Raising Impact is an evidence-led research and advisory organization for philanthropy in India.
A growing share of India's giving now comes from business, whether through first-generation philanthropists, family foundations or corporate CSR. These funders bring to their giving the expectation they bring to investment: that capital should go where it achieves the greatest return. In philanthropy, that return is measured in lives improved per rupee, and the difference between one programme and another can be tenfold or more.
Globally, a small number of institutions have made this question their discipline, and their cost-effectiveness research has guided billions of dollars. India has no equivalent. Raising Impact was established to provide one, applying the same rigour to Indian philanthropy and grounding it in the local evidence, data and field knowledge on which sound conclusions depend.
Cause areas, geographies, interventions and the organizations delivering them
Funders on where their giving will do the most good via our cost effectiveness analysis and the reasoning set out
Our frameworks, models and findings, so others can check and build on them
A first-generation philanthropist wanted to help large numbers of people into better-paid work, and began with blue-collar jobs in mind.
We widened the lens from jobs to income, then asked who was most exposed to income stress. The answer was India's ~93 million smallholder farming households, whose incomes have grown at about 3% a year for two decades.
The strongest lever was not a new job but a better crop: diversification from cereals into horticulture and allied activities, which can raise earnings.
A USD 1 million commitment to two organizations in high-need states, and a funder whose next grant is likely to start from evidence rather than instinct.
“I am confident that without Raising Impact's process, our capital would have been directed very differently, and almost certainly less effectively.”
Raising Impact was seeded by philanthropists Vikrant Bhargava and Luke Ding, both trustees of Founders Pledge.
Vikrant Bhargava and Luke Ding seeded Raising Impact and fund its work, bringing long experience of evidence-led giving and global standards in high-impact philanthropy.
Our advice costs funders nothing. Raising Impact is funded by its founding philanthropists.
We take no success or placement fees and hold no financial interest in any organisation we evaluate.
Our screening and shortlisting rest on evidence alone. Relationships, reputation and proximity count for nothing in deciding which organisations we put forward.
We are developing cost-effectiveness models and sector analyses as public goods, so that funders beyond our own can use them.
If you’re a funder planning to make a significant philanthropic commitment, we would be glad to talk it through with you.
Write to info@raisingimpact.org