Finance4SocialChange Leveraging Finance 4 positive Social Change
Social entrepreneurship (SE) has become increasingly relevant in today’s economic setting as social changes have mounted,(World Economic Forum, 2017) while at the same time, public funds in many countries are under pressure. The Danube region currently lags behind global trends in the field of SE and social impact investments (EVPA Annual Survey, 2016). Statistics show that only 2% of global social impact investment (with a potential for growth of up to 450 billion EUR by 2019) is targeted towards the Danube region social enterprises, compared to 78% reaching Western Europe. Evidence shows that in the Danube region, there is lack of "blended" financial instruments which would complement non-repayable grants with new forms of finance (venture capital,equity,impact investments microcredit, and fundraising). In addition there is a lack of impact investors and policies to support the improvement of social impact investment markets.
Finance4SocialChange brings together a multi-disciplinary quadruple-helix partnership of 14 partners from 12 countries, 6 ASPs from across Europe to deliver improved policy learning, and develops practical solutions on impact investing to better shape the regulatory framework for the proper functioning of the social financing sector in the Danube region. Finance4SocialChange works towards creating the first "Social Impact Investment Strategy for the Danube region"by paving the way for promoting more social innovations and social impact investment ready social enterprises. The project delivers 130 hours of "blended" learning experiences through the ”Social Impact Investment Transnational Design Academy”, and launches the first "Business Plan Competition" warm-up 2-stage investment ready competition", funded through EUR 200,000 investment capital. A mentorship pool, the "Social Impact Investment Community Council" will be established to provide mentoring to scaling up SEs,and will continue beyond the lifetime of the project by merging with GSEN.
- Start date
- 01-07-2018
- End date
- 30-06-2021
- Budget in Euro
- Overall: 2013975
- ERDF Contribution: 1490432,5
- IPA Contribution: 100321,25
- ENI Contribution: 121125
- Call number
- Call 2
- Priority
- Innovative and socially responsible Danube region
- Specific objective
- Increase competences for business and social innovation
Library
Project Partners
| Name | Type | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFKA Public Benefit Non Profit Ltd. for the Development of the Industry | Lead partner | finance4socialchange@ifka.hu | HUNGARY |
| ZSI Centre for Social Innovation | ERDF partner | weiss@zsi.at | AUSTRIA |
| Financing Agency for Social Entrepreneurship | ERDF partner | mfreiburg@fa-se.de | GERMANY |
| Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding | ERDF partner | marius.mitroi@uefiscdi.ro | ROMANIA |
| BSC, Business support centre L.t.d., Kranj | ERDF partner | helena.cvenkel@bsc-kranj.si | SLOVENIA |
Project News
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Finance4SocialChange - Thematic Capitalization Workshop in Budapest
- 07-02-2019
Workshop was held in Budapest in January 2019 and was a good opportunity for interaction between the project partners of Finance4SocialChange project and other project focused on social enterprises and funded by 3 different Interreg programmes,...
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Finance4SocialChange - 2nd Regional Stakeholder Group Workshop in Budapest
- 07-02-2019
Regional Stakeholder Group Workshop hosted by IFKA on February 05 in Budapest was an opportunity for the key players in the social enterprise field of Hungary to meet and discuss the possible cooperation. 17 participant representing financial...
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Finance4SocialChange - BRINGING TOGETHER ACTORS FROM BADEN‐WÜRTTEMBERG AND FROM THE UPPER AND LOWER DANUBE
- 10-12-2018
As a 100% spin‐off of Steinbeis‐Europa‐Zentrum (SEZ), Steinbeis 2i GmbH acts as a junction between economic stakeholders, policy makers on the one hand and Research and Technology Organizations on the other hand. With the...
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Finance4SocialChange - INVITATION FOR INTERESTED STAKEHOLDERS TO COOPERATE
- 10-12-2018
Franja Gabrovsek Schmidt, representative of Regional development agency Gorenjska – BSC Kranj, presented Finance4SocialChange project on the "9. Days of social economy", a traditional event in Slovenia where interesting topics and project...
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Finance4SocialChange - PRESENTATION OF F4SC IN ROMANIA
- 10-12-2018
F4SC was presented at the @ETC University in Bucharest during three days of intensive work on SmarTransnational Cooperation and capitalisation on projects results. F4SC partner organisation in Romania, UEFISCDI, attended and represented the...
