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INSAAN GROUP
New York, NY · EIN 743182378 · Form 990 · FY2024 · NTEE T70 · Philanthropy & Grantmaking · Small ($100K-$1M) · insaangroup.org
revenue
$211K
expenses
$164K
net assets
$824K
employees
0
volunteers
10
program ratio
82%
profile · synthesized from sources

Insaan Group is a U.S.-based philanthropic organization supporting impact-driven initiatives in India and Kenya. It provides grants and strategic support to organizations advancing education, healthcare, and economic empowerment for underserved communities. The group focuses on systemic change through catalytic investments in social enterprises and nonprofit programs.

irs program accomplishments · form 990 part iii · fy2024

What they reported doing

  1. #1 primary $8K
    Insaan Group Foundation - Insaan is registered in India as Insaan Group Foundation, hence the administrative costs. Its operational impact is currently limited by foreign funds' transfer regulations in India, and the team's limited current capacity to invest in local fundraising there.
  2. #2 $98K
    Education (Gyan Shala) - Gyan Shala designs highly structured curricula to deliver low-cost, quality education at scale to children living in slums in India. Since 2012, Insaan has been supporting Gyan Shala through grants, pro bono assistance on videography/photography and monitoring and evaluation work, with a focus on end-users. In 2015, Insaan Group was Gyan Shala's evaluation partner as part of a multi-year grant led by the MacArthur Foundation (and a consortium of eight foundations including the Mastercard Foundation, Intel Foundation, Dubai Cares) focused on piloting their high school program in Gujarat. In 2024, Gyan Shala continued to run elementary and middle school programs in seven cities and four states in India, with a focus on partnerships with state governments to replicate its model in public schools, thus scaling its impact.
named programs · 4 · from sources

What they call their work

Aakar Innovations
Provided catalytic investment in Aakar Innovations, a social enterprise developing patented menstrual hygiene technology for distribution in India
Education (Gyan Shala)
Supports Gyan Shala’s low-cost, quality education model for children in slums across India, including curriculum development, monitoring and evaluation, and grant facilitation
Health (Access Afya, LLC)
Supported Access Afya’s micro-clinic model providing decentralized healthcare in Nairobi slums and facilitated telemedicine expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic
Lal10
Provided catalytic investment in Lal10, a wholesale platform digitizing rural handicraft enterprises in India to access global markets
activities · 10 groups

What they do

  • Archaeological and Cultural Conservation 1 activity
    • Engage in cultural preservation at UNESCO site
      Conducted cultural preservation efforts at Tyre, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Lebanon.
  • Direct Clinical Care Delivery 1 activity
    • Facilitate public health response during Covid-19
      Enabled Access Afya’s collaboration with WHO and Kenya’s Ministry of Health during the 2020 pandemic to promote public health awareness, prevention, and remote care through a telemedicine platform.
  • Girls' Education Access Initiatives 1 activity
    • Fund and provide pro bono support to education initiatives
      Supports Gyan Shala through grants and pro bono services in videography, photography, and monitoring and evaluation; served as evaluation partner for its high school pilot program in Gujarat in 2015 under a MacArthur Foundation-led consortium grant.
  • Clean Water Infrastructure and Access 1 activity
    • Hands-on community collaboration for local infrastructure
      Engages directly with communities by living and working alongside them to address local infrastructure challenges, such as repairing hand pumps.
  • Startup Acceleration & Business Growth Support 1 activity
    • Invest in early-stage impact ventures in sub-Saharan Africa and India
      Provides catalytic capital investments in early-stage ventures that deliver services or products to underserved markets and generate large-scale employment, with 60% of ventures founded or co-founded by women and over 75% of end-users being girls or women.
  • Impact Investing Knowledge & Technology Platforms 1 activity
    • Launch and operate Impact Footprint platform
      Developed and operates Impact Footprint, a digital platform that supports discovery and pre-due diligence of innovative solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, while publicly highlighting impact entrepreneurs' work to accelerate capital flows to scalable local solutions.
  • Small Business and Nonprofit Lending 1 activity
    • Provide debt financing access to scale innovations
      Pre-launched the 'Growing the Pie' initiative to expand access to debt financing for partner organizations, enabling them to scale innovations and amplify the impact of catalytic capital.
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building Services 1 activity
    • Provide nonprofit consulting for financial systems and compliance
      Delivers consulting services to strengthen financial systems, reporting, and audit compliance for U.S. charitable entities.
  • Flexible Grants to Grassroots Organizations 1 activity
    • Support decentralized healthcare delivery in Nairobi
      Funds and facilitated the growth of Access Afya since 2016, supporting its micro-clinic model that delivers low-cost, high-quality healthcare to underserved populations in Nairobi’s slums.
  • Uncategorized 3 activities
    • Fund and support menstrual hygiene and rural handicraft innovations
      Funds catalytic investments in Aakar Innovations, which develops patented menstrual hygiene technology, and in Lal10, a digitized wholesale platform connecting rural handicraft manufacturers in India to global markets.
    • Raise and re-invest philanthropic and catalytic capital
      Raises philanthropic and catalytic capital to fund investments, with financial returns re-invested to grow impact over time and ensure long-term organizational resilience.
    • Support government-partnered education programs in India
      Supported Gyan Shala’s operation of elementary and middle school programs across seven cities and four states in India in 2024, focusing on scaling its education model through partnerships with government public schools.
financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$211K
Contributions & grants$208K99%
Program service revenue$2K1%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$164K
Program expenses82%
Admin / overhead18%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$46K
Grants paid out$98K
Largest expense lineCompensation
balance sheet
Total assets$826K
Cash$172K
Investments$525K
Liabilities$2K
Net assets$824K
Liquid reserves51.0 mo
2 years on record · 2023–2024 · YoY revenue -49.7%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024

