Goal and task
Social entrepreneurship (SE) is becoming increasingly important as the world’s challenges are increasing while public funds in many countries are under pressure. The Danube region currently lags behind global trends in the field of SE and social impact investment (EVPA Annual Survey, 2016). In the Danube region, there is a particular lack of "blended" financial instruments to complement non-repayable grants with new forms of finance (for example venture capital, equity, microcredits). In addition there is a lack of impact investors and policies to support the evolvement of social impact investment markets.
Finance4SocialChange brought together a multi-disciplinary “quadruple-helix” partnership of 14 partners from 12 countries from across Europe to deliver policy learning, develop practical solutions for impact investing, and improve the regulatory framework for social finance in the Danube region.
Approach
Finance4SocialChange worked towards creating the first "Social Impact Investment Strategy for the Danube region" by paving the way for promoting more social innovations and making social enterprises “investment ready”. The project delivered 130 hours of "blended" learning experiences through the ”Social Impact Investment Transnational Design Academy”, and launched the first "Business Plan Competition" in the region with the aim of providing EUR 200,000 investment capital.
