Zero compliance violations, tech systems and SOPs adoption rate >80%, cost per beneficiary optimized, Mentoring other CSOs
Psychologically Safe Workspaces, Teams	Leadership framework Established   Vision, Mission, Values Statements, Board, Founding team roles, Hiring process, First hirings	Team Development Active   Onboarding, induction process in place, Team Building and capacity building plans created and first sessions started	Collaboration Systems ready   Communications platforms, project management tools, knowledge management tools, regular knowledge sharing sessions)	Psychologically Safety achieved in Workspace    Team recommends org to others, <15% annual attrition, mental health support available to staff, Innovation time/support for new ideas by team, sharing best practices with others in the ecosystem
Measurable, Impactful Programs	Program Design co-created with agency to communities they work with.   Identify stakeholders, their needs & vulnerabilities, barriers to those needs, solution, feedback loops.	Community driven Monitoring System Operational   Program workflows mapped, output indicators tracked, outcome indicators defined with baseline, program review rhythm established with community	Program Monitoring Active with monthly feedback from community   Mid course corrections, annual impact assessment, feedback loops with communities at risk	Impactful Programs delivery demonstrated    Replicable program models that are recommended or adopted by others working on similar challenges, providing support to others replicating/improving the model
Diverse, Predictable fundraising streams	Story & Impact Framework Ready   Why they exist, what they do, Theory of Change, 3-5 impact case studies, basic website, A basic clear communication deck/document	Outreach Plan Active   Fundraising plan in place, Donor lists, engagements, key fundraising opportunities identified, 1-3 Funding proposals submitted, Individual Giving started with 30-50 regular givers	Diverse streams of fundraising active   Individual giving CRM, 1-2 CSR/Trust Partnerships established, Grant Management systems, Active Website, Engagement with stakeholders through newsletters, events	Financial Resilience Achieved    6+ months cash flow reserves, Revenue streams diversifed with no source more than 40% of total annual income, multi year grants secured (1-2), Individual Giving retention >60%

We also support select Ideas, NGOs by covering costs (Around INR 5L-15L)10L) to implement recommendations during the above programme. (This could include cost of expert consultant on compliance, facilitation, logistics, Financial Support for Founders if no income source, etc). These costs are directly paid to the Service providers, consultants, interns and not to the NGO.

The program also provides Office hours with aikyam fellows, alumni and Conversations and mentoring with other Founders, Frontline workers, Teams

 

Building alliances and freeaccessible infrastructure, resources that can benefit Civil Society as an Ecosystem

Eco-system approach by nurturing/co-creating an eco-system of "infrastructure" for NGOs through public resources/projects/alliances like:

• • aikyam space - Convening, Co-working, Reflective spaces for NGOs in Fort Kochi Details 🔗
  • aikyam jobs - Hand curated jobs in social impact Details 🔗
  • aikyam school (WIP) - Courses, Workshops for Capacity Building Details 🔗
  • aikyam fellows - Program, Design, Tech, Strategy help for NGOs
  • Our Alliances:
    • PATTIC - Community, resources for statutory & regulatory matters Details 🔗
    • OASIS (Partner) - Making Open Source Software accessible to NGOs Details 🔗
    • PoSH (WIP) - Resources for gender neutral safe workspaces

 

 

We are a Small but Committed team with expertise and experience of solving problems faced by Civil Society Organisations

Key team members

• Shemeer Babu is aikyam fellow and Co-founder providing leadership and implementation support to the team
• Jinso Raj is aikyam fellow and helps make Free & open Source tech more accessible to CSOs
• Sumi Thomas is aikyam fellow and helps make storytelling tools more accessible to Changemakers
• Pooja Thyagi is aikyam fellow and runs PATTIC that makes regulatory compliances more accessible to CSOs
• Minah Jalal is aikyam fellow and runs aikyam space to make psychologically safe spaces accessible to change makers.
• Femina Fathima is aikyam fellow and helps make benefits of design more accessible to changemakers

Note: Alumni from our programs are valuable part of our extended team.

We have raised INR 3.5 Cr out of INR 10.3 Cr needed to support 45-55 Ideas/NGOs in India in 3 Years 

S No	Description	Funding	Y1	Y2	Y3
1	People (Fellowships, Salaries, Consulting, Interns)		₹67,20,000	₹69,88,800	₹72,68,352
2	IT Infra for NGOs (Hosting, Laptops, Devices)		₹17,50,000	₹18,20,000	₹18,92,800
3	IT Consulting for NGOs (Customisations of FOSS)		₹7,00,000	₹7,28,000	₹7,57,120
4	Office/Space (Rent, Utilities, Medical, Facilities)		₹28,00,000	₹29,12,000	₹30,28,480
5	Space (Furniture, Fixtures, Maintenance)		₹3,50,000	₹3,00,000	₹3,00,000
6	Legal & Compliances		₹2,50,000	₹2,60,000	₹2,70,400
7	Total Aikyam Operating Costs (1 to 6)	65% Funded	₹1,25,70,000	₹1,30,08,800	₹1,35,17,152
8	Support for Ideas/NGOs 15 in Y1, 15 in Y2 & 20 in Y3 ~ 6.4 Cr INR for 3 years = Total 50 Ideas/NGOs	15% Funded	₹1,82,20,000	₹1,89,48,800	₹2,67,58,784