Who runs it

paid leadership · 1
NameTitleHours/wkCompensation
Farahnaz Karim Chief Executive Officer 40 $32K
board members · 4
  • Bashar Chalabi — Director
  • Elizabeth Kronoff — Director
  • Hamza Ben Abderahmen — Director
  • Randeep Kaur — Director IGF
relationships · 27

Who they work with

  • Aakar Innovations Partner — Catalytic investment recipient working on patented menstrual hygiene technology in India.
  • Access Afya, LLC Partner — Supported micro-clinic initiative delivering decentralized healthcare in Nairobi’s slums.
  • Card Tech Limited Partner — Co-founder and former CTO of Card Tech Limited, a London-based payment processing software company.
  • Crito Capital Partner — Organization where Florence leads Marketing & Impact Investment
  • Dubai Cares Coalition — Member of the foundation consortium supporting Gyan Shala’s high school pilot program.
  • Gyan Shala Partner — Long-term grant and capacity-building partner providing low-cost education in Indian slums.
  • Impact Footprint Partner — Collaborates with Impact Footprint to showcase impact entrepreneurs and accelerate capital flows to local solutions.
  • Intel Foundation Coalition — Member of the foundation consortium supporting Gyan Shala’s high school pilot program.
  • Lal10 Partner — Catalytic investment recipient and wholesale platform for Indian rural handicraft enterprises.
  • MacArthur Foundation Coalition — Coordinated with Insaan Group as part of a multi-foundation consortium grant for Gyan Shala’s high school pilot.
  • MasterCard Government — Developed payment solutions certified by MasterCard.
  • Mastercard Foundation Coalition — Member of the foundation consortium supporting Gyan Shala’s high school pilot program.
  • Ministry of Health (Kenya) Government — Partnered with Access Afya and Insaan Group on frontline Covid-19 response, including public health outreach and telemedicine.
  • OSCE Government — Collaborated with OSCE on international development and security initiatives.
  • Paris Peace Forum Network — Launched the Code of Practice for Non-Profits at the Paris Peace Forum in 2018.
  • REAL Mental Health Foundation Partner — Organization where Florence serves as an Ally
  • TSYS Inc Partner — Former Chief Enterprise Architect at TSYS Inc, following acquisition of Card Tech Limited.
  • The Sorority Foundation Partner — Organization where Florence serves as an Ignitor
  • UNESCO Government — Engaged in cultural preservation at Tyre, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
  • United Nations Government — Worked with United Nations programs on global policy and humanitarian efforts.
  • Visa Government — Developed payment solutions certified by Visa.
  • World Bank Government — Engaged with World Bank projects in development and economic policy.
  • World Bank Partner — Co-developed Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program with Insaan Group.
  • World Health Organization (WHO) Partner — Collaborated with Access Afya and Insaan Group on Covid-19 awareness, prevention, and telemedicine initiatives in Kenya.
  • analysts Partner — Forms partnerships with analysts to provide strategic insights to investee companies.
  • photographers Partner — Partners with photographers to add value to investee companies.
  • universities Partner — Collaborates with universities to support investee companies.
strategies · 3

How they approach the work

Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.

  • Data-Driven Intermediation
    methodology: data-driven intermediation
    By using standardized, accessible data, we connect changemakers with funders more efficiently because transparent and comparable impact metrics reduce friction in financing local solutions.
  • Empathy-Driven Systemic Change
    methodology: empathy-driven systemic change
    By embedding changemakers in lived experience through immersive engagement, we produce systemic change because deep human connectedness fosters authentic partnerships and locally rooted solutions.
  • Locally Informed Impact Investing
    methodology: locally-informed impact investing
    By combining field experience, local perspectives, and data science expertise, we produce more effective and sustainable impact investments because decisions are grounded in contextual reality and community leadership.