In this issue of the Newsletter, we are thrilled to invite you to join our learning platform which will go live on the 25th of May and we are inviting you to learn more and apply for our international competition of social enterprises!  Lots of other good outcomes happened in the last six months. We have created a Roadmap to social impact financial markets, we discussed social impact with well-known experts and we discussed with our partners and stakeholder the best way to support the social economy. Learn more about it and about ongoing open EU calls and the upcoming events in the next period!  

Stay tuned with the latest updates through our FinaceforSocialChangeproject webpage,  Facebook, Youtube, and Linkedin channels. 

FiNANCE4SOCIALCHANGE ONLINE LEARNING PLATFORM IS OUT MAY 25TH 2020! 

Corona has shown us how much we need organizations that create social and ecological value—and an ecosystem in which they can thrive. The #AirMOOC & #AirCompetition (AIR: Accelerating Investment Readiness) aims at joining Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Investing for more positive social change.

We are looking for social ventures, impact investors and policymakers who want to work jointly towards this endeavor.  The Call for Applications for the international pitch competition is open now until 31st May 2020. #AirMOOC will launch on 25th May and run for 6 weeks.

#AirCompetition will perform a two-stage screening of applying social enterprises (for-profit or non-profit) and select 30 ventures to compete in pitch competitions in 4 countries. The selected competitors will receive one-on-one coaching before the pitches. Each winner will get at least 10,000 € in prize money (amount pending due to the crisis) and exclusive access to a large investor network. While the competition focuses on ventures from or operating in the Danube region, the MOOC is available to all.

#AirMOOC offers six modules focusing on topics at the intersection of social entrepreneurship and impacts investing: Impact, Strategy, Finance, Governance, Scaling, and Communication. As a follow-up to #AirMOOC selected participants can join even more intense “offline trainings”.

AIR is brought to you by the EU Interreg project “Finance4SocialChange”, a partnership of 14 organizations from 12 European countries.

 Join #AirMOOC & #AirCompetition HERE

ROADMAP FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL IMPACT FINANCIAL MARKETS - FINISHED AND READY TO USE!

The roadmap prepared within project Finance4Socialchange delivers recommendations and scenarios in 14 countries of the Danube region, as well as, key player's roles and actions needed for the development of a stable social economy in the Danube Region.

It comes as a result of devoted teamwork of all partners in the project, stakeholders, governments, investors, financial institutions, foundations, consultants, intermediary organizations as well as the social enterprises who need capacity building in order to be ready for investors.

The social economy should be a key player in providing effective answers to the current situation in the EU and the world, and it takes teamwork to unlock its potentials. During these days of a massive global challenge, more then ever, entrepreneurs with an impact on society need support in developing their businesses and achieving financial sustainability.

STRONG  SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL ENTERPRISES AND FAVOURABLE ECOSYSTEMS

Social enterprises need access to market, strong and dedicated education programs with a specific approach, and strong sustainable support. These are some of the conclusions made during expert discussions between FInance4SocialChange project partners and stakeholders during a two-day meeting held in Belgrade on the 9th and 10th of March. 

Read more.. 

KNOWLEDGE SHARING ON POLICY LEARNINGS WEBINARS 

Our expert Alexander Kesselring from Ashoka presented the Finance4SocialChange project, good practices on how social enterprises can be financed at the Webinar on Social Enterprises- a Policy Learning Platform organized by Interreg Europe.

Some key success factors were defined through discussion and inspiring examples from different regional and local ecosystems with various degrees of social entrepreneurship culture and available funding. Read more.. 

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN FOR-PROFIT AND NON-PROFIT ENTERPRISES FUEL FOR SOCIAL ECONOMY

Bridging the gap between for-profit and non-profit enterprises could unlock the potentials of the social economy it was concluded in lively discussions during local policy focus groups in Germany led by the University of Heidelberg-Centre for Social Investment and Steinbeis 2i GmbH, partners on the project. The division between for-profit and non-profit enterprises has been a recurrent topic. The dominant opinion was that this distinction needs to be bridged to allow SEs to find appropriate funding and eventually be integrated into traditional funding and support structures. This bridging is more crucial than the discussion of whether there should be a specific legal form for SEs. Read more..

