The Social Impact Programme

The Social Impact Programme provides social entrepreneurs with a unique package of financial and practical support to help them develop the skills and knowledge needed to increase the impact of their projects/organisations.

As well as providing funding of €130,000 over the course of two years, the programme also focuses on building both personal and organisational capacity to deliver long term social impact. Given the diverse range of issues tackled by our social entrepreneurs and their differing approaches to driving social change, our support programme will be tailored to meet each Awardee’s specific needs. However, experience has shown us that there are six key areas of focus that need to be addressed in order to maximise long term impact: 

1. Planning: developing a robust strategy and business plan is key to planning for success

2. Operations: operational planning helps develop the organisational systems needed for your organisation (financial, HR, IT etc)

3. Sustainability: financial sustainability is critical to the success of any venture, this module helps you plan how to become sustainable

4. Leadership: this focuses on the challenges of leadership, team management, board and governance issues

5. Communications: a strong communications strategy is essential to deliver key messages most effectively

6. Resilience: this module helps the social entrepreneur to focus on maintaining a healthy work/life balance so that they can continue to progress both their project and themselves. 

Where possible, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland will also provide advice, feedback and support, as well as links to useful contacts and resources for the Awardee.    

 

Awardee Workshops & Alumni Network Events

All Awardees will also have access to our Awardee Workshops and Alumni Network Events. These workshops are an opportunity for Awardees to come together for one or two days to network, learn, hear “expert witness” accounts from other social entrepreneurs and guest speakers and to receive practical advice on areas such as fundraising and financing, business planning, growth strategies, marketing and PR and board management and development.

Given the level of support we provide, we expect the social entrepreneurs we support to participate fully in the Social Impact Programme - read all about what we expect of Awardees here. 

Examples of previous Award winners.

For more information on the Social Impact Programme, please refer to our Awards Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) or contact info@socialentrepreneurs.ie

Information on the Support Programmes which we provided prior to 2010 can be found here.