Fundraising Trends Before and After SSE Registration: Evidence from Indian Non-Profit Organizations

Abstract

The Social Stock Exchange (SSE) was introduced in India to create a structured and transparent platform through which eligible non-profit organizations (NPOs) and social enterprises can access philanthropic and impact-oriented funding. Despite the growing policy importance of the SSE, empirical evidence on whether registration is associated with improved fundraising performance remains limited. This study examines changes in fundraising performance before and after SSE registration among selected Indian non-profit organizations. The study adopts a descriptive research design based on secondary data collected from the audited annual reports of twenty NPOs registered on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Social Stock Exchanges. The sample was selected using purposive sampling based on the availability and comparability of financial information before and after registration. Since fundraising amounts varied substantially across organizations and exhibited considerable dispersion, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank (WSR) Test was employed to examine whether a statistically significant difference existed between pre-registration and post-registration donation levels. The findings indicate that fourteen organizations recorded higher donations after SSE registration, while six organizations experienced a decline. The WSR Test produced a statistically significant result (Z = –2.240, p = 0.025), suggesting a significant difference in fundraising performance before and after registration among the sampled organizations. These findings indicate that participation in the SSE may be associated with improved fundraising performance, although the study does not establish a direct causal relationship because fundraising performance may also be influenced by organizational, economic, and sector-specific factors. The study contributes to the emerging literature on social finance by providing one of the early empirical assessments of fundraising performance among Indian NPOs registered on the SSE. Keywords: Social Stock Exchange; Non-Profit Organizations; Fundraising Performance; Social Finance; Donations.