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Strengthening Livelihoods

    • Impact Catalyst Foundation (ICF), is a not-for-profit organisation registered as a Section 8 company under the Companies Act, 2013. It is a purpose-driven organisation committed to create meaningful, lasting impact for communities and ecosystems. ICF serves as the institutional, fiduciary, and contracting entity for a portfolio of mission-driven brands and programmes working across health, climate change, livelihoods, social protection and workforce wellbeing.

    Our Vision

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    A world where the health, wealth, and agency of people and the planet are enriched.

    Our Mission

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    To empower 100 million individuals to unlock the power to transform their lives.

    About Us

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    about-us

    Impact Catalyst Foundation (ICF) is a purpose-driven foundation creating lasting impact for communities and ecosystems. Launched in April 2021, ICF unites the decades-long work of Swasti, Vrutti, GREEN Foundation, Upfront, and its collaboratives, including Community Action Collab (CAC) and SETU, into a single institution, driving change at the intersection of health, livelihoods, social protection, workforce wellbeing, and climate resilience by enabling agency, access, and system shifts.

    We design, strengthen, and scale solutions that address the root causes of complex social and environmental challenges. By combining action research with implementation, we build community-rooted innovations, backed by evidence and ready for replication, and improve systems through coordinated efforts with diverse stakeholders.

    ICF develops evidence-informed models that governments, markets, and institutions can adopt, ensuring systemic and sustainable impact. Our programmes, people, and partnerships continue to deliver trusted outcomes, now amplified through a future-ready foundation.

    Why We Exist

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    why-we-exist

    Impact Catalyst Foundation (ICF) was created to strengthen how long-standing social impact work is governed, delivered, and scaled.

    Over time, our work across health, livelihoods, climate, social protection, and workforce wellbeing grew in depth and reach, shaped by specialised teams, strong partnerships, and place-based programmes. As this work matured, the need for a single institutional home became essential, one that could bring coherence across portfolios, strengthen accountability, and enable integrated impact at scale.

    ICF provides that foundation. It serves as a unified governance entity, enabling shared strategy, robust systems, and clearer accountability across our work.

    The programmes, people, and partnerships that have built trust and delivered impact over decades continue. What has changed is the structure, designed to support deeper collaboration, stronger governance, and more effective engagement with partners as we grow.

    ICF enables partners to engage through a single, future-ready institution, while preserving the expertise, relationships, and impact pathways that have always defined our work.

    Our Approach

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    our-approach

    We work at the intersection of community commitment, market power, and government reach to break the cycle of illness and poverty—two challenges that reinforce each other. Our unique strength lies in our ability to combine Technology, Innovative Financing and Collaborative formats.

    Our focus on driving systemic, purpose-driven solutions that address systemic challenges at their roots, ensuring lasting impact and equity for communities and ecosystems alike. We adopt a people and planet approach, ensuring that our work is closely aligned with the needs and priorities of our communities, our environment, and our partners.

    We understand the importance of balancing deep, innovative work with repeatable, scalable models. Our decision-making frameworks help us navigate this balance, ensuring that our solutions are both impactful and sustainable.

    While our organisation is multifaceted, we channel this complexity into a clear, coherent strategy that highlights our diverse competencies. This allows us to deliver targeted, effective solutions across various sectors and geographies.

    Portfolio & Brands

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    ICF is the institutional home to a diverse portfolio of specialist brands and programmes with distinct mandates and audiences. Spanning health, livelihoods, workforce wellbeing, resilience, people–planet prosperity, and social protection, these brands retain their identities and domain expertise while operating within a shared governance and strategic framework provided by ICF

    • Swasti

      Swasti is a glocal public health platform that catalyses ideas, individuals and institutions to achieve everyday well-being for some of the world's most vulnerable and marginalised communities.

    • Vrutti

      Vrutti enables inclusive livelihoods by linking communities, enterprises, and capital through scalable, data-driven models.

    • UpFront

      UpFront is a worker-centred system-building platform that enables healthy & resilient workforces by unlocking human potential, optimising systems, orchestrating investments, collaborations, and partnerships.

    • GREEN Foundation

      GREEN Foundation enables people, communities, and ecosystems to transition towards regenerative, climate-resilient futures by transforming how landscapes are understood, governed, and nourished.

    • SETU

      SETU is a national Social Protection Coalition working towards Universal Social Protection access across India by unifying the efforts of public & private sector and Civil Society. SETU serves as a strong interface between communities and public systems by building effective delivery mechanisms, strengthening community-centred institutions, integrating technology with on-ground facilitation, and enabling district-level saturation of social protection access.

    • Community Action Collab

      Community Action Collab is a dynamic humanitarian emergency platform that builds the resilience of Vulnerable People and their institutions, in their everyday emergencies, and is ready for future humanitarian crises.

