The announcement that a €1 million fund for social enterprises is now open has been welcomed by Cork East Fine Gael TD and Minister of State at the Department of Justice, David Stanton. The fund is open for applications for small capital grants with monies being administered by Local Development Companies.
“I was pleased to see Minister Ring open a call for proposals under the Small Capital Grants Scheme which is being funded by the Dormant Accounts Fund. Over €1 million is available to social enterprises with grants ranging from a minimum of €2,000 to a maximum of €15,000 for equipment, repairs or refurbishments to assist over 100 social enterprises to improve their service delivery”, said Minister Stanton.
“The Small Capital Grants Scheme is an initiative under the National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019 -2022 which was published in July this year. The new national policy which contains 26 commitments aims to grow and strengthen social enterprises by building awareness of social enterprise and by achieving greater policy alignment. Full details of the policy are available at: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/govieassets/19332/2fae274a44904593abba864427718a46.pdf
Social enterprises are businesses whose core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. They frequently work to support disadvantaged groups (such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, travellers) or to address issues such as food poverty, social housing, or environmental matters. Like other businesses, social enterprises pursue their objectives by trading in goods and services on an ongoing basis, however any surpluses achieved are re-invested into achieving the core social objectives.
“I believe that this scheme will be of particular interest to smaller or start-up social enterprises which do not necessarily have the capacity to compete for larger grants. Any social enterprises interested in making an application should got to: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/9c56eb-small-capital-grants-scheme-for-social-enterprises/ where full details of the scheme are available as well as application forms, guidelines and a list of Local Development Companies and their contact details. The deadline for receipt of applications is 3pm on Monday, 11 November 2019”, concluded Minister Stanton.