In India, grassroots organizations are often the first to respond when systems fail. They run schools in remote hamlets, organize women’s collectives, deliver health services where clinics don’t reach, and step in long before external funding arrives. But for all their proximity to communities, many of these organisations remain structurally fragile — dependent on short-term grants, foreign funding cycles or a small pool of donors far removed from the people they serve.
The challenge is not a lack of commitment or innovation. It is a lack of power — specifically, the power to mobilise resources locally, tell their own stories and sustain their work on their own terms.
This is the gap that Smile Foundation set out to address through its Empowering Grassroots programme and more recently through Change the Game India (CtGI) — the India adaptation of the global Change the Game Academy approach. At its core, CtGI is about shifting mindsets: from dependency to agency and external validation to local legitimacy.
Why local sustainability matters now more than ever
Over the past decade, India’s civil society landscape has undergone significant change. Regulatory shifts, shrinking international funding and heightened scrutiny have made it increasingly difficult for grassroots organizations to rely on traditional funding sources. At the same time, expectations on these organizations have only grown: deliver impact at scale, demonstrate accountability and respond to complex, overlapping crises — from climate stress to gender inequality.
What has not kept pace is investment in organizational capacity. Many community-based organizations are expected to perform like professional institutions without being equipped with the skills, systems or confidence to do so.
CtGI responds to this imbalance directly. Anchored within Smile Foundation’s Empowering Grassroots programme, it focuses on strengthening local fundraising, communication, planning and governance as core competencies. The idea is simple but powerful: if organizations can mobilize support from the communities they serve and the ecosystems they operate in, they become more resilient, more accountable and ultimately more effective.
Learning from the India story: when fundraising becomes community-building
One of the most compelling insights from the India chapter of the Voices of Change storybook is that the real impact of CtGI is relational.
Take the example of a women-led organization in rural Maharashtra, working with farmers and informal workers. Before engaging with CtGI training, fundraising was viewed as something external — grant proposals written for distant donors, often in language that did not reflect local realities. There was hesitation, even discomfort, around asking the community for support. After all, how do you fundraise among people who themselves have limited means?
CtGI challenged this assumption head-on. Through local fundraising training facilitated by Smile Foundation, the organization began to see fundraising not as extraction, but as participation. A community-led food festival, rooted in local culture and collective effort, became both a fundraising event and a public statement. It brought together women farmers, families, local leaders and supporters in a shared space of pride and ownership.
The funds raised mattered. But what mattered more was what followed: increased visibility, stronger trust and a shift in how the organisation was perceived — not as a beneficiary of aid, but as a credible local institution.
This is a recurring theme across India and Asia in the report. When organizations raise funds locally, they also raise confidence. They negotiate differently with partners. They plan with longer horizons. They are better positioned to say no to projects that don’t align with community priorities.
Reframing capacity building: skills, yes — but also power
Too often, capacity building in the development sector is framed narrowly: a workshop here, a toolkit there. CtGI takes a broader view. It recognizes that skills without confidence or systems without legitimacy, do not translate into sustainability.
By embedding CtGI within the Empowering Grassroots programme, Smile Foundation has been able to contextualise global learning for Indian realities. Training modules are adapted to local languages, social norms and funding ecosystems. Organizations are encouraged to experiment, reflect and iterate rather than replicate models designed elsewhere.
Importantly, CtGI also works with youth. Through its youth track, young people are introduced early to the idea that social change requires not only passion, but planning, communication and resource mobilisation. In a country with one of the world’s largest youth populations, this is a strategic investment in the future of civil society leadership.
Gender, dignity and local ownership
Another thread running through the India story is gender. Many of the organizations supported through CtGI work with, or are led by, women. For them, local fundraising is a financial tool and a pathway to visibility and voice.
When women organize public events, speak about their work and mobilize resources, they challenge entrenched ideas about who leads and who decides. In rural and semi-urban contexts, this visibility has ripple effects: shifting household dynamics, influencing local governance and inspiring younger women to step into leadership roles.
This aligns closely with Smile Foundation’s broader commitment to gender equity across its programmes. CtGI does not treat women as a “target group” but recognises them as central actors in building sustainable, community-rooted institutions.
From local roots to ecosystem change
While CtGI focuses on individual organizations, its implications are systemic. Locally sustainable organizations are better partners for government programmes. They reduce dependency on volatile funding flows. They contribute to a healthier civil society ecosystem — one where accountability flows both upwards to donors and outwards to communities.
The India experience also offers lessons beyond the country’s borders. Across Asia, from Sri Lanka to Cambodia, similar patterns emerge: when local organisations gain the tools to fundraise, communicate and plan strategically, they are better able to navigate uncertainty and assert their role as agents of change.
What distinguishes the Indian model is scale and localisation. By anchoring CtGI within a nationally rooted organisation like Smile Foundation, the programme benefits from deep contextual understanding and strong delivery networks. It is not a pilot on the margins but a growing movement within India’s development landscape.
A shift with lasting consequences
CtGI, through the Empowering Grassroots programme, is helping rewrite the story of grassroots work in India, from one of perpetual scarcity to one of shared responsibility. It reminds us that sustainability is not only about money. It is about dignity, trust and power.
As the development sector grapples with questions of localization, decolonisation and long-term impact, the lessons from Change the Game India are clear: when communities are trusted to fund, shape and sustain their own solutions, change is not only possible but durable.
And perhaps most importantly, it is owned by the people it is meant to serve.
