CHHALAANG FUND
BACKING INDIA'S
GRASSROOTS SPORTS, TOGETHER
ABOUT CHHALAANG FUND
A collaborative giving vehicle that brings funders together to give grassroot Sports for Development (S4D) organisations what they actually need: sustained capital and hands-on capacity building, year after year.
Grassroot Sports for Development (S4D) organisations, non-profits using sport to drive social change — are held back by three structural gaps. Chhalaang Fund exists to close these gaps — not with another one-time grant, but with a fund built for the long run.
Funding Gap
Short-term, project-based grants leave organisations unable to plan, invest, or scale beyond a single cycle.
Capability Gap
Weak monitoring systems and capacity-constrained teams limit the quality and consistency of program delivery.
Ecosystem Gap
Organisations work in isolation, with no shared standards, benchmarks, or channels for collaboration.
Chhalaang Fund pools capital from institutional funders, family foundations, HNIs, and CSR programs into one professionally managed vehicle. Instead of each funder independently sourcing and vetting NGO partners, the fund does that work collectively — less duplication, more rigor, and a stronger pipeline for every partner involved.
Support isn't just capital. Every organisation also gets structured advisory, hands-on capacity building, and access to tools built from Dani Sports Foundation's own experience running large-scale sport programs. And because funding is committed across multiple years, organisations can plan and scale — instead of restarting every grant cycle.
ABOUT CHHALAANG FUND
THE IMPACT WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS
Capacity Building: Strengthening systems, leadership, and team skills so growth doesn't outpace infrastructure.
Programmatic Scale-Up: Helping organisations expand a proven pilot, with the tools and resources to do it responsibly.
Innovation & Research: Backing new program ideas and action-research that build evidence for what works.
Supported organisations typically work across community sport, school sport, gender and women's programs, and talent development.
Sport is the medium; the outcomes reach further:
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Education: improving school attendance and engagement.
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Health: building physical literacy and healthy habits early.
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Gender: creating safe, equal access to sport for girls and women.
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Youth Development: building confidence and life skills through play.
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Inclusion: reaching children typically left out of sport.
WHY DANI SPORTS FOUNDATION ANCHORS THE FUNDS
DSF brings over a decade of experience across grassroots Sports for Development and high-performance athlete pathways — expertise the fund draws on to vet, support, and grow every partner.
That means direct capacity-building support, standardised monitoring and reporting frameworks with real data visibility for funders, and original research and publications that help build the sector's evidence base.
DSF's own programs currently reach 14 states, 3,497 schools, and over 7.3 lakh students, supported by 198 trained educators — the same operational backbone Chhalaang Fund partners get access to.
TARGET ORGANISATIONS
Brahmaputra Volleyball League
The world's largest community volleyball league, runs across Assam. Now in its sixth season with 408 teams, it has introduced volleyball to 10,000+ children across 160+ centres. As a strategic partner, DSF is strengthening coaching and organisational capacity, supporting expansion into new locations, and building a pathway toward the 2036 Olympics
Khel Nursery, with Pratham Education Foundation
Launched in West Champaran, Bihar in 2023 and now active across Bihar and Jharkhand, Khel Nursery focuses on sports training, talent identification, and grassroots capacity building. It currently reaches 27,170 students across 500 schools, supported by 614 sports fellows and 452 teachers.
