Call: Actions to boost the demand and supply side of the finance market for social enterprises

Logo
Programme	EaSI - Programme for Employment and Social Innovation
Acronym	EaSI
Type of Fund	Action programme
Description of programme "EaSI - Programme for Employment and Social Innovation"	The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme is a financing instrument at EU level to promote a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions. Objectives: Strengthen ownership of EU objectives and coordination of action at EU and national level in the areas of employment, social affairs and inclusion Support the development of adequate social protection systems and labour market policies Modernise EU legislation and ensure its effective application Promote geographical mobility and boost employment opportunities by developing an open labour market Increase the availability and accessibility of microfinance for vulnerable groups and micro-enterprises, and increase access to finance for social enterprises
Link	Link to Programme
Description of programme "PROGRESS"	The PROGRESS axis of EaSI helps the EU and its countries to improve policies in three thematic sections: employment, in particular to fight youth unemployment social protection, social inclusion and the reduction and prevention of poverty working conditions
Call	Actions to boost the demand and supply side of the finance market for social enterprises
Description of call "Actions to boost the demand and supply side of the finance market for social enterprises"	The objective of the call for proposals is to contribute to the development of a social finance market by enabling more social enterprises to take on repayable finance for developing and scaling up their innovative business model. The support aims at: Boosting the supply of social finance through institution and capacity building with committed actors, and Generating effective demand among social enterprises for social finance by developing their “investment readiness”. As such, the actions to be funded under this call for proposals are expected to contribute to realising the potential of social entrepreneurship emphasised in the Commission’s Social Business Initiative 2011, as well as in the Communications ’Towards a job-rich recovery’ 2012 , the ‘Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion’ 2013 and the Guidelines for the Employment Policies of the Member States for 2015. The main tasks of the actions will be to develop and establish feasible, suitable and reliable financial instruments (Strands A and B) or hybrid finance packages (Strand C), to build capacities to use such instruments (Strand D), or to reinforce the capacity of social enterprise support organisations (strand E). In doing so, the partners implementing an action will explore and test effective ways of establishing, consolidating, sustaining and linking social finance schemes and instruments, capacity building programmes for using such instruments, reinforcing capacities of social enterprise support organisations, and organizing learning on what works and how, as well as what does not work, and why. The call for proposals is addressed to social finance or support partnerships for social enterprises that have the potential for: realising innovative solutions with a clear societal impact, or scaling their innovative approach through growth, replication or adaptation.
Link	Link to Call
Thematic Focus	Capacity Building, Cooperation Networks, Institutional Cooperation
Funding area	EU Member States EEA Countries Candidate Countries
Origin of Applicant	EU Member States Albania / Shqipëria Iceland / Ísland Montenegro / Crna Gora/Црна Гора North Macedonia / Северна Македонија Norway / Norge Serbia / Сpбија Turkey / Türkiye
Eligible applicants	Education and Training Centres, Federal State / Region / City / Municipality / Local Authority, , , Research Institution, Lobby Group / Professional Association / Trade Union, International Organization, , NGO / NPO, Other, Public Services, Microenterprises (fewer than 10 employees), Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, SMEs (between 10 and 249 employees), University, Association, Enterprise (more than 250 employees or not defined), National Government, Start Up Company
Applicant details	To be eligible, applicants and co-applicants may be public or private entities of any type.
Project Partner	Yes
Project Partner Details	To be eligible, actions must have the involvement of a consortium. For actions dealing with the supply side of social finance (strands A, B and C) applicants must implement the action in cooperation with at least two co-applicants. For strand A, the applicant or one of the co-applicants must be a (potential) investor that has signed a letter of intention to invest/co-invest in the envisaged financial product. For strand B and C, the applicant or one of the co-applicants must be a private and/or public investor that has signed a letter of commitment to invest/co-invest in the financial instrument, respectively hybrid scheme of finance to be established. For actions dealing with the demand side of social finance, applicants under strand D are encouraged to involve (potential) investors in the consortium. Applicants under strand E must implement the action in a consortium, which includes the applicant and at least four co-applicants. The Consortium shall include members from at least 5 EU Member States
Recurring Call	No
Project duration min	15 months
Project duration max	18 months
Type of Funding	Grants
Financial details	The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of actions is estimated at EUR 2.150.000 million. The indicative grant amount per action will be: for strand A: 85 000 € for strand B: 130 000 € for strand C: 130 000 € for strand D: 100 000 € for strand E: 150 000 € For strand A, B, C and D, a ring-fenced amount of 7 000 € for transnational activities such as knowledge dissemination, know-how exchange, joint development etc. must be included in the proposed budget of the action The EU grant may not exceed 80 % of the total eligible costs of the action taking into account the indicative grant amounts above.
Submission	Applications must be submitted using the electronic submission system available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim, and by sending a signed, printed version of the application form and its annexes by post or courier service to the following address: European Commission Call for proposals VP/2016/007 – DG EMPL.E.1 PLB 3 –05/P097 1000 – Bruxelles- BELGIUM
Contact Details	https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=2&langId=en&acronym=contact