Resources

Non-profit organizations are mandated with the difficult task of ensuring India achieves the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This requires the talent within these organizations to solve complex social issues and work in extremely harsh, resource-constrained conditions. While it is people that form the backbone of a non-profit’s ability to achieve its mission and improve as many lives as possible – investments in people are often under-prioritized, infrequent or unplanned. This report is an effort to spotlight the importance of talent management within implementing non-profits in India. It seeks to understand the unique talent-related characteristics and challenges non -profits face, and offers guidance and actionable tips for non-profits, funders and the sector at large to approach talent management differently.

This report is the second of a series of Dasra research reports on institution building within non-profit organizations, following Ready, Set Grow (2019). It delves into one of the most critical elements of institution building – talent and talent management.

As part of this research, Dasra undertook a data-driven study of implementing non-profits in India with an aspiration to scale their impact. We conducted secondary research, a series of in-depth interviews with non-profit leaders, funders and experts, and administered a quantitative survey to implementing non-profits working pan-India, for which we received nearly a hundred responses.