Socio-economic stability in local communities within the Impulse Project

The project “Empowering Civil Society for Ukraine’s Resilience and Recovery” (“Impulse”) is implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation in cooperation with the East Europe Foundation, with support from Norway (Norad) and Sweden (Sida). The project will run until 2027. Its goal is to strengthen the capacity of Ukrainian civil society organizations (CSOs) to set and achieve development objectives that will contribute to early recovery and democratic governance reforms in Ukraine. The activities aim to address challenges faced by CSOs, including lack of resources, skills, engagement, visibility, and networking. The project will enhance civil society’s capacity and improve its ability to defend Ukraine as a resilient and inclusive European democracy, helping the country recover from the enormous damage caused by Russia’s war.

The “Socio-Economic Resilience in Territorial Communities” call focuses on one of the key components of early, people-centered recovery—strengthening socio-economic resilience and self-sufficiency in territorial communities of frontline regions and those most affected by hostilities. It aims to stimulate the development of inclusive (participatory) social entrepreneurship by CSOs across various fields, helping address social issues within communities and creating economic opportunities for women and vulnerable groups of local residents, including internally displaced persons, veterans, persons with disabilities, single mothers and fathers of young children and children with disabilities, and older people.

The call will support CSO leadership in expanding economic opportunities by implementing social entrepreneurship initiatives in territorial communities of the target regions. This will include promoting successful CSO-led social business practices and fostering interaction between experienced organizations, already operating social enterprises, and CSOs that are just beginning their journey in this sphere.

The competition will be implemented in two stages.
Stage One: A call for CSOs with experience in running accelerators/schools in social entrepreneurship and practical experience in social enterprise operations, to conduct 2–3 Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator Schools for CSOs. Participants of these schools will be CSOs with a clear focus on strengthening economic self-sufficiency and social recovery in communities of the target regions.
Stage Two: A small grants competition for the development of social enterprises, open to CSOs that completed the Accelerator School course (the call will be announced among the graduates of the Schools).

Stage One: Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator Schools

The goal of Stage One is to select 2–3 partner CSOs that will develop the methodology and deliver comprehensive training for CSO representatives from the target regions who plan to develop their social enterprises; and to provide practical knowledge needed for the successful long-term operation of a social enterprise.

During the Accelerator School, participants are expected to develop business models for the creation or scaling of their social enterprise; draft a business plan; learn the basics of risk forecasting and investment attraction; acquire knowledge on proper reporting and profit use; and receive information about further learning opportunities in social entrepreneurship. These topics must be reflected in the methodologies and draft program proposals submitted to the competition.

The Accelerator School program should take into account different levels of participant expertise: CSOs that are beginners in social entrepreneurship and more experienced CSOs. This may be one program addressing both categories or two separate programs tailored to each group.

Eligible applicants for Stage One include civil society organizations, public associations, and charitable organizations from all regions of Ukraine that have experience conducting accelerators/schools in social entrepreneurship and preferably practical experience running social enterprises, and can engage experienced trainers-experts and active social entrepreneurs as mentors.

Participants of the Accelerator Schools will be selected through an open call by the School organizers. Eligible participants are motivated CSO representatives with varying levels of social entrepreneurship experience from the following regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv (excluding Kyiv city), Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv. Relocated CSOs that operate social enterprises may also apply.

The duration of the Accelerator School project is up to 4 months, including organizational preparations, selection of participants via open calls in the regions listed above, and delivery of theoretical and practical sessions (format and location to be determined by the organizers and included in their project proposals). An additional month will be provided for reporting.

At the conclusion of the Accelerator Schools, the International Renaissance Foundation will announce a small grants competition for the development of social enterprises among all graduates of the supported Schools. The announcement will be shared with all School participants, regardless of their experience level (beginner CSOs or experienced CSOs). Up to 10 winners will be selected.

The International Renaissance Foundation does not provide grants to political parties, religious organizations, local communities, private individuals, or business entities whose purpose is to generate profit.

Acceptable project budget expenses are those that:

• are targeted and necessary for implementing project activities;
• will actually be incurred during the project implementation period;
• comply with the principles of cost–effectiveness and cost-appropriateness, including the principles of “highest quality at the lowest price” and cost efficiency;
• can be properly documented, justified, understandable, and supported by the relevant financial and accounting documentation.

Unacceptable project budget expenses include costs related to:

• preparing the project proposal for participation in the competition;
• establishing and registering an organization;
• paying off debts;
• reimbursement of losses related to currency exchange rate fluctuations;
• providing direct fiscal support to state authorities;
• political activities or religious propaganda;
• activities that lead to direct or indirect discrimination against any social groups;
• purchasing equipment that exceeds 20% of the project budget (applicable only for the second stage of the competition);
• purchasing humanitarian aid and/or military equipment;
• purchasing vehicles and/or luxury goods and related services;
• providing financial assistance to third organizations (re-granting).

Conducting social entrepreneurship accelerator schools with a comprehensive training program for CSO representatives from target areas, including theoretical and practical classes, introductory visits to social enterprises, homework assignments, and mentoring support; preparation of business models and draft business plans, training in risk forecasting, attracting investment, proper reporting and use of profits, as well as familiarization with opportunities for further training.

Project proposals with attachments should be registered on the IFU website using the “Electronic Competition” service. All documents for the project proposal must be attached in .doc, .docs, .xls, .xlsx, or .pdf format. The maximum size of each attachment cannot exceed 8 Mb.
Project proposals registered on the IFI website after 3:00 p.m. Kyiv time on the above-mentioned dates for submission of project proposals at each stage of the competition will not be considered.

Criteria for evaluating project proposals at the first stage of the competition:

• Compliance with the competition’s priorities and objectives, and adherence to the defined geographic scope of School participants.
• Experience in conducting similar accelerators (with supporting materials) and the trainer team’s qualifications.
• Soundness of the project proposal budget and clear alignment of budget lines with the activity plan.
• Availability of all required annexes.
• Consideration of principles of sustainable development, inclusivity, non-discrimination, and gender equality in social entrepreneurship.
• Engagement of partners—other active social enterprises and experienced trainers—in delivering the School.
• An advantage will be having at least two years of own experience operating a social enterprise.
• Viability and demonstrated success of the business model (with supporting materials).

• Project proposal using this application form.
• Project budget.
• Draft program of the Social Entrepreneurship School (indicating the city of implementation, tentative dates, number of participants, training format, and monitoring activities). In addition to theoretical and practical sessions, the program must include familiarization visits to CSO-run social enterprises, preparation of homework assignments, and provision of mentoring support for participants between sessions. The program must accommodate different levels of potential participants: CSOs that are beginners in social entrepreneurship and more experienced CSOs. This may be a single program that meets the needs of both target participant groups or two separate programs tailored to each group.
• Indicative list of successful social enterprises operating on the basis of CSOs (preferably with at least two years of experience) whose expertise is planned to be involved or presented during the School.
• Draft announcement for the open call for School participants, which must clearly state that within the second stage of this competition, the International Renaissance Foundation will conduct a competition among CSOs participating in the Schools to receive a small grant under the “Impulse” Project for the development of social entrepreneurship. It is not required to include all 15 of the above-listed regions in the draft announcement.
• Concise description of the applicant’s experience in running accelerators/schools in the field of social entrepreneurship.
• Business model of the applicant’s existing social enterprise, if applicable (in any clear and illustrative format).