Note: 

1. Year on Year Inflation at 4%, 
2. aikyam operating costs are optimised/capped in Y1 and Y2 by leveraging on public infrastructure, support that we are a part of (like PATTIC, OASIS, etc) and support/mentoring by alumni as a way of paying it forward

What is INR 10L Support for Ideas/NGOs? (#8 in table above)

WeAll defineNGOs, resilienceespecially acrossearly fourstage interconnectedneed componentsfinancial andsupport use(Expert aadvice, systematicTravel, Administration, basic sustenance for founders, emergency funds)  as they go through L0→L1→L2→L3→L4 progression framework.framework - Not all NGOs will advance through every level - progression depends on organizational readiness, capacity, and specific needs. Some may graduate early, others require extended support at certain levels.

Investment for a cohort of 10 NGOs/Ideas : ₹1,08,20,000 for 1 year (average across varied NGO development stages). Breakdown is shared in below table. 

Levels >	L0–L1	L1–L2	L2–L3	L3–L4
# of Partners	10	10	~6	~5
Compliance & Operations	₹50,000 –   Regulatory Foundations Complete	₹60,000   Core Policies Implemented	₹90,000   Tech Systems Integrated	₹90,000   Compliance & Efficiency Optimized
Psychologically Safe Workspaces	₹50,000   Leadership framework Established	₹60,000   Team Development Active	₹70,000   Collaboration Systems ready	₹1,00,000   Psychologically Safety achieved
Measurable, Impactful Programs	₹80,000   Program Design co-created	₹1,00,000   Monitoring System Operational	₹1,60,000   Monitoring with feedback	₹1,70,000   Impactful delivery demonstrated
Fundraising Streams	₹1,00,000   Story & Impact Framework Ready	₹1,00,000   Outreach Plan Active	₹1,00,000   Fundraising streams active	₹1,00,000   Financial Resilience Achieved
Per NGO per Stage	₹2,80,000   NGO reaches L1 across 4 key components	₹3,20,000   NGO reaches L2 across 4 key components	₹4,20,000   NGO reaches L3 across 4 key components	₹4,60,000   NGO reaches L4i8 across 4 key components

High Level Financial Projection [Draft]

 

Selection Criteria for NGOs/Ideas (Draft)

• Founder(s) should be working full time on the project/Idea
• Should be registered or in the process of being registered as a Not For Profit Entity in India
• Work should be in India
  
• We are currently focusing only on Non FCRA Entities.
  

 

References for Due Diligence, Impact Stories

1. Nasmina of iLab India | info@ilabindia.org 
2. Rohit Sharma for Awaaz Leadership Labs | rohitsharma@nujs.edu 
3. Hassan Al Banna from Parivartan | contact.albanna@gmail.com 
4. Anjali from Thudippu | anjali.thudippu@gmail.com
5. Pranav from OASIS | pranav@oasishq.org 
6. Sharad from PATTIC | sharadbhargava@saathidevelopment.org 

Grant Request of INR 3-5 Cr for 3 years from Trusts & Foundations in India

A total of INR 3-5 Cr in 3 tranches as a support/fund for around 25-45 NGOs/Ideas over 3 years (September 2025 - August 2028)

For any queries, interest in funding us, please write to  shemeer@aikyamhq.com 

 

We are a Sec 8 Non Profit - Compliance Documentations

Note: NO FCRA

Company Registration

• List of Directors.pdf
• AoA.pdf
• CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION T4G.PDF
• PAN_T4G.pdf
• License for Section 8 of Companies Act.PDF
• MoA.pdf
• Darpan_Registration.pdf

12A & 80G

• 12A Approval Certificate.pdf
• 80G Approval certificate.pdf

CSR Registration

• CSR_Approval_letter.PDF
  

Audit Reports

• Audit Report & Financials_FY23.pdf
• Audit Report & Financials_FY24.Pdf

Income Tax Returns

• FY 2022-23
  • 10BB FY 2022-23.pdf
  • ITR Form FY 2022-23.pdf
  • ITR Acknowledgement FY 2022-23.pdf
• FY 2023-24
  
  • 10BB FY 2023-24.pdf
  • ITR FY 2023-24_Form.pdf
  • ITR FY 2023-24 Acknoweldgement.Pdf

Annual Reports

• aikyam-report-2022-23.pdf
• aikyam-Report-2023-2024.pdf
• aikyam-report-2024-25.pdf

Policies

• HR Policies.pdf
• PoSH Policy.pdf
• Travel Policy.pdf
• Reimbursement Policy.pdf
• Advance Policy.pdf
• Procurement Policy.pdf
• Banking and Cash Approval Policy.pdf