Social Entrepreneurs Ireland: Impact Programme

Overview

Their Impact Programme is a nine-month accelerator programme that will provide you with specialised support to help you to bring your project or organisation to the next level, with a view to becoming a highly impactful, effective, scalable, and sustainable organisation.

• Five social entrepreneurs led organisations will be selected to participate in the Impact Programme.
• As an Impact Programme Awardee your organisation will receive support in key business areas and direct funding worth over €20,000.

You will join Ireland’s largest network of social entrepreneurs working across the country to solve Ireland’s social problems quickly and effectively.

Training & Support

Throughout the nine months, you will work with the Programme Manager to support you in key areas of need. They provide one-to-one support, coaching and consultancy as well as group training, in areas such as leadership development, communications, governance, strategic planning, fundraising, and resilience.

Community

Impact Programme Awardees receive support and mentorship from a large number of extremely experienced social entrepreneurs currently driving social change across the country, along with Ireland’s leading business experts. Awardees also become members of the SEI Community where you can continue to avail of support after the Impact Programme ends.

Funding Available

Impact Awardees receive unrestricted funding of €20,000 to support them to build strong foundations for their organisations and grow their impact, in addition to all non-financial supports mentioned above.

Applications open once per year.

What are they looking for

They welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and we are committed to providing equal opportunities regardless of gender identity, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or religion. (Equal Status Acts, 2000-2018)

The Impact programme works with high-potential social entrepreneurs who are ready to move their project/organisation to the next stage. They are looking for:

Social entrepreneur-led projects…

The person applying must be the main driver and lead decision maker with a project already up and running. You should have an entrepreneurial manner and be open to learning and developing themselves through their Impact Programme. They accept applications from individuals and twoperson partnerships.

While your project may have more than two founders/leaders, for the purposes of their 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 programme.

A societal challenge…

There are a lot of problems and issues to be addressed in Ireland so we’re looking for social entrepreneurs who can clearly demonstrate why the issue you are addressing is of particular importance. It is also important to share your insight and understanding into the social problem. The societal challenge can be either social or environmental.

A new or better way…

Your project/organisation should be innovative and not replicating what is already being provided. Instead you should be approaching issues from a different angle, improving on what is already being done or introducing a completely new solution altogether. You should be able to clearly articulate what makes your 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 their 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

Their Impact Programme caters for established projects at various stages of development and aims to support social entrepreneurs with the greatest potential to bring about positive change to Ireland’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

In order to apply to the Programme, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be aged 18 years or over at the time of applying for the programme.
• You must be the social entrepreneur leading the project - the main driver and decision maker.
• The primary focus of your project must be to benefit people in Ireland.
• You haveidentified a social or environmental issueand developed a clear business model to solve it.
• Your solution must be new or better than others in existence already in Ireland.
• Your project must have moved beyond the initial idea stage, with activities up and running that relate directly to the problem you are trying to address.
• You must have evidence to illustrate the social mission and impact of your project on your target beneficiaries/audience.
• You must 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 Programme. The Programme will run from September 2023 – May 2024. This involves a time commitment of on average 2 to 4 days per month.
• You are available to attend the mandatory Selection Process events: Judging Panel on the 5th/6th July 2023and a final interview on 26th July 2023. Both will be in-person in Dublin.
• You are willing and able to develop your project on at least a part-time basis for the duration of the programme.