The/Nudge Incubator supports early-stage nonprofit entrepreneurs who are solving India’s most critical livelihood challenges

We offer ₹20 lakhs and dedicated support through a 9-month program to bring your vision to life.

Manu, Safiya and Vivek

Co-founders - Karya

One of the biggest joys for us was to be able to pick apart our model, understand what we wanted to do and get the guidance to make it come alive through The/Nudge. The impact of earlier incubates also serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration.

Gauri Gopal Malik

Founder, Skilled Samaritan Foundation

Our team with over 7,500+ rural artisans at Sirohi would agree that The/Nudge is one of the major factors contributing to Sirohi’s growth to this point. We applaud their progress to establish The/Nudge Institute for their multifaceted efforts as they spearhead towards a poverty-free India. We are excited about their growth and eager to see our association grow as well.

Vedant Jain

Co-Founder, Labhya Foundation

The/Nudge’s advisors and leadership team have enabled exponential growth for Labhya. We have always felt heard, and supported during conversations. We are truly grateful to The/Nudge Institute for its unwavering support and trust.

OUR PORTFOLIO

Turn your vision into reality through

Innovation grant

We offer an innovation grant of ₹20 lakhs that will enable you to develop your theory of change and make it work.

Dedicated mentoring

1:1 hands on mentoring by The/Nudge CSI partners to help you achieve strategic clarity along with focussed support on fundraising.

Sector connect

Connect with an awesome peer group, and a network that is interested in your idea and eager to help you to grow.

Bootcamps

Face to face & virtual immersion events to facilitate interactions within the cohort, with CSI mentors and The/Nudge CSI ecosystem.

The/Nudge Incubator in numbers

Our application process

The first round entails filling up an application form wherein you will share details about the problem you are solving, the solution approach and your team.
Deadline : 15th May 2023

Shortlisted applications from Round 1 will be asked to submit a detailed business plan for the next round.
Deadline: 31st May 2023

Shortlisted applicants from Round 2 will be invited for a round of personal interviews with CSI partners, conducted virtually.
Deadline : 15th July 2023

The first round entails filling out an application form wherein you will share details about the problem you are solving, the solution approach, and your team.

Shortlisted applicants will be asked to submit their B-plans within 10 days of shortlisting.

Shortlisted applicants from round 2 will be invited three rounds of personal interviews with The/Nudge team and Socent partners.

The first round entails filling out an application form wherein you will share details about the problem you are solving, the solution approach, and your team.

Shortlisted applicants from Round 2 will be invited for three rounds of personal interviews with The/Nudge team and SocEnt partners conducted virtually.

Shortlisted applicants from Round 2 will be invited for a round of personal interviews with CSI partners conducted virtually.

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Frequently asked questions

-Early-stage startup (0-3 years) with a Proof of Concept or a Minimum Viable ProducT

-Any Social Enterprise, registered or has a willingness to register as a Section 8 company, a trust, or a society.

-Your solution provides resilient livelihoods for the poorest of the poor or acts as a change transmitter providing financial, marketing or technology agency to the under-served for resilient livelihoods. Please find a few examples of previously supported livelihoods organizations in our 100+ Alumni Book here.

-At least one of the founders is working on the idea full time.

-Organizations older than 3 years, but with a new initiative focused on livelihood are also eligible. For such organizations the incubator program will focus on refining the new initiative.

Yes. For The/Nudge Incubator, we prefer to work with organizations where at least one founder is working full-time.
Yes, you may re-apply for The/Nudge Incubator if you meet the eligibility criteria (Please check “Who Can Apply” FAQ to know more.) Please highlight your progress since your last application to improve your chances of selection.
We’d prefer that you apply to the appropriate program given the maturity of your organisation (Please check “Who can apply” FAQ to know more) During the selection process, if we feel you are more suitable for another program, we will suggest moving your application to that program.”
Our selection process begins with online applications. Shortlisted applicants will be required to submit a detailed business deck (PPT), followed by interviews with The/Nudge Social Entrepreneurship team and CSI partners. Additionally, site visits may be conducted for selection.

The shortlisted applicants from online applications will be requested to submit their startup plans in a presentation format. The startup plans should include answers to the following questions: – What problem are you trying to solve? 

-Why this problem?‍

– What is your solution approach?

-Why do you think this will work?

– Who are your customers/participants?

– How do you reach them or intend to reach them? ‍

– Are there any other nonprofits doing similar work?

– List names and list 1 primary reason you are different from them.

– How would you describe your organisation’s key achievements till now?

– How much money have you raised till now, and how much in the last year?

– What are your impact metrics, and what is your strategy for the next 1, 3, and 5 years?

– What is your operational plan for the next 12 months?

– How would you measure your progress?

– How many full-time employees do you have?

– Describe your core team members and what each brings to the table. If you had ₹2 crore funding available over the next 2 years, how would you use it?

– Can you redefine your strategy (in Q6) based on the availability of this funding?

We offer

– an innovation grant of up to ₹20 lakhs

– hands-on 1:1 mentoring by a SocEnt partner and focused support on increasing fundraising capacity

– support from the portfolio manager

– connects to potential donors and partners

– access to like-minded alumni network

While mentoring will happen remotely over telephone/video chat, founders and leadership teams will be required to attend bootcamps in person. These will be opportunities for face-to-face interactions with mentors and will be held in Bangalore.
During the period of support, you will be paired with one of the SocEnt partners as your strategic mentor and a portfolio manager for support in executing the strategy . The objective of this engagement is to help you achieve key milestones like attaining product market fit, getting the first rounds of funding, building a brand, hiring your team etc., in a focused and strategic manner. Your partner and mentors will coach you and open doors for you by connecting you to individuals and organizations that can help you in your mission. As field visits are a great way to get the right context, we also encourage you to engage your partners/mentors to visit your customers with you. Additionally, The incubator portfolio manager will establish (through face-to-face meetings for pitching your organization’s work) connections with CSR leaders and representatives of global and domestic philanthropic foundations. In parallel, we will help you with your fundraising strategy and refining your pitch.
The innovation grant is to help you build a minimum viable product for your idea. This involves costs of experimentation such as refining your model based on the interaction with your first beneficiaries and visible impact, costs of building capacity that includes hiring and training early team members, product development, and any other costs.
We believe technology has the power to accelerate social development, as tech-enabled products and services can help scale ideas much faster and at an affordable rate. We welcome nonprofits that leverage technology in their product, service or outreach to bring about social change.

Organizations working in the following domains are eligible:

1)Building skills and/or agency to enable livelihoods

2)Providing direct livelihoods

3)Encouraging and supporting entrepreneurship

4)Enabling access to technology, finance, or markets to support livelihoods

5) Strengthening livelihood ecosystem

6) Any other activity that strengthens livelihoods.

Yes, given that your new initiative fulfills the incubator criteria. For example, if you are an education NGO and have recently started a new initiative on livelihood, you are eligible to apply.
No, any Social Enterprise even at ideation stage can apply for the program, as long as they have a proof of concept or an MVP, and is willing to register as a Trust, Society, or a Section 8 company.
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