How a women's SHG network in Bihar managed 1,200 beneficiaries and 85% utilisation compliance

Mahila Shakti Network coordinates 85 self-help groups (SHGs) across 12 blocks in rural Bihar, supporting 1,200 women in microfinance, skills training, and market linkage programmes. The network receives grants from NABARD, a state government livelihood mission, and two international foundations (requiring FCRA compliance).

Each funder had different reporting requirements: NABARD wanted quarterly physical and financial progress reports, the state government required monthly MIS uploads, and the international foundations needed annual impact assessments with beneficiary-level data. The network coordinator maintained separate registers for each funder, often recording the same beneficiary's information 3-4 times in different formats.

The 85% income utilisation requirement under Section 11 was a constant worry. Without real-time visibility into how much of their income had been spent, the team often realised in February that they were behind on utilisation and rushed to deploy funds in March, sometimes compromising programme quality.

Mahila Shakti adopted Donateazy to centralise beneficiary records, donation/grant tracking, and expense management. All 1,200 beneficiaries were entered with their SHG affiliation, programme enrollment, and demographic details. Grants were recorded as donations tagged to specific programmes and funds.

The FCRA tracking feature separated international foundation grants from domestic funding, maintaining parallel ledgers automatically. The expense module linked every payment to the relevant grant and programme. The 85% utilisation tracker on the compliance dashboard gave the coordinator a real-time view of income applied versus income received throughout the year.

The statutory reports module generated funder-specific reports by filtering data by programme, time period, and funding source.

Funder reporting time was cut by 70% across all four funding partners. The network met its 85% utilisation target comfortably for the first time in three years, finishing the year at 91% utilisation by December instead of scrambling in March. FCRA compliance was maintained with fully segregated accounts and a clean FC-4 filing. One international foundation increased their grant by 25% citing improved financial transparency. The coordinator reclaimed approximately 15 hours per month previously spent on manual data compilation.