EaSI Call to Boost the Development of Finance Markets for Social Enterprises

The objective of this EaSI call for proposals is to contribute to the development of a social finance market, by designing and launching financial instruments for social enterprises and, at the same time, generating effective demand for social finance among social enterprises by developing their “investment readiness”. Ultimately this should enable more social enterprises to take on repayable finance for developing and scaling up their business model.

In order to take into account the different stages of development of social finance markets as well as different stages in the preparation of financing instruments for social enterprises, the call offers two strands:

Strand A: Establishment of social finance partnerships.

Strand B: Establishment of social finance instruments and mechanisms.

The activities to be funded will consist of developing social finance partnerships and feasible, suitable and reliable financial instruments or schemes providing finance to social enterprises, as well as non-financial support aimed at improving the social enterprises’ investment readiness (such as business development and networking). Actions on both strands must be fully carried out in EaSI participating countries and must focus on supporting social enterprises that are in need of smaller investments (< €500,000). The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of actions is estimated at €2.5 million. There will be no specific distribution of funds per strand. Grants requested should indicatively be: For Strand A: between €150,000 and €200,000. For Strand B: between €200,000 and €250,000. Grants may not exceed 80% of the total eligible costs of the action. Applicants must guarantee co-financing of the remaining amount covered by their own resources or from sources other than the EU budget. Actions must have the involvement of a consortium including a lead applicant and at least two co-applicants. Lead applicants, co-applicants and affiliated entities may be public or private entities of any type. Actions must be fully carried out in eligible countries participating in the EaSI programme. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2020. More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.