A few years ago, a corporate partner asked us a fair question: if we adopt a school today, what happens to it in five years if we step back?
It is the right question to ask, and it has shaped how we think about every partnership since. Education CSR is no longer just about funding a programme. It is about funding something that survives the funding.
Here are five things we have learned about what makes corporate social responsibility in education actually work, drawn from our own experience as an education NGO in India running CSR partnerships in education across Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
1. Partnerships work best when they strengthen the system, not sit beside it
Early on, we learned that standalone interventions, however well-funded, rarely outlast the funding cycle. What lasts is work that gets absorbed into how a government school already runs.
Our partnership with Amazon Future Engineer, run in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, started in 2021-22 in just 3 schools. By 2024-25, it had grown to 85 MCD schools, reaching more than 70,000 students through a digital literacy programme co-built into the existing school system, not delivered alongside it. Every NGO CSR partnership we build is designed around this principle. This is what CSR for government schools should look like, and it’s the foundation of any genuine NGO Government school partnership: strengthening, not replacing, what already exists.
2. The most valuable thing a CSR partner can fund is evidence, not equipment
A computer lab is easy to photograph. A change in how a teacher manages a classroom is not. But it is the second one that moves learning outcomes.
In our Exemplar Schools, the numbers tell that story plainly. When we started, these schools had single-digit enrolment and under 40% attendance. Today, they serve over 1,500 children with attendance above 75%, more than 70% of students meeting or exceeding grade-level expectations, and 99% parent-teacher meeting attendance. None of that came from infrastructure alone. It came from rigorous teacher training, academic mentoring, and data-backed, child-specific interventions, tracked and adjusted year on year. Impact you can see only shows up months later, in numbers like these, not in launch-day photographs.
3. Scale is a different conversation from reach
Reaching more schools and building a model a state government can adopt are not the same goal, and we have had to be honest with partners about which one we are working toward.
Our Exemplar Schools function as R&D labs. We test and evolve high-engagement classroom practices there first, then bring proven approaches to government partners for rollout at scale. The Amazon Future Engineer programme followed exactly this path, growing from a 3-school pilot to a citywide MCD programme, and was recognised at the FICCI ARISE Excellence Awards 2025, where two Peepul-supported schools were honoured among over 800 schools from 22 states and union territories. CSR projects in education that support this kind of staged scale, rather than asking for instant breadth, tend to build something that outlasts any single project cycle.
The partnerships that have worked best for us are not transactional; it involves co-building a computer science curriculum, drawing on resources like code.org, Scratch Jr., alongside content built in-house by Peepul.
This kind of engagement changes partnership. It also produces results that influence policy. In Madhya Pradesh, our Digital Literacy curriculum led the state’s School Education Department to sanction and print Computer Science workbooks for all the Sandipani schools, then expand that mandate to all ICT schools statewide for 2025-26. That shift, from project to state policy, is exactly what education CSR narratives anchored in credible outcomes look like, not just spend.
4. An exit strategy is not a sign of weak commitment. It is the point.
We tell every partner this directly: our goal is for government systems to be able to run what we have built, without us. That is not a hedge. It is what responsible education CSR partnerships should be working toward from day one.
When a partner asks what happens after their funding ends, we take it as a sign they are thinking about lasting change, not just a reporting cycle. The Madhya Pradesh workbook mandate is one proof point that this approach works.
What This Means for Funders Considering a Partnership
We are a government-aligned education NGO in India working to transform government school education across Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, intending to expand into new states by 2028. If your organisation is exploring CSR projects in education, employee engagement, or payroll giving, we would welcome the conversation.
Reach out to our partnerships team at partnerships@peepulindia.org or visit peepulindia.org/csr-partnerships-with-peepul. Donations to Peepul also qualify for 80G tax exemption, for organisations and individuals looking to support education alongside their CSR commitments.
FAQs
What does a CSR partnership with Peepul typically involve?[Text Wrapping Break] Partners can support school adoption, teacher training and leadership development, the Peepul Fellowship, or engage employees directly through school immersions, skilled volunteering, and thematic campaigns, all part of how we structure CSR for government schools.
How does Peepul ensure CSR funding leads to lasting impact?[Text Wrapping Break] By building programmes that get absorbed into government systems. Our Amazon Future Engineer partnership grew from 3 schools to 85 MCD schools over three years and led to a statewide policy shift in Madhya Pradesh, where the government now mandates printed Computer Science workbooks for all ICT schools.
Which states does Peepul currently work in? Peepul currently operates in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, with plans to expand into new states by 2028.
