Deadline: 7 April 2020
Are you a social entrepreneur with an innovative solution to a social problem? Do you need funding and support to take it to the next stage? If yes, then apply now for Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s The Impact Program.
Through the Impact Program, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland (SEI) provides funding, mentoring and a network of supports to high-potential social entrepreneurs and their project, helping them to build a strategy to become a highly impactful, effective, scalable, and sustainable organisation.
Social Entrepreneurs Ireland looks for up to 8 social entrepreneur-led projects with the potential to significantly impact the problem that they are addressing in Ireland, and work with them for 11 months.
The program involves a range of activities such as one-to-one meetings with your Social Entrepreneurs Ireland consultant, meetings and workshops with expert advisors and consultants, group workshops and networking events. Outside of this time you will also be expected to work towards the mutually agreed goals and objectives, all of which should be in line with realising your mission for social impact.
Funding Information
Each Awardee will receive €20,000 in funding.
Benefits
- Training & Support: Awardees will join an accelerator programme where they will receive mentorship, training, and support, in areas like leadership development, fundraising, governance, strategic planning, and impactful storytelling. They can also receive pro-bono support from partner organisations, ensuring that they receive the best professional services available at no, or low, cost.
- Powerful Community; Each Awardee will become a member of the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Community – Ireland’s largest network of social entrepreneurs. Community workshops, retreats, and events are an opportunity for Alumni to come together to network and learn from each other, receive advice from other social entrepreneurs and hear selected speakers on both personal and professional topics. Through this community, you will receive peer support from experienced social entrepreneurs and expand your network significantly, connecting with the largest community of social entrepreneurs in Ireland.
SEI is looking for:
- To support social entrepreneur-led projects: The person applying must be the main driver and lead decision maker with a project already up and running. They should act in an entrepreneurial manner and be open to learning and developing themselves through the Impact Program. They accept applications from individuals and two-person partnerships. While your project may have more than two founders/ leaders, for the purposes of selection process and programmes only two partners can apply, and both must be the main decision makers. The person/people who make(s) the application should not be making it on anyone else’s behalf, rather they are the individual(s) who will engage in the SEI support program.
- A societal challenge: There are a lot of problems and issues to be addressed in Ireland so they’re looking for social entrepreneurs who can clearly demonstrate why the issue they are addressing is of particular importance. The challenge that their project is addressing can be either social or environmental.
- A new or better way: The people they support don’t replicate what is already being provided but instead seek to approach issues from a different angle, improving on what is already being done or introducing a completely new solution altogether. They should be able to clearly articulate what makes their solution unique.
- Mission driven & effective: All of their applicants should be leading projects that are primarily focused on the mission of solving a social or environmental problem. They support organisations with any and all legal structures, but you must be in a position to convince them that the social mission is the core driver. You should also be able to provide them with evidence that what you do actually works in addressing the problem you’ve identified, proving that it has a positive impact.
- Desire & potential to scale their impact: Their social entrepreneurs always think big, ultimately looking to change the way the issue they are addressing is dealt with in Ireland. Having the desire and potential to scale at some point is a vital piece of information they look for during review process. Scaling impact can be achieved in various ways, for example scaling the reach of the organisation (geographic, demographic etc.), scaling breadth or depth, or providing a model that can be replicated.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to apply to the Impact Program, you must meet the following criteria:
- You are aged 18 years or over at the time of applying for the program.
- You are the social entrepreneur leading the project – the main driver and decision maker.
- The primary focus of your project is on benefiting people in Ireland.
- You have identified a social or environmental issue and developed a clear business model to solve it.
- Your solution is new or better than others in existence already in Ireland.
- Your project has moved beyond the initial idea stage, with activities up and running that relate directly to the problem you are trying to address.
- You have evidence to illustrate the social mission and impact of your project on your target beneficiaries/audience.
- You have the ambition to scale and grow the impact of your project beyond its current level.
- You are open and keen to engage with the learning and development opportunities provided through their Impact Program. The Program will run from July 2020 – May 2021. This involves a time commitment of on average 2 to 4 days per month.
- You are available to attend the mandatory Selection Process events: Social Entrepreneurs Bootcamp on 10th June and a final interview on 1 st July.
- You are willing and able to develop your project on at least a part-time basis for the duration of the program.
Note: Social Entrepreneurs Ireland is not in a position to support research projects, partypolitical projects, or projects with an explicit religious or faith-based agenda – as opposed to projects that are driven by a personal belief system but are open to all the community.
Social Entrepreneurs will be selected and informed by 17th July.
For more information, visit https://socialentrepreneurs.ie/impactprogramme/