Hello, this is our very first update on Grove and we look forward to engaging with the Grove community!
About Us:
We are GROW+, a climate-intelligent, community-first, capacity-strengthening initiative rooted in the realities of the Global South.
GROW+ channels flexible, unrestricted funding to local actors, bridging grassroots realities with funder ecosystems and helps embed bioregional thinking into mainstream philanthropy.
Here’s a short film on how GROW+ came to life—and where it’s headed.
GROW+: The next layer in the architecture of resilience
The Beginning
In 2021, as grassroots organizations fought hard to stay afloat amid the Covid-19 pandemic, EdelGive Foundation, along with a coalition of other funders and sector leaders, recognised a hard truth: philanthropy needs to evolve from funding only programmes to investing in organisational resilience.
That year, GROW (Grassroots Resilience Ownership and Wellness) was launched to support 100 nonprofits across India, helping them rebuild institutional capacity. GROW provided flexible funding to strengthen core systems like financial resilience, human resource strengthening, and technology adoption as critical areas for capacity building.
The program demonstrated that when nonprofits are empowered to invest in core organizational needs, they build the skills and resources necessary to address complex challenges.
GROW to GROW+
GROW proved that trust, flexibility, and institutional investment build resilient organisations. Launched in 2025, GROW+ retains this foundation while expanding it with climate intelligence and networked, place-based approaches. The result is a progression from organisational strength to collective, climate-responsive effectiveness.
GROW+ does this through a landscape approach.
Landscape Approach
India’s vast ecological diversity means climate challenges manifest differently across regions and demand differentiated responses. Organisations must adopt context-specific approaches while learning from peers across landscapes.
To address this, GROW+ works through six distinct landscapes:
The Himalayan Mountains. 2. The Northern Plains. 3. Indian Desert. 4. Peninsular Plateau. 5. Coastal Plains. 6. Islands.
Each landscape has smart pyramids.
Each identified landscape has cohorts of grassroots 10+ NGOs supported by experienced Anchor organizations who facilitate capacity building through knowledge-sharing, collaborative learning, and climate-focused strategic discourse. The design allows replication across geographies and channels resources directly to grassroots organizations.
EdelGive Foundation, together with Rainmatter Foundation and other funders, is building GROW+ to strengthen a robust ecosystem of grassroots organisations responding to the climate crisis. Rainmatter’s engagement—dating back to GROW—enables organisations to build resilient, adaptive institutions and translate local climate realities into community-led action.