EPF announces Call for Proposals for Social Enterprise Development – Georgia

EPF announces Call for Proposals for Social Enterprise Development – Georgia

Deadline: 2 March 2020

The Europe Foundation (EPF) is pleased to announce a call for proposals for civil society organizations registered and operating in Georgia, interested in creation or development of a social enterprise.

Grant competition aims to support the development of new and existing social enterprises, to promote social enterprise as a viable instrument for attaining long-term CSO sustainability.

Social Entrepreneurship envisions the achievement of social objectives of a CSO, through entrepreneurial solutions. Social Enterprise is a business model that operates primarily with social and environmental objectives as the ‘bottom line’ and which reinvests profits into the social mission of the organization, aimed at addressing the needs of vulnerable constituencies.

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Social enterprise projects submitted within this grant competition are encouraged to follow one of the following business models. Please, note that the models are not mutually exclusive:

Employment model – operating as an enterprise employing its beneficiaries while selling its products or services in the open market; this model provides employment opportunities and job training to people with high barriers to employment such as people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, socially vulnerable women, etc.
Low-Income Client as Market Model – recognizes the target population or beneficiaries as a market to sell goods or services, to provide affordable access to products and services.
Fee-for-Service Model – sells social and/or other types of services directly to the target populations of individuals, firms, communities, or to a third party payer.
Market Linkage Model – facilitates trade relationships between the target population or beneficiaries, small producers, local firms and cooperatives, and the external market.
Social Innovation Model – an enterprise/initiative operating with an aim to identify and introduce innovative mechanisms/solutions to address social issues through transforming existing inefficient systems. Such models introduce novel, effective approaches and, at the same time, are successful in transforming the social institutions that initially created the problem.
Funding Information

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Maximum grant award for each proposal presented by CSOs, interested in starting up or developing a social enterprise is GEL 25,000.

Eligibility Criteria

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Stage 1 – Submission of Applications

Organizations that meet the following criteria are eligible to participate in this grant competition:
CSOs, registered and operating in Georgia, interested in creation of a social enterprise.
CSOs, registered and operating in Georgia, interesting in development of their already existing social enterprise.
Please, note that only those CSOs that have a proven record of operations of at least two years are eligible to apply for this opportunity.
Proposals submitted within this grant competition should demonstrate that profits of the established social enterprise are reinvested to achieve social mission of the applicant organization.
In addition, the submitted proposals should satisfy at least one of the following criteria:
Social enterprise provides training and employment opportunities to the representatives of vulnerable groups (e.g. people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, etc.);
Social enterprise produces goods or services, aimed at solving a pressing social problem;
Social enterprise demonstrates commitment of cooperation with national or local authorities.
Stage 2 – training and submission of a business plan

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The shortlisted applicants, which successfully complete Stage 1 of the grant competition, will be invited to attend a training in business model generation and business plan development, through which they will be able to gain a better understanding of the principles of entrepreneurship and critically assess business models selected for their social enterprise, in order to enhance its profitability potential, and develop feasible business plans. After completion of the training, the participant CSOs will be requested to develop and submit full business plans of a social enterprise, which will be reviewed by a board of independent experts.
Selection Criteria

Stage 1

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The following criteria will be used to pre-select the projects (Stage 1):
Degree of compliance with the objectives and conditions of the call;
Organization’s capacity to implement a project, demonstrated by relevant qualifications of the involved personnel and/or experts;
Organization’s potential for long-term operation toward implementing its mission;
Efficiency and feasibility of social enterprise business model;
Demonstrated track record of operations (when the project is about further developing the existing SE).
Stage 2

The main criterion for making the final decision on funding will the the feasibility of the business plan developed by the organization after the completion of the training and technical assistance provided by EPF’s partners or consultants.
To ensure an objective and non-discriminatory selection process, proposals will be reviewed by a board of independent experts. The final decision on grant awards will be made by the Foundation. EPF reserves the right not to support any project proposal, if it deems the quality of submitted proposals unsatisfactory. During the review process, additional information may be requested.
How to Apply

Interested applicants may submit the applications by email at the address given on the website.

For more information, visit http://www.epfound.ge/call-for-proposals-for-social-enterprise-development-2/