Assess Your Organisation’s Readiness for Outcomes-Based Financing
Outcomes-Based Financing (OBF) is changing how social sector organisations are funded, tying payments to measurable results rather than just activities and inputs.
The Outcomes Readiness Tool is a free self-assessment that tells you where your organisation stands on OBF-readiness, and what to strengthen before you pursue it.
From Intent to Outcomes Readiness
Outcomes-Based Financing shifts the focus from activities to results. But engaging with it requires more than intent — it requires clear outcomes, credible measurement, and systems that can support accountability.
The Outcomes Readiness Tool helps you assess how prepared your organisation is across these dimensions. It highlights where gaps exist, and what needs to be strengthened, so you can engage funders more credibly, build systems that support scale, and adopt OBF models without added risk.
Outcomes Readiness Framework
Create your account to begin the assessment.
Answer a structured set of questions on outcomes, measurement, and organisational systems.
Get a snapshot of your readiness, along with insights and recommendations./
Use your report to strengthen the areas that matter most, and unlock OBF opportunities with confidence.
State Of The Sector: Outcomes Readiness Among Indian Non-Profits
This field report brings together insights from 80+ nonprofits across India to examine how organisations are approaching outcomes readiness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Outcomes-Based Financing (OBF) is a funding approach where payments are linked to achieving clearly defined results, not just activities or inputs. This means organisations are funded based on the outcomes they deliver, such as improvements in learning, health, or livelihoods.
OBF as an approach is framed by four key principles:
- proportion of payment tied to results
- rigour and verifiability of outcomes measurement
- extent to which implementation partners are protected from financial risk
- level of performance management
Different OBF models — including pay-for-results contracts and impact bonds — vary in how outcomes are measured, how risk is shared, and how payments are structured.
The Outcomes Readiness Framework is the structure used to assess how prepared your organisation is for OBF. It evaluates key areas such as:
- clarity of outcomes
- measurement and data systems
- organisational processes and accountability
Together, these determine how effectively an organisation can define, track, and deliver outcomes. Please read this document to know more about the Framework and how it was developed.
The self-assessment is designed specifically for non-profits in India with an established track record and a commitment to growth. It is particularly suited for organisations looking to develop the essential skills and capacities needed to participate in Outcomes-based Financing (OBF) projects.
The tool is also open for any for-profit or private company that is interested in gauging their readiness for outcomes-based financing. However, some questions on the survey may not be directly relevant to for-profit or private companies, and so answers should be contextualised where necessary.
The self-assessment tool works by guiding users through a survey that assesses 12 dimensions of non-profits’ organisational and programme capacities, including the ‘plus-plus’ competencies needed to be outcomes ready.
Based on your responses, the tool provides ratings that reflect your current capacity in core areas related to outcomes readiness. These ratings are accompanied by curated resources tailored to the Indian non-profit landscape, guiding you in building essential skills and advancing your organisation's potential to focus on outcomes.
Please note that the tool and its results are not meant to serve as a prescriptive roadmap for accessing OBF, nor is it a definitive summation of whether an organisation is suitable for OBF. Instead, the purpose is to provide a starting point to develop an understanding of outcomes readiness and to demystify the journey towards accessing OBF.
The tool collects data about your organisation’s systems and processes, past track record, budgets, administrative processes, programme performance and approaches to managing risk, finances and human resources. To better understand how we store and use your data please refer to our Privacy Policy.
Anonymised and aggregated responses from organisations completing the survey will be used to develop a State of the Sector Report periodically. If you prefer not to share your anonymised data for this purpose, please feel free to deselect that option at the end of your assessment survey.
The scoring is derived from your responses in each section of the assessment. Each answer is assigned an absolute score to calculate the section level scores. These section level scores are then harmonised to get the overall readiness score.