Month: May 2017

EaSI call for proposals: Transaction Cost Support for Social Enterprise Finance

The European Commission is currently seeking proposals under its Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme for Transaction cost support for social enterprise finance. 

The European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) 2014-20202 is a European-level financing instrument managed directly by the European Commission to contribute to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, by providing financial support for the Union’s objectives in terms of promoting a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions.

The objective of the call is to test a transaction cost support scheme in the form of a grant to be combined with financial instruments as a means to address the mismatch of needed and sustainable ticket sizes. More particularly, it aims at catalysing smaller risk-capital investments of below EUR 500 000 that otherwise would not happen.​

Examples of activities to be funded

  • travelling to meet (potential) investees;
  • screening and processing investment applications;
  • preparing legal documents, potentially with a lawyers’ advice;
  • carrying out the due diligence, including assessing (potential) impact;
  • providing investment readiness, scaling readiness or business restructuring support;
  • bringing in co-investors;
  • managing the investments and monitoring social impact​.

Funding information 

The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at EUR 3 million. The EU grant requested should indicatively be between EUR 300 000 and EUR 1 million. Under this call for proposals, the EU grant may not exceed 80 % of the total eligible costs of the action. 

Eligibility criteria

a) by place of establishment: 

Legal entities properly established and registered in the following countries are eligible as
applicants (sole or lead and co-applicants): 

  • EU Member States; 
  • Iceland in accordance with the EEA Agreement; 
  • Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

b) by type of entities: 

To be eligible, the applicant (sole or lead and co-applicants) must be: 

  1. 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.
  2. 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 to the (future) contractual arrangements must already be established and registered legal entities at the time of the submission of the application. 
  3. A foundation

Deadline 

15 July 2017

How to apply 

For further information, guidelines and to apply, please visit the EaSI website.

EU call for proposals: grants to support democracy and human rights in Malaysia

The European Commission is accepting concept notes from eligible organisations under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) with the aim to contribute to the respect for fundamental rights and the consolidation of the rule of law in Malaysia. 

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen the role and capacity of local civil society organisations in promoting political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights. 

To achieve the mentioned objectives, the project proposals have to address at least one of the priorities below: 

  • Priority A – enhance and promote equality and non-discrimination in the enjoyment of all human rights by decriminalising and abolish discriminatory laws and policies existing in Malaysia. Encourage reduction in violence against women, encourage the promotion of women’s participation in decision–making in line with the EU Gender Action Plan II. Strengthen the economic empowerment of women and ensure enforcement of the existing legal framework protecting the rights of women in Malaysia.
  • Priority B. Encourage Malaysia to ratify the remaining core human rights conventions and to lift any relevant reservations to these instruments. Special attention could be given to the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the International Convention on the elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), as well as the withdrawal of reservation to the Convention on the rights of the Child (CRC) and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).

Grant information

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between EUR 300 000 and EUR 300 000. Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between minimum 51% and maximum 95% of the total eligible costs of the action.

Location 

Actions must take place in Malaysia.

Duration 

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 24 months nor exceed 35 months.

Eligibility Criteria 

In order to be eligible for a grant, the applicant(s) must: 

  • be a legal person
  • be non-profit-making
  • be a specific type of organisation such as:a) civil society organisations, including non-governmental organisations and independent political foundations, community based organisations, private sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations, and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level;
    b) National Human Rights Institutions
    c) international and regional inter-governmental organisations
  • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s): 

  • Applicants established in Malaysia may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
  • Applicants that are not established in Malaysia must act together with at least one co-applicant established in Malaysia.

Deadline

15 August 2017

How to apply 

The application procedure consists of two stages: 

  • Concept notes 
  • Full application

In the first instance, only concept notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application.  

For more information, please visit EuropeAid and read the guidelines.

Scottish Landfill Communities Fund (SLCF) open for applications with SUEZ Communities Trust

The SUEZ Communities Trust is currently accepting applications from not-for-profit organisations in Scotland for the following types of projects:

  • Land Reclamation (Object A) – the reclamation, remediation, restoration or other operation on land to facilitate economic, social or environmental use.
  • Community Recycling (Object B) – community based recycling, re-use and waste prevention projects.
  • Public Amenities (Object C) – to provide, maintain or improve a public park or other public amenity.
  • Biodiversity (Object D) – the conservation or promotion of biological diversity through the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat or the maintenance or recovery of a species in its natural habitat.
  • Historic Buildings (Object E) – the maintenance, repair or restoration of a building, other structure or a site of archaeological interest which is a place of religious worship, or a site of historic or architectural or archaeological interest and is open to the public.

Funding information

The Trust offers funding awards of up to £50,000 through two funds:

  1. Smaller Projects Fund
  • Awards between £1 and £20,000
  • Projects must have an overall cost of no more than £40,000
  • Projects must start within 3 months and complete within 12 months of funds being awarded

2. Primary Fund

  • Awards between £1 and £50,000
  • Projects must have an overall cost of no more than £250,000
  • Projects must start within 6 months and complete within 12 months of funds being awarded

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible to apply to SUEZ Communities Trust organisations must:

  • Own or hold a lease for the project site with at least 5 years remaining Projects should be based at a project site which must be owned or leased by the applying organisation. If your organisation neither owns the project site, nor has a lease with a minimum of 5 years remaining, you are not eligible to apply for SUEZ Communities Trust funding. The lease must be active before any application is made. Letters of intent or draft lease agreements are not accepted.
  • Be run on a not for profit basis Not-for-profit organisations could include community groups, parish councils, charities, community interest companies, sports clubs, community associations, local authorities and voluntary organisations.

