Capital released against verified outcomes
Outcomes funded
Fees, equity, IRR or repayment
Rolling
Applications reviewed on merit, year-round
About Wadhwani Grants
Outcome-linked capital to catalyze growth
Wadhwani Grants funds organizations whose work creates verifiable employment or livelihood outcomes, and backs them to do more of it.
What We Fund
Three Outcomes, One Rule
Capital is released against verified employment or livelihood outcomes, not activities, plans or reports.
Track 1
Job Fulfillment
- Skilling and placement organizations
- People moved into employment
Outcome funded: a verified job placement
Track 2
Job Creation
- Enterprise-support organizations
- Businesses helped to grow and hire
Track 3
Livelihood Upliftment
- Self-employment support organizations
- Households helped to raise their own income
Outcome funded: a verified rise in household income.
Organizations working across more than one track are welcome; tell us about each.
Purpose
Fund what works. Measure what matters.
Most funding pays for activity. Wadhwani Grants pays for verified outcomes: a person placed in a job, a new job created through an enterprise, or a household that has raised its own income.
Focus geographies
- India
Why This Matters
Family-Sustaining Incomes Need Growth Capital
Organizations creating family-sustaining incomes fall between two funding models: pilot grants stop at the experiment, and return-seeking capital screens this work out.
Pilot grants stop early
They help test ideas, but rarely fund the next stage of delivery that is already proven.
Return-seeking capital screens out impact
Family-sustaining incomes create real public value, yet often do not fit investor return models.
Wadhwani Grants fills the gap
Outcome-linked grant capital that helps proven organizations expand what already works.
Who Should Apply
Built for proof, scale and ambition
This is for organizations creating employment or livelihood outcomes today, and ready to grow them with evidence.
How It Works
From application to disbursement
Ready to take your first step?
Tell us about the outcomes you are already creating.
The Grant Model
Capital follows verified outcomes
What You Get
A complete model for outcome-linked growth
You keep doing what you do best; we fund the outcomes and the growth around them.
Outcome-linked capital
Multi-year grant funding released against verified employment or livelihood outcomes.
Verification at our cost
We run verification through credible registries, audits, evaluation partners and income records.
Programs and networks
Access Wadhwani Foundation programs and networks where they strengthen delivery.
ADD-ON
GenieAI access
Our AI-first technology layer, where it strengthens reach, mentoring or delivery.
ADD-ON
Programs, networks and GenieAI are add-ons: offered where they help, never a condition of funding.
FAQ
Straight answers
Clear answers for organizations reviewing the opportunity
What counts as a verified outcome?
One of three things: a person placed in a job, a new job created through an enterprise, or a household that has raised its own income past an agreed level. Job outcomes are confirmed through national registries, independent audits, or evaluation partners. Household income outcomes are read from bank or UPI records. The method is agreed with you at signing.
What counts as an outcome for Livelihood Upliftment?
A household that was already working, earning from its own work, and whose income has both risen meaningfully and passed an agreed level. Both have to be true for the same household. A rise that leaves the household below the level does not count, and a household already above the level that did not rise does not count either.
How is household income verified?
From the household’s own bank or UPI records, read at the start and at the end. This means a continuous account history is needed across the period you have worked with the household. An account that exists but sits unused, receiving only a government transfer, does not carry an income trail. Verification is run at our cost, never deducted from the grant.
Does the income level change by geography?
Yes. Rural incomes are not uniform across India, so the level is set from your own reported figures at agreement stage rather than fixed nationally. The rate we pay per outcome moves with it.
Is this a grant or an investment?
A grant. There is no equity, repayment, investor return, or beneficiary fee. Funding is linked to verified employment or livelihood outcomes and is meant to add to your existing funding, not replace it.
How is this different from an impact bond?
It is simpler. There is no investor and no repayment structure. We fund outcomes you already deliver, and add funding for growth above your baseline.
What is a typical grant size?
There is no fixed size. Each grant is calibrated to your verified outcome volumes, country economics, delivery cost, and the growth you agree with us.
How does country pricing work?
Outcome rates are set for each country. We look at local costs, labor-market realities, comparable programs and your own unit economics before agreeing the funding structure.
For household income work the income level we pay against is also set locally, from your own data, because rural incomes are not uniform across a country.
Do we need to join other Wadhwani Foundation programs?
No. The grant is independent. Access to Foundation programs, networks or GenieAI may be offered where relevant, but these are optional and never conditions for funding.
What is out of scope?
We do not fund policy advocacy, research, events or certification. We fund work that directly produces a job placement, a new job, or a verified rise in household income. Training on its own, with no outcome behind it, is out of scope.
Can we apply if our verification history is limited?
Yes. What matters is that outcomes can be verified, not that you have verified them before. For household income work this is often easier than it sounds, because the records usually already exist and a baseline can be read back from them. We agree the method with you before the grant begins.
What if outcomes drop in year 2 or 3?
You receive less that year, not a penalty or breach. For outside causes we work through it together; for program issues we reset targets at the next review.
Will this favor the easiest cases?
No. The Grant Agreement defines who counts, and the rate is set against what an outcome actually costs you, so serving a harder group is priced accordingly rather than penalized.
How do we apply, or get referred?
Three ways to reach us: direct outreach, a referral from a Wadhwani Foundation initiative, or self sign-up. Every application is then evaluated on merit, however it reaches us.
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