IPOs With A Difference, 05 10 2025
Fund raising for a NGO is a monumental task and, in my view, the most challenging job anywhere in the world. My engagement with social sector and not-for-profit organisations taught me a lot and one of the key learnings was the IPOs with a difference. IPO-OI, is a five-stage analysis of initiatives that considers Input, Process, Output, Outcome and the Impact. One of the key reasons for the use of this frequent analysis is the need to raise funds. While NGOs are focused on IPO, the donors often do not see beyond OI.
Donors are attracted by the visible OI, i.e. Outcome and Impact. However, the NGOs raising funds are focused on the IPO, i.e. Inputs required, refining their Process, and optimizing their desired Output. They believed that OI is a logical follow through of their IPO; adequate inputs, diligently followed process resulting in the desired Output. The hyphen in IPO-OI is easy to insert, but one of the most difficult bridges to connect.
Driven by purpose, constrained by funds, could be the tagline of most fundraising teams in NGOs. Fundraising, which should be a peripheral activity, becomes the primary imperative draining the energy of most social entrepreneurs. Skilled story tellers, talented marketing professionals and persuasive grant writers are the need. But lack of resources forces many NGOs to rely on goodwill of donors and sincerity of their purpose as the two primary drivers for their fund-raising efforts.
Donors with resources face a major challenge. Like the proverbial ‘once bitten twice shy’, their bad experience with unethical NGOs that have misused funds color their decision making. Despite wanting to donate, they are restrained by the nagging fear that they may be duped. With limited time, their search for an authentic NGO forces them to look at OI, i.e. outcome and impact. This is the only way they can ascertain if their contributions are judiciously spent, and properly used to generate the desired output.
One of the downsides in bridging the Donor-NGO divide is a short-term focus by NGOs on Output that often sacrifices OI in their bid to sustain their operations and showcase results, as OI takes time to become visible. Likewise, donors with excessive focus on OI often desist from funding the necessary and critical overheads of operations required to manage a program successfully, starving the NGOs of funds and reducing the effectiveness of their own donations.
The primary measure of Impact of any social program is in the number of lives touched and the difference it has made to their lives. While a narrow view looks only at the beneficiaries of the NGO program, a broader view would look in addition at the impact it has made to the NGO team and the donors in their thinking and action.
Fundraising when done right, is transformational. It transforms the donors from patrons into trusting partners, and NGOs from viewing their donors as mere moneybags to mentors, who together can collaborate to realize their sublime goals.
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