Building evidence infrastructure for institutional philanthropy in India.
Every year, institutional donors in India make thousands of funding decisions worth billions of rupees. EGII is an independent research initiative exploring how rigorous evidence can help those institutions direct more capital toward interventions most likely to produce meaningful impact.
"When we ask, 'How much good will this charity do?' we are really asking, 'How many people will benefit, and by how much?'... To get a handle on cost-effectiveness, we need to think about the amount of good generated for a given cost."- William MacAskill, Doing Good Better, Chapter 1 (2015) - Co-founder, Giving What We Can
Every year, institutional funders in India - CSR teams, corporate foundations, family foundations, and family offices - make thousands of funding decisions worth billions of rupees. EGII is an independent research initiative exploring how rigorous evidence can help those institutions direct more capital toward interventions most likely to produce meaningful impact.
EGII is not an advisory firm, consultancy, or grantmaker. It exists to produce independent public evidence that any institutional funder can use.
India has a growing ecosystem of philanthropy advisors, nonprofit intermediaries, and development research organisations. However, independent public evidence infrastructure specifically designed to help institutional funders compare interventions and translate research into practical decision-support remains at an early stage. EGII is exploring whether that gap should be filled.
EGII has developed a transparent methodology for evaluating social interventions - covering evidence quality, cost-effectiveness analysis, and contextual adjustment for India. All future research outputs follow this framework. Read the methodology.
EGII's central hypothesis: when institutional donors have access to better evidence and decision-support, more philanthropic capital can flow toward highly effective interventions.
Rigorous evidence on what philanthropic interventions work, at what cost
Research translated into practical guidance for institutional funders
Institutional decision-makers use that evidence in allocation decisions
More capital directed toward evidence-backed, high-impact interventions
More people helped more effectively with the same resources
EGII does not make funding decisions. It strengthens the evidence available before those decisions are made. Read the full research agenda.
EGII began with a simple observation: India has one of the world's largest institutional giving ecosystems, while the global evidence-based philanthropy movement has developed sophisticated approaches to evidence and cost-effectiveness. These two worlds rarely interact. EGII is testing whether they should - and what institution would need to exist to make that interaction systematic and sustained.
Research piece published on the EA Forum - promoted to Frontpage (May 2026).
Working paper in active development.
Early stakeholder conversations informing the working paper and theory of change.
Government amendments G.S.R. 415(E) and 416(E) providing new policy context.
Theory of change and constrained maximisation framework developed.
Proof of concept - the central hypothesis has not yet been tested in practice.
Corporate pilot - no institution has yet agreed to test the framework.
Organisation registration - legal registration is planned but not yet complete.
Registry prototype - a possible future knowledge tool, not yet built.
Advisory practice - no formal advisory engagements have occurred.
These are responses from early conversations - not endorsements. They should not be read as institutional support for the proposed model.
"Cost-effectiveness comparison tooling for a $4.2bn legally mandated pool is, in principle, exactly the kind of leverage point worth investing thought into."
"The question of how to bring more rigorous cost-effectiveness and evidence-based analysis into mandatory CSR is both timely and highly relevant."
EGII is still at an early stage. The working paper is in development. The hypothesis has not yet been tested in practice.
If you work in institutional philanthropy, corporate foundations, CSR, family philanthropy, research, evidence-based giving, or public policy - or if you simply find these ideas worth discussing - I would be glad to hear your perspective.
Whether you would like to discuss the working paper, challenge the underlying assumptions, explore collaboration, or simply exchange ideas, you are warmly invited to start a conversation. EGII will become stronger through dialogue, constructive criticism, and conversations with people working across India's philanthropy ecosystem.
Or write directly at sk.saiful.work@gmail.com