Deadline

24 July 2017

How to apply

Applicants need to submit an online application form. For further details and to apply please visit Suez Communities Trust.

Grants for UK organisations to support the delivery of Active Citizens

The British Council is seeking applications for its Active Citizens Programme, which is a social leadership training programme that promotes intercultural dialogue and community-led social development. 

Involvement in the Active Citizens programme offers a range of opportunities to partners, facilitators, participants and wider communities to develop skills and knowledge to work with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Grant Information

The grant is divided into two separate areas of expenditure. The Delivery grant is up to £8,000, while the International Travel grant is determined by the events in the global programme in which each Delivery Partner is involved.

Eligibility Criteria

Delivery Partners have experience of working with a wide cross section of people on community led social action, and have experience of designing and facilitating programmes that bring about sustainable social impact in/with a deprived and marginalised community. They have strong local, regional and/or national partnerships and networks.

To be eligible to apply to be a Delivery Partner in the Active Citizens UK Programme Cycle 2017-18, organisations must fulfil these criteria:

  • Be UK based and work with a community in the UK
  • Have a UK based bank account that requires two signatures
  • Operate from a sound financial position, demonstrated through their latest audited accounts (or appropriate equivalent)
  • Have no conflict of interest relating to their involvement as a grantee 
  • Be able to guarantee the commitment of a Project Co-ordinator and two facilitators 
  • Be able to contribute the necessary staff time and additional costs to ensure effective delivery of the project, including monitoring, evaluation and reporting commitments, with a co-financing contribution of at least 20 per cent of the value of the Delivery grant. This may be from the partner’s own resources and/or financial contributions from third parties 
  • Accept the requirements in relation to intellectual property rights 
  • Have completed the activity from any previous cycle(s). (This applies only to organisations who have been involved in previous cycles of the Active Citizens programme.)

How to Apply

To apply, please email the Active Citizens team at active.citizens@britishcouncil.org and you will be sent the Guidance to Applicants, which contains detailed information about the programme and application process, and the application form including the budget template. The deadline for applications (with supporting documentation) is 23.00 on Tuesday 30 May 2017.

Call for proposals: Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs

The European Commission is currently seeking applications for its Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme with the aim to foster entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture across the EU.

The purpose of the call is to select bodies which will act as Intermediary Organisations (IOs) to implement the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme at local level. They will, in particular, recruit and assist the entrepreneurs who will benefit the programme. This call will therefore support actions for organisations enhancing and facilitating the mobility of new entrepreneurs, and is not intended for entrepreneurs willing to participate in the programme. The project duration will be two years (1/02/2018 – 31/01/2020).

By awarding grants to promote the mobility of new entrepreneurs, the Commission’s specific objectives
are:

  1. to provide on-the-job-training for new entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized enterprises elsewhere in the COSME Participating Countries in order to facilitate a successful start-up, and development of their business ideas;
  2. to foster sharing of experience and information between entrepreneurs on the obstacles and challenges of starting up and developing their businesses; 
  3. to enhance market access and identification of potential partners for new and established businesses in other EU and COSME Participating Countries; 
  4. to support networking between entrepreneurs from different Participating Countries by building on knowledge and experience from other Participating Countries; 
  5. the Intermediary Organisations will deliver high quality standards so as to deliver the following expected output for this call for proposals:
  6. further developing a network of new entrepreneurs (NEs), host entrepreneurs (HEs) and Intermediary Organisations (IOs); 
  7. enabling around 1300 new entrepreneurs to work alongside and learn from a host entrepreneur in another Participating Country under this action by early 2020. 
  8. creating new businesses, joint ventures and spin-off companies and foster cross-border business cooperation; 
  9. enhancing the international activities and innovation potential of host entrepreneurs.

Size of grants

The maximum grant amount per project will be EUR 500,000. It is estimated that 10 proposals will be funded through this call.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must be legal entities forming a consortium. Applying entities may for instance include:

  • Public entities responsible for or active in the fields of economic affairs, enterprise, business support or related issues,
  • Chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of (handi)crafts or similar bodies, 
  • Business support organisations, start-up centres, incubators, technology parks etc., 
  • Business associations and business support networks, 
  • Public and private entities offering business support services, 
  • Institutes of (higher) education such as universities or institutes for vocational education and training.

Only applications from legal entities established in EU Member States and countries participating in the COSME programme pursuant to Article 6 of the COSME Regulation are eligible.

Projects must be implemented in consortia. Consortia must be composed of at least 5 independent legal entities from at least 4 different COSME Participating Countries and include no more than 10 partners.

Deadline

7 June 2017

How to apply

For further information and to apply please click here.