Deadline: 21 March 2019
The European Commission (EC) is currently seeking proposals under its Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme for Transaction cost support for social enterprise to promote employment and social inclusion by improving access to finance for social enterprises and supporting the development of the social enterprise finance market.
The objective of the call is to develop the social enterprise finance market. It will catalyse risk capital investments below EUR 500 000 that otherwise would not happen in the area of social finance, by supporting transaction costs linked to these investments. This transaction cost support scheme takes the form of a grant and can be combined with financial instruments as a means to address the mismatch of needed and sustainable ticket sizes.
The grant is aimed at financial intermediaries that undertake long-term risk capital investments in ticket sizes of less than EUR 500 000 in the form of equity, quasi-equity, or hybrid financing (see annex II for a glossary) to social enterprises in the EaSI Participating Countries. It will serve to lower the transaction costs for these small investment tickets and thus help overcome a market failure in the social enterprise finance market.
Aims
The EaSI Programme shall, in all its axes and actions, aim to:
- pay particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as young people;
- promote equality between women and men,
- combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;
- promote a high-level of quality and sustainable employment, guarantee adequate and decent social protection, combat long-term unemployment and fight against poverty and social exclusion.
Budget Information
- The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at 3 000 000 EUR.
- The EU grant requested should indicatively be between EUR 300 000 and EUR 1 million.
Eligibility Criteria
- Place of establishment: Legal entities properly established and registered in the following countries are eligible as lead applicant, co-applicants:
- Type of entities: To be eligible, the lead applicant, co-applicant and affiliated entity must be:
- An investment fund, a Fund-of-Funds, a special purpose vehicle, in any form, established or to be established. In this case, there are 2 options:
- Either the legal entity of the investment fund, the Fund-of-Funds or the special purpose vehicle can be an applicant.
- Or the (future) manager of the investment fund, of the Fund-of-Funds or the special purpose vehicle (established or to be established) can be applicant.
- For the avoidance of doubt, the (future) manager must already be an established and registered legal entity at the time of the submission of the application.
- A (co-) investment scheme in any form (including managed accounts and other types of contractual arrangements) established or to be established.
- In this case, either the (future) manager of the (co-) investment scheme / the managed accounts must be applicant or the parties of the (future) contractual arrangements must be applicants (in a consortium).
- The (future) manager or the parties (applicant or lead applicant and co-applicants) to the (future) grant agreement arrangements must already be established and registered legal entities at the time of the submission of the application.
How to Apply
Interested applicants must apply online via given website.
For more information, please visit https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en&callId=546&furtherCalls=yes