Although grants, donations are still the first financial choice and resource for social enterprises as a financing instrument, there is a diversity of innovative financial instruments at disposal for social impact investing in the Danube Region shows the research done within the project Finance4PositiveSocialChange, financed by EU Transnational Danube Program.

Instruments such as private loans, equity investment, quasi-equity investment, and convertible loans combine social and financial returns and are often managed privately or in a public-private partnership, while other hybrid instruments offer a potential pathway to scaling up of social impact investing.

The project which aims at developing social impact investing in the Danube Region, through this report, provides an overview of instruments that opens a narrow field of non-profit activities to private investors.

The report is a snapshot of good practices and concrete cases successfully implemented in Hungary, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, Moldova, and Bulgaria– partner countries in the project.

The report was done within the Finance4Positive Social project Change which aims at delivering the first “Social Impact Investment Strategy for the Danube region" thus supporting the economy that inspires positive social change in Danube Region by  paving the way for promoting more social innovations and development of investment ready social enterprises.

Project targets start-ups and scale-up social enterprises in the Danube Region thorough capacity building for social enterprises and strengthening cooperation between policymakers, financial intermediaries, social enterprise catalysts, research institutes.

The project will offer a 130 hours blended transnational learning experience through Social Impact Investment Design Academy and Social Impact investment Business Competition.  Around 400 social enterprises will gain access to social impact investors, financial intermediaries and philanthropists while Social Impact investment Competition will provide access to direct business opportunities and access to equity-type of financial options to 50 best performing social enterprises.

Read more about the results and conclusions from the Research.