ACT Group announced on April 9, 2020 the results of the call within its program "Start something of your own", aimed at supporting projects with positive social and/or environmental impact. Among 247 applications from entire Croatia, the best 6 projects were selected. Besides financial support, ACT Group will also provide continuous business advisory during the next six months to the selected projects which were evaluated to have the most promising potential of social innovation, long-term social impact, and business growth. Read more...

STRENGTHENING COOPERATION IN SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM IN BULGARIA

In the framework of Academy for Local Entrepreneurs in Bulgaria (Sofia), social entrepreneurs, investors, business support organizations, and policymakers gathered to discuss opportunities, exchange opinions, and ideas regarding tasks and measures that should be taken to further support the local social entrepreneurship and investment ecosystem. Participants outlined three main areas that needed interventions through measures such as intensifying and sharing awareness and knowledge about social entrepreneurship, disseminating trends and developments in this sector, exchange of knowledge in cross-border exchange and programs, intensifying training opportunities of different stakeholders in impact assessment measurement pilots and testing. 

OPEN CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2020 EUROPEAN SOCIAL CATALYST FUND - DEADLINE 11TH SEPTEMBER 2020

European Social Catalyst Fund (ESCF) has launched the Call for Applications 2020, which aims at bringing together public and private resources to improve social services to enable people who need support to live as valued and participating members of their communities. Read more..

OPEN CALL FOR APPLICATIONS COSME PROGRAMME-  9 JUNE 2020, 17:00 HOURS (BRUSSELS TIME)

European Commission has launched a new call for proposals through COSME PROGRAMME which should contribute to the enhancement of interaction and improved collaboration between existing social economy networks and stakeholders at a regional and local level in the field of priorities of “Social economy missions”, boosting inter-regional learning between social economy stakeholders (public and private sector) in the field of priorities of “Social economy missions”, and contribute to the gradual building of a Social Economy community. Read more..

JOIN US IN UPCOMING EVENTS in 2020

IMPACT CONFERENCE 2020 

ACT Group, the F4SC project partner in Croatia, is co-organizing the IMPACT 2020 Conference on June 3-5, 2020. IMPACT Conference is unique and first of a kind conference in South-East Europe dedicated to enhancing and accelerating impact investing. This third edition of the conference brings together leaders in the industry of impact investing, management and measurement, and offers networking and collaboration opportunities among international organizations, funds, nonprofit organizations, and impact businesses. The conference was originally planned to be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina; however, due to COVID-19 pandemic situation, a virtual conference edition is being considered.

Read more..   

STARTUP SUMMIT 2020 on July 23 & 24, Landesmesse Stuttgart, Germany

The summit is not explicitly directed at, but is open to social enterprises. The offers of the 2 Day-Event include Success Stories, Best Practices, Networking, Matchmaking, Discovery Tours on July 21 & 22, and much more.7,000 Participants, 500 International Start-ups, International Start-up Ecosystems and Partners, Incubators & Accelerators are expected. You can get free tickets or apply for a stand on summit.startupbw.de

EUROPEAN SOCIAL ECONOMY SUMMIT, 26-27 November 2020, Mannheim, Germany

The ‘European Social Economy Summit’ (#EUSES2020) is a jointly organized conference by the European Commission and the City of Mannheim. 

#EUSES2020 is a conference that aims at strengthening the social economy in Europe and harness its contribution to economic development, social inclusion as well as green and digital transitions. The discussions will focus on three dimensions: digitalization of the Social Economy, (social) innovation, cross-country, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The #EUSES2020 is an opportunity to bring all stakeholders active in the social economy together. The Call for Proposals is open until March 27th. (https://www.euses2020.eu/call-for-proposals/)

about the project Finance4SocialChange 

CONTACT

Finance4SocialChange Lead Partner:

IFKA Public Benefit Non-profit Ltd. for the Development of Industry

HU-1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 100.

Tel.: +36 1 312 2213

Email: info@ifka.hu

www.ifka.hu 

Contact: Anna Meszaros

Tel: +36 1 312 22 13

Mobil: +36 70 476 2652

E-mail: meszaros@ginop512.ifka.hu