    All programmes and partnerships are executed through Impact Catalyst Foundation India as the fiduciary and contracting entity, ensuring clarity, compliance, and accountability for partners.

    Our Values

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    Our values guide how we work, partner, and make decisions.

  • our values

    “Driven by Purpose, Vision and Meaning”

    We are guided by a shared purpose and vision, and by the meaning we derive from our work. We encourage learning, leadership, and innovation at all levels.

    • Leadership

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    Executive Directors

    • Raghini Badhrinarayanan

      Raghini Badhrinarayanan

      Raghini Badhrinarayanan

      Ms. Raghini is a versatile professional with over 32 years of experience in the development sector. She has pioneered several initiatives across microfinance, natural resource management, livelihoods, women’s empowerment, philanthropy, and institution building, among others.

      Her career spans leadership roles in ASSEFA, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, DHAN Foundation, Pradan. She currently serves as the CEO of Vrutti.

    • Angela Chaudhuri

      Angela Chaudhuri

      Angela Chaudhuri

      Dr. Angela has 27 years of experience in global public health across Asia and Africa. She has held leadership roles with WHO and PMNCH, and been a board advisor at IDEX Accelerator and MIT Solve.

      She has led major initiatives turning public health science into community action. As the CEO of Swasti, she aims to add 1 million healthy days to marginalized communities by 2030. She is passionate about shifting focus from health to well-being, integrating social, behavioral, and technology solutions.

    • Shaonli Chakraborty

      Shaonli Chakraborty

      Shaonli Chakraborty

      Ms. Shaonli has over 22 years of experience in shaping inclusive policies, designing transformative actions, embedding dignity, health, and agency into value chains and workplaces. She has worked across Asia and Africa where she focused on bringing the voices of women workers to the forefront, and designing inclusive and dignified workplaces.

      With over 18 years of work with Catalysts, she serves as the Co-founder & CEO of Upfront, General Body Member of Swasti, and Trustee of the Catalyst Platform. Her work has been instrumental in fostering safer and more equitable workplaces.

    • Sandip Pattanayak

      Sandip Pattanayak

      Sandip Pattanayak

      Mr. Sandip Pattanayak has over 25 years of experience in sustainable rural livelihoods and ecosystem conservation. He is currently the CEO of GREEN Foundation, where he spearheads agrobiodiversity conservation and regenerative agriculture in India.

      Sandip is a recognized expert in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, leading evaluations for UNICEF, World Bank, and others for projects focusing on child protection, governance, and rural development programs across South and Southeast Asia. He also serves as Secretary of PGSOC, advancing farmer-led organic certification.

    • Thangavelu R

      Thangavelu R

      Thangavelu R

      Mr. Thangavelu (Thanga) has over 23 years of expertise within the social impact sector. He currently leads Accountability and Governance at Swasti, where he ensures organizational commitments are met with measurable and deliverable results. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he played a crucial role in fulfilling the demand for approximately 500,000 units of equipment while simultaneously supporting the rapid setup of emergency care centers in record time.

      He excels in logistics, procurement, and embedding core values of people, process, and purpose into every initiative.

    • Joseph Julian

      Joseph Julian

      Joseph Julian

      Mr. Julian (Loy) is a Senior Director at Swasti with over 25 years of experience in public health across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. He has led major initiatives in HIV consulting, social protection, and worker wellbeing, collaborating with major global brands to promote wellbeing and health of the workers.

      He also serves as a Trustee of Catalyst Platform and board member at the CMID. He has contributed to several national level programs and policies, especially for HIV programs. He also supports multiple initiatives across various sectors in an advisory capacity.

    Non Executive Directors

    • Alka Narang

      Alka Narang

      Alka Narang

      Ms. Alka Narang has over 30 years of experience in strategic planning, policy advocacy, and program management with a focus on gender, inclusion, poverty reduction, and health. She has led various innovative HIV studies and programs, large-scale UNDP projects on primary education, trafficking and HIV, and preventing sexual violence and livelihoods for tribal women, and pioneered for transgender rights and health systems in India.

      She also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the Board for Swasti, supporting inclusive and integrated development interventions.

    • Balakrishnan S

      Balakrishnan S

      Balakrishnan S

      Mr. Balakrishnan is a social entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in advancing strategic leadership and large-scale impact models. Currently, he serves as a Board Member of Vrutti under the Catalyst Platform. He has held leadership roles at Samunnati, and now heads the Strategy and Business Development of Lawrencedale Agro Processing. He has helped shape FPO policies and pioneered a cooperative for sex workers in Bangalore.

      His work empowers smallholder farmers and vulnerable communities through market-based, sustainable models. He is dedicated to creating systemic impact and inclusive, sustainable livelihoods.

