India's booming nonprofit sector has the potential to make significant inroads into the region's challenges—from ensuring access to clean water, sanitation, and nutritious food to improving health care and education. But nonprofit organizations will succeed only if their leaders can develop a focused mission and strategy, a solid operational model, strong governance, and effective leadership. In this program, you will prepare to build a high-performance organization that can fulfill its mission, expand its scope, and achieve its potential for improving lives.

Developed in conjunction with the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, this program is offered in association with Dasra, India's leading strategic philanthropy foundation, and with the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) at Ashoka University in India.

Summary

Key Benefits

This program prepares you to build and lead an effective nonprofit organization that can drive social change and expand its impact. Empowered by the opportunity to step back and reflect on the direction of your organization, you'll prepare to build a strong foundation that will enable your organization to scale operations and make a real difference in the region.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Focus your mission, strategy, and leadership approach Focus your mission, strategy, and leadership approach

Determine your organization's trajectory
Define what success means for your organization
Evolve a leadership style suited to your organization's mission, strategy, and stage of development

Build an effective organization and fund its operation Build an effective organization and fund its operation

Develop the core capabilities and external alliances needed to fulfill your mission and execute your strategy
Assess your organization's performance and improve its effectiveness
Successfully raise the funds needed for ongoing operations and expansion
Communicate effectively with key stakeholders

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Key Benefits

Details

Focus your mission, strategy, and leadership approach

Determine your organization's trajectory
Define what success means for your organization
Evolve a leadership style suited to your organization's mission, strategy, and stage of development

Build an effective organization and fund its operation

Develop the core capabilities and external alliances needed to fulfill your mission and execute your strategy
Assess your organization's performance and improve its effectiveness
Successfully raise the funds needed for ongoing operations and expansion
Communicate effectively with key stakeholders

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

Senior executives who are strategic decision makers at nonprofit organizations serving the public in South or Southeast Asia, such as executive directors, chief executive officers, board members, or others who shape the mission, direction, and policies of their organizations
Other executives who work closely with the nonprofit sector

Needs-based scholarships may be available to qualified candidates. Please contact Kavneet Sahni via email at kavneet@dasra.org

Participating Companies Have Included:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Design For Change

Educate Girls

Habitat for Humanity

IWMI

Make-A-Wish

QUEST Alliance

Tata Trusts

Teach For India

Under the Mango Tree Society

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend: Senior executives who are strategic decision makers at nonprofit organizations serving the public in South or Southeast Asia, such as executive directors, chief executive officers, board members, or others who shape the mission, direction, and policies of their organizations

Other executives who work closely with the nonprofit sector

Needs-based scholarships may be available to qualified candidates. Please contact Kavneet Sahni via email at kavneet@dasra.org

Participating Companies Have Included:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Design For Change

Educate Girls

Habitat for Humanity

IWMI

Make-A-Wish

QUEST Alliance

Tata Trusts

Teach For India

Under the Mango Tree Society

Dive Deeper into the Experience

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Learn More

Learn More

Experience the Case Method in the Classroom

Watch participants debate the issues and present their viewpoints.

Learn More

Learn More

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Learn More

Learn More

An Exceptional Learning Experience

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

An Exceptional Learning Experience: When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Contact Himakshi Piplani via email at snmi@ashoka.edu.in or phone at +91.130.2300604.

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email Himakshi Piplani at snmi@ashoka.edu.in or call +91.130.2300604.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. We seek candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, regions, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

What You Will Learn

Through a rich learning experience, including faculty presentations, case studies, dynamic classroom discussions, small-group workshops, guest speakers, and panel discussions, you will gain a deeper understanding of how successful nonprofit organizations are addressing their challenges and achieving their mission.

The curriculum emphasizes South and Southeast Asia, with roughly two-thirds of the cases based on organizations in the region. You will learn alongside peers who share the challenges of operating in an emerging economy characterized by social challenges and infrastructure gaps. In special workshops throughout the program, you will team with peers to work on challenges that each of you has identified as critical to the success of your respective organizations. These exercises will help you formulate a plan of action to address your organization's challenges upon returning to work.

