Our Research on Financial Sustainability FAQs

What is the objective of this study, and why now? To map diverse revenue streams and financial resilience of impact incubators‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact. (over the last 5 years) to surface evidence-based guidance for sustainable financial models.

Who can/should participate in the study? Impact Incubators‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact./accelerators with 5 years of audited financial records, and a willingness to share their financial data.

What data are we asking for and in what format? The last 5 years’ audited statements in a structured format with revenues by type/year, expenses by activity/year in a Google form.

How will confidentiality & data-sharing work? We’ll use a data-sharing, use, protection, and storage guide and a consent from the participants. Only aggregated results will be presented; raw figures will be stored securely and with limited access. If your organisation is featured in the final report on the resilience of its financial model, your explicit consent will be sought.

How will we calculate financial sustainability? Grant Dependency, share of non-grant revenue, unrestricted reserves ratio, months of runway, and current ratio.

What counts as “self-generated revenue”? Revenue the organisation generated itself, such as service fees, workspace rent, consulting, licensing, equity exits, membership fees, events, sponsorships, etc.

Will you publish organisation-level data or only aggregated/case studies? Only aggregated cross-case analysis will be published along with a few best practice case studies (for which explicit permission will be sought).

What is the timeline and next steps after the pre-survey? Once you’ve responded to the pre-survey, we’ll share the final questionnaire, clean/validate it, interview participants, conduct analysis, and produce a draft report.

What’s the expected time commitment for participants? Filling the pre-survey (5-10 minutes), filling the survey (0.5-1 hour depending on bookkeeping), and an interview with 2–3 stakeholders (20-30 minutes).

What kind of outputs will participants get? Customised benchmarking scorecards, an opportunity to be featured among the Best Practices case study, Access to Regional and Global Learning Convenings, discounted tickets to Pollinate Impact’s Global Potluck in Manila, have access to Region and Sector-Specific Insights, Gain Global Visibility, and be recognised in Pollinate Impact’s Channels.

How will you handle currency conversions? Participants will share their data in their local currency, and conversions will be made based on the yearly average exchange rates.

Who is running the research, and can you share references/credibility? Research team at Pollinate Impact, along with our Research Advisory Committee.

Could you focus on the last 5 years? Capture pre- and post-shock trends and comparability across incubators‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact..

Which geographies & sectors are included? Geographical Spread: Global South with a mix of Global North. Sectoral spread: as listed in our pre-survey- Affordable Housing, Agriculture and food security, Circular economy, and so on.

Are we comparing incubators‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact. by size or maturity? Yes – we’ll segment by maturity (age/stage) of the incubator‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact., budget size, and sector.

What methodological approach are you using? Mixed-methods: pre-survey (to gather basic organisational details and willingness to participate), Survey Questionnaire (for comprehensive quantitative data collection), qualitative interviews; data validation & cleaning, Final Research Report.

What happens if an incubator‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact. lacks audited statements for 5 years?
They will be excluded from this study.

What do participants get by participating in this study? An opportunity to be featured in the Final report. Receive a Customised Benchmarking Scorecard. Join Regional and Global Learning Convenings- Discounted tickets for Pollinate Impact Global Potluck in Manila in October 2026. Gain Global Visibility and will be recognised in Pollinate Impact’s Channels

How granular should revenue/expense line items be? As granular as available (we request breakdown by revenue type and expense category).

How do you define grant vs non-grant revenue? Grants = donor/government/foundation awards; Non-grant/self-generated = fees, rentals, consulting, equity returns, etc.

How should multi-currency organisations report? Report original currency, and we’ll standardise during cleaning.

Who will have access to raw data? Only Pollinate Impact Research Team.

What are the consent and withdrawal options? Participants can withdraw at any time before the analysis stage, starting in March. Withdrawn data will not be incorporated or analysed for the final reporting.

How will missing data be handled? We’ll attempt to follow up, seek any clarifications, exclude unrecoverable items, and document missingness with transparent notes.

Can multiple staff from the same incubator‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact. fill different sections? Yes. Although we’re asking for a primary contact, multiple members of the same team can answer different questions.

What qualifies as a “shock”, and how will you capture it? Shocks refer to significant events such as donor pull-outs, budget cuts, budget overruns, or penalties to be paid, such as taxes or severance. Opportunities include costs incurred outside donor funding, such as launching/piloting a project without donor funding or expanding to a new geography. We’ll be asking whether your organisation has experienced such events and what your organisation’s pre/post-revenue mix is.

How will you measure whether diversification improved resilience? Compare before/after revenue mix, runway, break-even status and qualitative narratives from the interviews.

Will the study identify “best” revenue mixes? Yes! It will surface patterns and trade-offs, not one-size-fits-all prescriptions, but will aim to produce a few contextualised recommendations.

What analyses will you run? Analyses by geography/sector/age, indicators (grant dependency, runway), and thematic qualitative synthesis.

Will participants receive benchmarking compared to peers? Yes – an anonymised benchmarking report will be shared with all participants.

Will there be reimbursements or honoraria for interviews? No

Who should participants contact with technical issues uploading files?himakshi@pollinateimpact.org

What if an incubator‘Incubator’ refers to any organization whose programs primarily focus on vetting and selecting, promising social enterprises, and providing them with a comprehensive range of support services aimed at building and growing them to achieve maximum sustainable impact. is loss-making but has high non-grant revenue – how will that be interpreted? Revenue mix is only one element; profitability, costs associated with revenue streams, reserves, and qualitative context will be used to interpret financial sustainability.

Will you capture income in-kind or donor-funded services? No

Will you host a webinar to present preliminary findings? Not yet, but stay tuned.

Will my organisation be named in the report? Yes, but only when recognising participants in the research and when your organisation is featured among the Best Practice case studies. For the latter, the organisation’s explicit consent will be obtained.