    • Doraiswami Ashok

      Doraiswami Ashok

      Doraiswami Ashok

      Mr. Doraiswami Ashok is the CEO of Gossamer Consultants and brings over 45 years of experience in his leadership in strategic and operational guidance. He also serves in the Board of GREEN Foundation under the Catalyst Platform, empowering farmer households through sustainable agricultural practices and economic security initiatives. An active Rotarian, he is committed to community development at a grassroots’ level and provides expert guidance to organizations to achieve their full potential.

      He is also an Executive Coach and a Leadership development trainer, and is dedicated to the continuing development of India through empowerment at all levels of society.

    • Dr Jacob John

      Dr Jacob John

      Dr Jacob John

      Jacob has 40 years of experience in mental health, specializing in HIV/AIDS, counseling, and rehabilitation. He has held leadership roles at CMC Vellore and worked with major organizations such as the Ford Foundation, UNIFEM, and UNODC. He has been involved with Swasti for over 15 years, and is currently the Chair of the Board.

      He actively supports initiatives in training, experimenting and innovation to bring about meaningful change in the mental health landscape.

    • MRC Ravi

      MRC Ravi

      MRC Ravi

      Mr. Ravi is a Senior Advocate at the Karnataka High Court, with 45 years of experience in consultancy and legal advocacy. He is Senior Partner at ILPM Consultants, a prominent industrial and corporate law firm, and Partner at Ravi, Sunita & Suri Advocates, offering comprehensive legal services. His firms serve over 100 establishments across diverse industries including engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and plantations in Karnataka.

      At the Catalyst Platform, he serves as Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Vrutti and is also a Board Member of Swasti.

    • Muralidharan Thykat

      Muralidharan Thykat

      Muralidharan Thykat

      Mr Thykat has over 46 years of experience spanning banking, international donor agencies, and consulting in the development sector. He has an expertise in access to finance and enterprise development for marginalized communities, including microfinance, rural finance, and sustainable livelihoods like dairy and fisheries. He currently serves the Board at Vrutti as its Chairperson.

      He has extensively worked on financial education for the Avahan Phase 3 Programme under the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He is skilled in creating specialized funds, monitoring and evaluation of financial institutions, and managing large multi-donor projects, including disaster management and risk reduction.

    • Nandlal Narayanan

      Nandlal Narayanan

      Nandlal Narayanan

      Mr Narayanan has over 50 years of experience in business and social development. He has worked with corporate, government, NGOs, and multilateral organizations, leading change management initiatives including UNAIDS and Madhya Pradesh Health Department. He is also a Mentor at CMS and provides support in capacity building and performance development.

      Founder and CEO of Mind Mentor since 2003, he focuses on individual and organizational transformation through leadership development and mentorship. His experience spans major Indian corporations and global consulting firms in HR and OD.

    Governance, Statutory & Compliance

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    Impact Catalyst Foundation (ICF) India is a not-for-profit organisation registered as a Section 8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013, and holds all required statutory registrations and compliances, including 12A, 80G, CSR, and NGO Darpan.

    ICF serves as the institutional, fiduciary, and contracting entity for a portfolio of mission-driven brands and programmes working across climate, health, livelihoods, social protection and workforce wellbeing, ensuring strong governance, ethical standards, transparent contracting, and financial accountability

    TypeSection 8 CompanyCompanies Act, 2013
    Corporate Identity No.U85300KA2021NPL14637412 April 2021
    Section 8 Licence12487312 April 2021
    12A RegistrationAAGCI1041L23BL0112 March 2024
    80G RegistrationAAGCI1041L24BL0103 May 2024
    CSR-1CSR0007240106 May 2024
    NGO Darpan IDKA/2023/036838404 April 2024
    Professional Tax37911568902 June 2021
    Provident FundBGBNG235172600031 May 2024
    ESIC4900045366000099931 May 2024

    Annual Reports

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    FY 2022-2023 Annual Report Cover

    FY 2022-2023

    FY 2023-2024 Annual Report Cover

    FY 2023-2024

    FY 2024-2025 Annual Report Cover

    FY 2024-2025

    Collaborate With Us

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    Impact Catalyst Foundation (ICF) works with governments, foundations, corporates, and civil society organisations to design and deliver sustainable and integrated programs and solutions addressing complex social and environmental challenges.

    We partner with organisations seeking meaningful collaboration, strong implementation, and sustained impact across health, livelihoods, climate, social protection and workforce wellbeing.

    If you are a corporate, foundation, impact investor, or development finance institution exploring partnership, funding, or collaboration, we would be glad to connect.

    For partnership and collaboration enquiries, write to us at: [email protected]

    Address - No.36, 1st Floor, Vinayaka Layout, Bhoopasandra, Bengaluru-560094