What You Will Learn

Key AreasExpand All Collapse All

Your focused mission and goals Your focused mission and goals

Setting goals and analyzing your mission in the context of your organization's capabilities
Pinpointing the problem you want to address, whom you will serve, and how you define success
Making tough decisions about what your organization will and will not do
Understanding the risks of a mission that is too broad
Communicating vision, mission, and goals throughout the organization

A disciplined approach to strategy A disciplined approach to strategy

Understanding nonprofit strategy and how it differs from for-profit strategy
Operationalizing your mission and serving beneficiaries
Defining the core processes that make up your operating model
Developing a funding model that aligns with your operating model
Identifying potential sources of funding and how to raise funds
Developing alliances to execute your strategy
Addressing institutional infrastructure challenges and other issues unique to South and Southeast Asia

Performance measurement and improvement Performance measurement and improvement

Knowing whether—and how—your organization is succeeding
Measuring effort and impact
Defining key performance indicators
Assessing performance in relation to external norms
Creating more efficient and effective processes and structures
Communicating with stakeholders about performance

Responsible governance Responsible governance

Understanding the board's function and goals
Deciding whom you should recruit for your board and why
Recognizing the connections among transparency, reporting, and fundraising
Knowing your legal responsibilities as a nonprofit entity and demonstrating compliance

Effective leadership Effective leadership

Understanding the leader's role in strategic decision making
Choosing and evolving your leadership style
Leading authentically and ethically
Managing self, team, and organization
Understanding and managing change
Developing leadership capacity in yourself and your organization

Key Areas

Your focused mission and goals

Setting goals and analyzing your mission in the context of your organization's capabilities
Pinpointing the problem you want to address, whom you will serve, and how you define success
Making tough decisions about what your organization will and will not do
Understanding the risks of a mission that is too broad
Communicating vision, mission, and goals throughout the organization

A disciplined approach to strategy

Understanding nonprofit strategy and how it differs from for-profit strategy
Operationalizing your mission and serving beneficiaries
Defining the core processes that make up your operating model
Developing a funding model that aligns with your operating model
Identifying potential sources of funding and how to raise funds
Developing alliances to execute your strategy
Addressing institutional infrastructure challenges and other issues unique to South and Southeast Asia

Performance measurement and improvement

Knowing whether—and how—your organization is succeeding
Measuring effort and impact
Defining key performance indicators
Assessing performance in relation to external norms
Creating more efficient and effective processes and structures
Communicating with stakeholders about performance

Responsible governance

Understanding the board's function and goals
Deciding whom you should recruit for your board and why
Recognizing the connections among transparency, reporting, and fundraising
Knowing your legal responsibilities as a nonprofit entity and demonstrating compliance

Effective leadership

Understanding the leader's role in strategic decision making
Choosing and evolving your leadership style
Leading authentically and ethically
Managing self, team, and organization
Understanding and managing change
Developing leadership capacity in yourself and your organization

Faculty

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing; cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Member of the Marketing Unit. He is the author of Transforming Your Go-to-Market Strategy: Three Disciplines of Channel Management. Cochair of "Managing Sales Teams and Distribution Channels."

Read Full Bio

Lecturer

Vikram S. Gandhi

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the General Management Unit.

Read Full Bio

Faculty: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing; cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. Member of the Marketing Unit. He is the author of Transforming Your Go-to-Market Strategy: Three Disciplines of Channel Management. Cochair of "Managing Sales Teams and Distribution Channels."

Read Full Bio

Lecturer

Vikram S. Gandhi

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the General Management Unit.

Read Full Bio

Apply Application PDF

More Admissions Information

Program content, dates, fees, and faculty are subject to change. In accordance with Harvard University policy, Harvard Business School does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities.

Need Help? Contact Us:

Himakshi Piplani

Manager, Convening & Communications
Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy
Ashoka University
Email: snmi@ashoka.edu.in
Telephone: +91.130.230.0604

Request the Brochure

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Need Help? Contact Us:

Himakshi Piplani

Manager, Convening & Communications
Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy
Ashoka University
Email: snmi@ashoka.edu.in
Telephone: +91.130.230.0604

Request the Brochure

Download PDF

Identify the Right Program for You

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Summary

Summary

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Focus your mission, strategy, and leadership approachFocus your mission, strategy, and leadership approach icon-dropdown-down

Build an effective organization and fund its operationBuild an effective organization and fund its operation icon-dropdown-down

Expand your personal and professional networkExpand your personal and professional network icon-dropdown-down

Focus your mission, strategy, and leadership approach

Build an effective organization and fund its operation

Expand your personal and professional network

Who Should Attend

Who Should Attend

An Exceptional Learning Experience

An Exceptional Learning Experience