PurposeHire, powered by Forward Impact, is building a talent and learning ecosystem that makes nonprofit, CSR and development careers visible, connects organisations with relevant talent, and helps more people build long-term careers in the sector.
A content and knowledge manager in Pune. A finance and admin executive at a hospice in Bengaluru. A civil or agriculture engineer for a foundation’s rural programme in Andhra Pradesh. These are real roles recently listed on PurposeHire, and most Indian graduates would never think to look for them.
That is the quiet problem at the heart of India’s social impact sector. The work is growing, the funding is growing, and the need for skilled people is growing with them. But for many young professionals, a career in a nonprofit, a CSR team or a foundation still looks like something you do on the side, not a profession you build for life.
At the same time, nonprofits and other mission-driven organisations face their own challenges in finding professionals with the right skills, sector understanding and alignment with their work.
The result is a growing disconnect between career opportunities, aspiring professionals and organisations looking for talent.
A Sector Growing Faster Than Its Talent Pipeline
India’s social sector is not small, and it is not standing still. Social sector funding in India grew about 13% annually between FY2020 and FY2025, reaching an estimated ₹27 lakh crore in FY2025, according to the India Philanthropy Report 2026 by Bain & Company and Dasra. Public spending accounts for approximately 95% of the total, while private philanthropy and corporate social responsibility also contribute to the sector’s development.
Corporate India is part of that story too. In FY2024–25, companies reported approximately ₹40,794 crore in corporate social responsibility expenditure, according to data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Every one of those rupees has to be planned, spent, tracked and reported by people. Programme managers, monitoring and evaluation specialists, finance and compliance staff, fundraisers, communications leads and policy analysts all keep this system running. Funding can scale quickly. Skilled, sector-ready people take much longer to develop.
Yet, while the sector continues to evolve, the pathways connecting professionals with these opportunities remain fragmented.
The Real Gap Is Awareness
The sector’s talent problem starts before anyone applies for a job. Young professionals, including those from the private sector, often do not know how varied social sector roles are or how the sector actually works. Many still picture “social work” as charity or volunteering, not as a career path with growth, specialisation and leadership roles.
A graduate in finance may not know that nonprofits need financial planning and compliance professionals. An engineer may not immediately consider opportunities in climate action or rural development. Similarly, professionals in communications, technology, research or management may not realise how their skills can contribute to the sector.
Even people who are curious often hit a wall. A role in this sector comes with community realities, funding constraints, compliance requirements such as FCRA and the CSR provisions of Section 135, and programmes that can be complex to implement. Job descriptions alone may not adequately explain these realities. So capable candidates may either overlook opportunities or join without fully understanding what to expect.
Beyond discovering opportunities, many professionals also lack visibility into how careers progress within the sector, what competencies different roles require, and which educational or professional development pathways can help them advance.
For organisations, the challenge works in reverse. Many nonprofits, particularly smaller and growing institutions, have limited recruitment resources and struggle to reach professionals who combine relevant technical skills with an understanding of mission-driven work.
The result is a sector with real opportunities and a talent pool that does not always know they exist, while organisations continue searching for people who can help advance their work.
PurposeHire: Building an Ecosystem, Not Another Job Board
PurposeHire was built to close that gap from both ends. It is an initiative of Forward Impact, which has worked with NGOs, CSR teams and social enterprises in the impact consulting space since 2023.
Instead of only listing vacancies, PurposeHire works on four connected fronts.
Career awareness. PurposeHire helps young professionals see social impact as a real, rewarding and long-term career. Its career profiles explain more than 20 roles across seven categories, including fundraising, policy, climate, data science, public health, communications and operations. Its “impact concepts” library explains ideas such as CSR under Section 135, FCRA, Theory of Change and social return on investment.
Career opportunities. The platform connects professionals with opportunities across nonprofits, foundations, CSR teams and mission-driven organisations. By bringing sector-specific opportunities together, it aims to make careers more visible and accessible to students, early-career professionals and those considering a transition into social impact.
Talent solutions. Small and growing organisations can post jobs for free. Organisations that need more support can use PurposeHire’s targeted talent sourcing and recruitment services to identify professionals aligned with their specific requirements. The objective is to make talent discovery more accessible while helping organisations find the right people for their programmes and teams.
Learning and upskilling. PurposeHire is developing a sector-specific courses vertical. It will feature postgraduate programmes, certifications and professional development options for people who want to enter or grow in the sector. The upcoming offering aims to help professionals discover relevant educational pathways and identify opportunities to develop skills for long-term career growth.
Together, these offerings are intended to connect career discovery, access to opportunities and continuous learning, while helping organisations reach professionals who understand the sector’s requirements.
Early Traction Across India
The model is already finding its audience. PurposeHire says it has engaged more than 10,000 candidates, with employment opportunities spanning different functions and locations across India.
For organisations, the platform offers an opportunity to reach professionals interested in working in the social impact sector. For candidates, it creates a dedicated space to discover roles that may otherwise remain outside their usual career searches.
As the platform evolves, PurposeHire aims to strengthen these connections by bringing career awareness, opportunities and relevant learning closer together.
“We Want to Build the Pipeline, Not Just Fill Vacancies”
Mayur Pateria, Founder of PurposeHire, said:
“India’s social impact sector does not lack opportunities or capable people. What it lacks is a more connected ecosystem that brings the two together. Young professionals often remain unaware of the career pathways available, while organisations struggle to find talent with the right skills and sector understanding.
At PurposeHire, we’re working to bridge this gap through career discovery, talent access and sector-specific learning. Our ambition goes beyond filling vacancies to building a stronger talent pipeline that enables professionals to grow, organisations to strengthen their teams, and the sector to realise its full potential.”
What Comes Next
The next step for PurposeHire is learning. Its courses vertical aims to bring postgraduate programmes, certifications and professional development opportunities together in one place, so that a student, a mid-career professional or a CSR executive can find the right next step in the sector.
The broader ambition is to make career discovery and professional development more connected, helping people understand not only where opportunities exist, but also what they need to learn to pursue them.
For organisations, the message is simple. Finding the right talent should not have to be slow or expensive, and a free job post is a good place to start. For professionals, the invitation is broader: look again at a sector you may have overlooked.
India’s next generation of social impact leaders may already be sitting in a college classroom or a corporate office. Many of them just have not seen the path yet. And many organisations may already be looking for the skills these professionals can offer.
PurposeHire wants to help them find each other.
About PurposeHire
PurposeHire is a talent and learning platform dedicated to India’s social impact sector. An initiative of Forward Impact, it helps professionals discover careers in nonprofits, CSR, foundations, sustainability and public policy.
It connects organisations with mission-aligned talent through free job postings, targeted sourcing and recruitment solutions, and is building a sector-specific learning vertical.
Learn more at https://purposehire.org/.
