MODEL - NON PROFIT

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEWNational Foundation for India (NFI) is an independent grant-making organization, aimed at enabling development and empowering societies in urban poor areas. It supports on-ground development by funding and building the capacities of civil society organizations (CSOs). It works in seven key development areas – local governance, citizens and society, education, health, livelihoods, peace and justice, and development journalism.

THE PROBLEMSmall towns and peri-urban areas of India have a very

poor level of civic services due to obscure

decision-making and weak budget accountability.

Their development is sidelined by governments and

the gravity of the situation is compounded by a dearth

of grassroot leadership and low citizen engagement.

NFI’s RESPONSENFI partners with CSOs to empower grassroots society to have a voice in civic issues through participative development models in areas such as waste, water and sanitation. It also works to strengthen and support budget groups, to make governments accountable, transparent and efficient.

National Foundation for India (NFI)

Founded: 1992 | Head Office: New Delhi | Coverage: Pan-India | Full-Time Staff: 17Budget (2013-14): Organization – INR 9.2 crore; Governance – INR 3.7 crore

HOW DID IT EVOLVE?

National Foundation for India (NFI)

WHAT DOES IT DO?

www.nfi.org.in

Founded by a group of eminent citizens led by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, C. Subramaniam and

Dr. Kamla Chowdhury, with support from

industry leaders to create a just and

equitable society

Pioneered work on urban governance in India, with an endowment from Ford

Foundation and Rockfeller Foundation for

grant-making

Sharpened focus to governance in

marginalized small towns and peri-urban areas, with

support from Tata Trust

Started working in Rajasthan on governance of small towns and later expanded to Jharkhand

and Odisha

Partnered with Ford Foundation to focus on budget analysis, while continuing to support

programs for improving civic amenities

1992 1994 1999 2008-2009 2012

Strengthening Local Governance: Supports local CSOs’ strategic interventions through funding and hands-on guidance, to drive community initiatives for improving civic services (such as water, waste and sanitation) and citizens’ participation in local governance.

Enabling participatory and empowering models, which engage citizens, especially women and youth, to solve local civic issues. Advocating for better governance and services in small towns and peri-urban areas through action research, community mobilization, and by creating linkages and networks.

Budget Work: Supports civil society budget groups to strengthen and deepen budget analysis and understand the impact of budgets.

Working with nine state-level budget groups and two national groups to whom NFI provides institution building support through workshops and consultations, along with funding.NFI has established an Advisory Committee of domain experts to provide strategic inputs to its budget portfolio; also working with UN Women to promote gender equity through budgets.

Citizens and Society: Drives strategic collaborations for establishing and developing civil society organizations at the grassroot level.

Leadership Development: Identifying grassroot leaders through awards and supporting them with capacity building and funding.Social Justice Philanthropy: Promoting indigenous philanthropy for social justice and channelizing it to under-served areas.Voluntarism: Encouraging civic engagement of youth groups.

KEY INTERVENTIONS

1. Building awareness and mobilizing citizens2. Training citizens for public engagement 3. Creating knowledge and evidence4. Advocacy for policy design and implementation5. Technology platforms and solutions6. Facilitating independent and inclusive journalism7. Capacity building of government officials8. Capacity building of local partners9. Facilitating platforms for multi-stakeholder engagement

WHAT’S NEXT?Over the next few years, NFI wants to focus on expanding its outreach within its existing focus sectors:

Increasing outreach to additional small towns and peri-urban areas in the states of Jharkhand and Odisha, through participative projects, which strengthen local governance and enable participation of youth and women. Expanding budget analysis work by supporting 15 organizations, up from the initial six Ford Foundation grantees it started with in 2012, and reaching out to over 70% of India’s states within three years. NFI seeks to create a collaborative network of around 10 funding partners for the expansion of its budget work.Focusing on its Social Justice Philanthropy platform to increase strategic indigenous philanthropy.

“Fraternity, the sense of being connected with others, is the life-breath of democracy, an institution we so cherish. And sharing one’s abundance with those on the margins is one tangible expression of such connectedness. By promoting social justice philanthropy, NFI facilitates such connectedness.”– Deep Joshi, chairperson

citizenvoice policy law servicedelivery thinktank transparency RTI elections budgets urbangovernance panchayatiraj accesstojustice

technology humanrights independentmedia

Budgets are about citizens' money, so citizens have a right to have a say over it and to hold the government accountable. NFI is supporting budget groups to help improve the impact of budgets.

- Basant Nayak, Odisha Budget and Accountability Centre

NFI has built a network of 40 grantee CSOs till date, and has supported the work of many from their ideation phase to a point where they are recognized as leading organizations in their area of work. NFI has succeeded in improving civic services in over 15 distinct urban communities across five states. For example, in a seven-year long partnership with Seva Mandir, NFI supported the local community of Delwara, a small township in Rajasthan, to successfully restore their peri-urban town and its civic amenities and come together as a cohesive social unit with participation of youth and women, to influence local governance.

WHAT HAS IT ACHIEVED?

VOICES FROM THE GROUND

Amitabh Behar heads NFI and is recognized as a leading expert on people-centered advocacy.Led the National Centre of Advocacy Studies, convener of the Wada Na Todo Abhiyaan (Don't Break Your Promises Campaign).Serves as President of Yuva and Board member of Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability.

Key funders: Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, UNFPA and Omidyar Network.Trustees include Deep Joshi (PRADAN), Ramchandra Guha, Ravi Narain (CEO of NSE India), Renu Sud Karnad (MD of HDFC).Early supporters include Dr. Manmohan Singh, V. Kurien, Kiran Karnik, Ratan Tata and Mallika Sarabhai.

QUALITY INDICATORS

National Foundation for India (NFI)

FCRA12 A 80 G FCRA

Leadership

Partnerships