Fund for Inclusive Growth (FIG) - Directing philanthropic capital towards institution-building of small and mid sized non-profits in India
Building on our work with clients, Social Synergy Deutschland was launched in December, 2018, as a not-for-profit charitable organisation ("Verein") under German Law. It has been registered in Freiburg, Germany with the aim to promote Social Synergy’s unique approach to supporting non-profits in their engagement with funders and impact investors in Europe. Through its legal status, Social Synergy Deutschland is eligible to accept philanthropic capital and direct it to our portfolio clients in India.
Social Synergy Deutschland is governed and managed by a European investment committee. The decision to fund a particular non-profit, the funding terms and the focus areas will be at the sole discretion of the European investment committee.
The idea behind FIG is very simple: over the years many philanthropists have invested substantial sums in programmes. This transfer of capital, beside achieving programmatic outcomes, has also resulted in organisations that possess an enduring ability to generate impact. Philanthropists can continue to direct capital in these programmes through these same organisations. But there is an additional possibility: leveraging these historical investments to build institutional capital of these same organisations through smaller but continuous deployment of capital. This is possible provided these investments at the margin are directed towards nurturing the fundamental capabilities of these organisations. Sometimes it may mean supporting a strategic programme, at other times hiring of persons or building their potential, and still other times running a straightforward organisational development process.
A large number of organisations comprising our portfolio possess these common characteristics:
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Over a decade, in many cases more, of operating experience
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Not confined to a single sector, but being cross-sectoral focused on specific agendas, communities, or geographies
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Elements of advocacy, capability-building or grassroot engagement being central to their models.
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Working with issues and questions that are either not of interest to or cannot be resolved alone by governments and/or market-forces
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Solutions based on ideas that are not necessarily mainstream or popular
FIG is inviting you to participate in this very institution building of grassroots organisations, and thereby ensure that the results of the historical investments endure. FIG will commit, in principle, to the organisation for a period of 5 - 7 years and, if required, the support will be provided for an extended period without any financial assistance. By 2025, FIG aims to raise sufficient capital to support 15 - 20 not-for-profits.
On 7th October, 2020, we conducted a webinar with the help of Rianta Capital's Impact for Breakfast initiative, to educate donors on our approach. The slides used during the webinar can be accessed via this link and the video recording of the event can be accessed via this link.
Following are a few such grassroots organisations we have identified across our clients. A summary of these organisations and our work with them is laid out in the Portfolio section of our website. Below we list specific initiatives which we feel are central to the respective organisation’s future work. These are arrived at after considerable deliberations with them. If you are interested in any of them, please drop in an email at martin@sosynergy.org
While we work across more organisations than those listed below, we only bring forward an initiative when we are convinced about its maturity and need. From time to time we will keep adding to this list and hence those interested are requested to check this page at regular intervals. We also have a crowdfunding page on betterplace.org, where we list active fundraisers.