F4SC Highlights in 2020!

Regardless of Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020 the team of Finance4SocialChange project has been working tirelessly both on social impact financing policies and with social entrepreneurs, strengthening their business skills thorough hundreds of hours of business mentoring and training. We proudly partnered with UniCredit whose Social Impact Banking (SIB) directly supports social entrepreneurship as a driver of social development and progress across the Bank’s different markets, providing 30.000 euros of Award Fund for the winners of the Regional F4SC Competition.

Our Roadmap for social impact finance markets, created in cooperation with numerous valuable stakeholders, decision-makers, business and social impact organizations and social entrepreneurs, paved the road for further development of financing tools for social entrepreneurship throughout the Danube Region. In Hungary, financing of social entrepreneurship received support from the Hungarian Government, while in other countries our efforts created strong ties, through Policy Learning Dialogues and Groups, with key decision makers that will create conditions for implementation of the Social Impact Investment Strategy and Action plans in the Danube Region.

Our Transnational Design Academy - F4SC AIRMOOC ( Accelerating Investment Readiness Platform), an educational online platform, created through hours of filming and editing with a joint effort of the 12 partner countries,in the midst of the first Covid-19 wave, resulted in over 70 business tutorials with the best experts in the field of social impact. Successful entrepreneurs and investors shared their expertise, experience and success stories in creating and measuring social impact. Over 240 social enterprises in 12 countries joined us in specialized online and offline trainings, exchanging ideas, shaping and sharping their business skill thorough hundreds of hours of group and one-to-one business mentoring sessions! We are also proud that the program of the F4SC AIRMOOC educational platform became part of some universities’ specialized courses thus expanding its reach beyond project goals and lifespan.

Together with social enterprises from the region we worked, trained and developed social impact business plans reaching together the Regional F4SC Competition, a highlight of the end of the year! In the tough competition, held in 4 country groups, which gathered over 30 best social enterprises across the Danube Region, Vollpension from Austria, One Night Gallery from Romania, Caritas Šabac from Serbia and STEMI from Croatia  were selected as the winners of the competition and will share the award of 30.000 euros provided by UniCredit, main partner of Finance4SocialChange project.

More than ever, the challenging times in 2020 made us work and reinvent the ways of getting things done. We are proud to say that Finance4SocialChange project was awarded as one the most innovative projects at #SocialInterreg Summit- an event dedicated to Social Innovation projects.  To us, it is a confirmation that for the good idea, with positive energy streaming, great achievements can be accomplished even at difficult times! We end this year with full hearts and we look forward to new achievements in 2021!

From Finance4SocialChange team to you, We wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!