Development of social entrepreneurship and social investments towards economic and social cohesion in the Eastern Partnership and Russia
Source: Impact Hub Yerevan
What is the “Collaborate For Impact” Project?
The “Collaborate For Impact” project is a new EU-funded social entrepreneurship project led by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), the leading organisation in the field of venture philanthropy and social investment in Europe. The project has a regional component covering the Eastern Partnership region and a specific component for Armenia. Activities in Armenia will be implemented by Impact Hub Yerevan.
Objectives
The aim of the “Collaborate For Impact” project is to promote social entrepreneurship and the ecosystem for further expansion.
The specific objectives are:
- Ensuring that new social enterprises are building on stronger technical/professional skills and business competences;
- Attracting more social investors
- Increase regional and national collaboration in the field of social entrepreneurship
- Stimulate collaboration between public sector, social entrepreneurs and investors on promoting the social entrepreneurship ecosystem
- Promoting social innovation and new business models for financing CSOs and purpose-driven businesses
EU-Supported COVID-19 Relief Fund
Within the scope of the project, Impact Hub Yerevan is announcing a call for applications for the EU-Supported COVID-19 Relief Fund, which aims to support social enterprises in Armenia to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic and make them more resilient to similar crises in the future.
Social enterprises are invited to apply for projects with a budget between 3.5 million and 9 million AMD [approximately 5,640-14,510 EUR]. The average grant size for the EU-Supported COVID-19 Relief Fund is expected to be around 6.2 million AMD [10,000 EUR] but larger budgets could be considered based on the needs of the applicant as well as the social impact and profitability of the particular social enterprise. All activities funded have to take place/be implemented within the borders of the Republic of Armenia.
As outlined in the application form, participants are asked to provide a budget where at least 20% will be directed to medium-to-long-term activities (resilience building), e.g. developing e-commerce, additional sales channels, new products/services.
Key Dates
EU-Supported COVID-19 Relief Fund announcement – 22 March 2021
Info session – 29 March 2021 (Online from 16:00-17:30, see Zoom Link)
Deadline for applications – 12 April 2021 23:59
Eligibility Criteria
- Entities registered as CSOs/NGOs, Foundations, LLCs or Sole Proprietors that consider themselves to be social enterprises and match the definition of social enterprises as set by the European Union.
- Entities that were registered and/or operational in March 2020 as well as those that had planned to launch operations in early 2020 but whose plans were derailed because of COVID-19 and lockdown.
- The entity must be registered at the time of application and operate within the Republic of Armenia.
Evaluation Criteria
Applicants will be judged based on the following criteria.
- Relevance of social mission (20%)
- Solution proposed by social enterprise and social impact to date (20%)
- Business model and financing to date, business forecast (20%)
- Budget figures and rationale (20%)
- Potential for scaling of social impact (20%)
APPLICATION FORM
Please download the application form, and submit it by April 12, 23:59 at [email protected] with the subject line “EU-Supported COVID-19 Relief Fund application”.
In addition to completing this form, please submit:
- Certificate of registration of the organisation.
- Bank statement of the organisation from
a.) March 2019 to March 2020, or if founded later, from the beginning of operations to March 2020 AND
b.) Bank statement of the organisation from March 2020 to March 2021, or until the date of suspension/closure of business, if applicable. - Any other documentation or links that will help us evaluate your social enterprise.
