2 days ago
India's nonprofits lag in digital race, miss out on crores in tech grants: Report
New Delhi, Even as India's digital economy accelerates, the nonprofit sector is falling behind, with over 80 per cent of such outfits lacking digital readiness, according to a new report by Digital for Nonprofits .
The 'State of Digitization for Nonprofits in India 2025' report analysed 100 nonprofits and over 2,000 data points to reveal that the average digital maturity score among Indian nonprofits is just 5 out of 10.
A key finding of the report is that only 17 per cent of nonprofits use free digital advertising grants such as Google Ad Grants, effectively missing out on nearly ₹1 crore in ad credits per nonprofit each year.
The report, which studied organisations across 12 sectors — including education, health, women's rights, arts, sports, and disaster relief — highlighted that nonprofits embracing digital tools see up to 20 per cent higher revenue growth and 30 per cent improvement in operational efficiency compared to their less digitally mature peers.
The report said only 13 per cent of nonprofits provide multilingual digital content.
It also flagged a growing digital divide between urban and rural nonprofits, with organisations in cities generally scoring higher in digital readiness.
Lack of awareness, limited technical expertise, and misconceptions around cost remain significant barriers to digital adoption.
The report recommended urgent policy and ecosystem support to modernize India's grassroots changemakers.
To bridge the gap, D4NP suggests actionable steps for nonprofit leaders: benchmark digital maturity, actively claim available grants, invest in team training, prioritize mobile and multilingual access, and use analytics to track and enhance outreach efforts.
Digital for Nonprofits has worked with such organisations as SEWA Bharat, WWF India, the All India Disaster Management Institute, and Sivananda Yoga Ashram to enhance their digital capabilities.
