A Year of Learning, Growth and Engagement
Meet Kavita ji, a passionate leader of a small NGO working tirelessly to support marginalised communities in UP. Despite her unwavering commitment, she was grappling with a set of questions that don’t have easy answers: “How do I build a strong fundraising strategy?”, “Where can I find reliable partners who understand our context?”, “How can I tell my organisation’s story better?” Like many small and medium-sized non-profits, Kavita’s organisation is a small, tight-knit team and deeply mission-driven, but struggles with the complexities of recognising and prioritising internal functional capacity gaps in between delivering impact programmes.
This is a common challenge. Many non-profits, while devoted to their causes, face difficulties in strengthening their internal capabilities. Often, capacity building efforts are need based, lacking a long-term view, and somewhere making the process feel isolated for NGOs. Understanding this serious challenge and the gap in the sector, we created India Partner Network (IPN), a digital platform dedicated to helping mission-driven organisations strengthen their core competencies so that they can deliver programs more effectively.
As IPN turned one in August 2024, we reflected on a year of collective effort and collaboration. What began as a mission to connect nonprofits to learning solutions has grown into a thriving ecosystem of capacity building intermediaries and donors, supporting over 2,250 change-makers from 1,700+ organisations across India. This journey, marked by significant milestones and partnerships, was fuelled by your trust and support.
Of course, a huge shoutout to our 30+ partners who brought their expertise to the table and amplified our reach. A special thanks to our engineering partner, Dhwani Rural Information Systems for helping develop IPN into the dynamic digital ecosystem it is today. Your contributions have been invaluable, and we couldn’t have done it without you!
Our focus on integrated capacity-building solutions remains more critical than ever. We are at a pivotal point, revisiting our hypotheses, uncovering new engagement challenges and potentials, and evolving our approach to meet the needs of mission-driven organisations like yours. We’ve learned a lot along the way. Strong ecosystem engagement and valuable partnerships have been our pillars, while reaching regional organisations and navigating diverse capacity needs remain challenges we’re tackling head-on.
Looking ahead, we’re excited to introduce new features like multilingual resources, readiness assessments, guided learning paths, and a comprehensive service listing to better support NGOs. Check out our first anniversary report, with highlights of our journey so far and future plans. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue evolving IPN to meet your needs. Here’s to many more milestones together!
Aarti Krishnan, Head-IPN