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Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, has today announced €300,000 in funding to support twenty-five social enterprise projects across the country.
The Social Enterprise Start-up Fund will support early stage social enterprises to grow, create jobs and inspire the next generation of Irish social enterprises.
The 25 awardees will receive cash grants of €12,000 as well as a place on a special training programme designed to help them further develop their businesses.
The Fund will be administered by Rethink Ireland on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development.
Making the announcement today, Minister Humphreys said:
“Social Enterprises are providing valuable services and supports in communities right across Ireland. Even throughout COVID -19, our Social Enterprises stepped up to the plate and continued to play a vital role. This fund was set up with the aim of helping different Social Enterprises who are at an early stage to grow, create jobs and realise their goals. We received an overwhelming response to this call for funding, with the scheme heavily over-subscribed. Following the assessment of all the applications received, I am delighted to be in a position today to announce the twenty-five awardees of the Social Enterprise Start-up Fund. I want to congratulate and wish all of the recipients well.”
The Minister continued:
“The Social Enterprise Start-up Fund builds on successful schemes for Social Enterprises funded by my Department in recent years, such as the Training and Mentoring Scheme and the Small Capital Grants Scheme for Social Enterprises. This announcement underscores my commitment under the National Social Enterprise Policy to growing and strengthening Social Enterprises by supporting them through targeted programmes and initiatives, and by providing tailored training to help them improve their business potential. The programme will be delivered by Rethink Ireland who have a great track record in administering supports to social enterprises”.
Deirdre Mortell, CEO of Rethink Ireland added:
"Rethink Ireland are delighted to have partnered with the Department of Rural and Community Development to announce the awardees of our Social Enterprise Start-up Fund. The twenty-five social enterprises being awarded today will play a key role in the transition to a more inclusive, sustainable and green economy. The funding and non-financial supports that the awardees are to receive will help ensure that they have the best chance of reaching sustainability and impact in their communities. The €300,000 programme will provide supports of €12,000, consisting of a cash grant and a place on a capacity building ‘Accelerator Programme’, a tailored programme that will provide training across strategic planning, financial management, governance, business modelling, pitching, and impact measurement”.
Full details of the Social Enterprise Start-up Fund are available at rethinkireland
| Social Enterprise | Location | Funding Amount | ||
| Accelerating Change Together (ACT Studio) | Mayo | €12,000 | ||
| An Áit Eile Cooperative | Galway | €12,000 | ||
| Bombora Build School & Centre for Sustainable Innovation | Clare | €12,000 | ||
| Buddy Bench | Kilkenny | €12,000 | ||
| CanDo - Soap & Skincare | Dublin | €12,000 | ||
| Cairde Enterprises | Limerick | €12,000 | ||
| Carers Network Ireland | Galway | €12,000 | ||
| Change 100 | Dublin | €12,000 | ||
| Connection Arts Centre | Dublin | €12,000 | ||
| Culture Connect | Louth | €12,000 | ||
| DigitalHQ | Dublin | €12,000 | ||
| Edible Landscape Project (ELP) | Mayo | €12,000 | ||
| Education for Sustainability | Dublin | €12,000 | ||
| Galway Online Community Radio (GOCOM Radio) | Galway | €12,000 | ||
| hOur Timebank | Cork | €12,000 | ||
| Life Connections | Tipperary | €12,000 | ||
| Lough Ree Access For All | Roscommon | €12,000 | ||
| Recruit Refugees | Cork | €12,000 | ||
| Síolta Chroí | Monaghan | €12,000 | ||
| SiSi | Cork | €12,000 | ||
| Siul Eile | Tipperary | €12,000 | ||
| Sonairte Open Food Network | Meath | €12,000 | ||
| The B!G Idea | Carlow | €12,000 | ||
| Tralee Intercultural Coffee | Kerry | €12,000 | ||
| What Matters Most | Dublin | €12,000 |
Social Enterprises
Social enterprises are businesses that work primarily to improve the lives of people. Their core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. Like other businesses, social enterprises pursue their objectives by trading in goods and services on an ongoing basis. However, surpluses generated by social enterprises are re-invested into achieving their core social objectives, rather than maximising profit for their owners.
They frequently work to support disadvantaged groups such as the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, the Traveller community, etc., or to address issues such as food poverty, social housing, or environmental matters.
National Social Enterprise Policy
Ireland’s first National Social Enterprise Policy for Ireland 2019-2022 was launched by the Department of Rural and Community Development on 18 July 2019, with the objective of creating an enabling environment for social enterprise to grow and contribute more fully to Ireland’s social and economic progress.
The Policy is focused on three main objectives:
1. Building Awareness of Social Enterprise
2. Growing and Strengthening Social Enterprise
3. Achieving Better Policy Alignment
Rethink Ireland
Rethink Ireland is a national organisation supporting Ireland’s best social innovations through cash grants and business supports.
They administer the Social Enterprise Development Fund on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development, a fund which will deliver €3.2M in grants and supports to social enterprise between 2018 and 2022.
Dormant Accounts Fund
The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (i.e. banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.
The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.
However, in order to utilise the un-used funds in dormant accounts and unclaimed policies to best effect, the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:
1. the personal and social development of persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged;
2. the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged; or
3. persons with a disability.
Social Enterprises work in many ways to assist people in these categories.