Closed

Actions to boost the development of finance markets for social enterprises

ESF Project Grants

Basic Information

Identifier
ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND
Programme
Call for proposals: Actions to boost the development of finance markets for social enterprises
Programme Period
2021 - 2027
Status
Closed (31094503)
Opening Date
December 5, 2023
Deadline
March 14, 2024
Deadline Model
single-stage
Budget
€3,674,110
Min Grant Amount
Max Grant Amount
Expected Number of Grants
Keywords
ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMANDESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND

Description

Expected Outcome:

The expected result is the cooperation between public and / or private entities of any type with the aim to ease access to finance for social entrepreneurs and to develop the investment readiness of social enterprises to ensure social enterprises are able to take on repayable finance.

Scope:

The objective is to contribute to the development of feasible, suitable and reliable schemes or funds providing finance to social enterprises as well as support structures providing business development services and networking facilities to improve social enterprises' investment readiness. The objective of the call is also to identify, develop, promote and disseminate good practices in supporting social enterprises in accessing finance.Social enterprises are instrumental in the implementation of many of the European Pillar of Social Rights principles. In particular they play a key role in delivering the following European Pillar of Social Rights (‘EPSR’) principles: 3. Equal opportunities, 4. Active support to employment, 5. Secure and adaptable employment, 11. Childcare and support to children, 17. Inclusion of people with disabilities, 18. Long-term care and 20. Access to essential services.

Eligibility & Conditions

Conditions

1. Eligible countries: as described in the Call document.

• EU Member States (and their overseas countries and territories) ;

• EEA countries, in accordance with the EEA Agreement;

• EU acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidate countries, in line with the agreements concluded with them.

• Third countries having signed an agreement to participate in the strand or a third country listed in the EaSI work programme if necessary for the achievement of the objectives of an action.

Do note that for certain calls only EU Member States and EEA countries are eligible.

 

2. Eligibility and admissibility conditions: as described in the Call document.

Applications must be submitted before the call deadline and electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Applications (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System.

Applications must be complete and contain:

- Application Form (Part A)

- Application Form (Part B)

- Annexes and supporting documents (to be uploaded as PDF files).

At proposal submission, the lead applicant will have to confirm that it has the mandate to act for all applicants; that the information in the application is correct and complete and that the participants comply with the conditions for receiving EU funding (especially eligibility, financial and operational capacity, exclusion, etc). Before signing the grant, each beneficiaries and affiliated entities will have to confirm this again by signing a declaration of honour (DoH).

Applications must be readable, accessible and printable, not exceeding [70] pages.

 

3. Evaluation

The award criteria for this call are detailed in pages 18 and 19 of the call document. 

The award criteria for this call are as follows:

Award criteria

Minimum pass score

Maximum score

Relevance

21

30

Quality — Project design and implementation

21

30

Quality — Project team and cooperation arrangements

14

20

Impact

14

20

Overall (pass) scores

70

100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Indicative timetable for evaluation and grant agreement: as described in the Call document.

 

Timetable and deadlines (indicative)

Call opening:

05 December 2023

Deadline for submission:

14 March 2024 – 17:00:00 CET (Brussels)

Evaluation:

April -August 2024

Information on evaluation results:

September 2024

GA signature:

November 2024

 

5. Proposal templates, guidance and model grant agreements (MGA):

- Call document: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/esf/wp-call/2023/call-fiche_esf-2023-supply-demand_en.pdf

- Template - Memorandum of understanding: https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=27243&langId=en

- Standard proposal template:  https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/temp-form/af/af_esf-socpl_en.pdf  

- Mono/Multi-beneficiary Model Grant Agreement: 

   Core: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/agr-contr/general-mga_esf-socpl_en.pdf

   Annex 1 to Grant Agreement: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/temp-form/gap/doa_esf-socpl_en.docx  

- Annotated Grant Agreement: Aga_en.pdf (europa.eu) : Please be aware that the Manual is being slightly developed following the new Programmes using the Portal. That is why it is marked “draft”.

 

Support & Resources

- Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ : FAQ on submission of proposals

-  IT Helpdesk : Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc.

-  Online Manual : The Online Manual is Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and submission to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes. (roles & access rights, proposal submission and evaluation, grant management, amendments, etc.). Each explanation leads to the corresponding “IT How to” page (see here after).

-  IT How to - IT How To - Funding Tenders Opportunities (europa.eu) : Detailed instructions on how to apply for EU funding, from how to register your organisation, how to manage the roles and access rights to your organisations, proposals and to how to submit your proposal. It gives also detailed instructions on and on how to manage your grant if you are selected.

-  Support overview (europa.eu) : Page gathering all support tools (overview, guidance and manuals, FAQ's, helpdesk, support videos)

-  ESF+ direct (EaSI) | European Social Fund Plus (europa.eu) ; Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion - European Commission (europa.eu) : General information on European Social Fund Programme.

 

For help related to this call, if you did not find an answer in the various support means, please contact:[email protected]



 

Latest Updates

Last Changed: February 27, 2025

Evaluation Results



Call publication date: 05.12.2023

Call deadline date: 14.03.2024

Final distributed budget: EUR 3 486 988



Number of proposals submitted: 29

Number of inadmissible proposals: 4

Number of ineligible proposals: 2

Number of above-threshold proposals: 20

Below threshold: 3



Last Changed: February 7, 2024

(ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND) Actions to boost the development of finance markets for social enterprises call for proposals info session can be watched on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9NkWWvvkVY

Last Changed: January 18, 2024

As previously announced, an info session on this call takes place online on 26 January,  at 14:30-15:45 CET. If you wish to attend, please register via the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Registration-ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND. The info session will be recorded and accessible online afterwards.

Last Changed: January 8, 2024

 The revised call text has been published on 05/01/2024.

Last Changed: January 8, 2024

The call text has been updated, see version 2 below in the Topic conditions, point 5.

Last Changed: December 21, 2023
  • ·        A corrigendum of the call text will be published in January. This will clarify the annexes and remove the additional obligation for the legal representative (LEAR) of the coordinator to co-sign the following letters:
  1. -        A signed letter of commitment to invest/co-invest in the financial instrument to be established from the potential investor.
  2. -        A signed letter of commitment to provide business development/investment readiness services to (potential) investees from the support organisations.

  • ·        An update to the optional Memorandum of Understanding template has been published on 21/12/2023, towards a lighter template.
  • ·        Frequently ask questions will also be published in January 2024.
  • ·        An online info session on the call is planned on 26 January 2024 and will be announced on the portal
Last Changed: December 18, 2023

Questions will not be answered during the EC holiday (21/12/2023 – 03/01/2024). In case of questions received during this period, an FAQ will be published in the first weeks of January 2024

Last Changed: December 5, 2023
The submission session is now available for: ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND(ESF-PJG)
Actions to boost the development of finance markets for social enterprises | Grantalist