Social Enterprise ‘Kickstarter’ Funding Program Opens
7 June 2017 at 5:06 pm
A business planning competition and small grants program called Kickstarter, funded by the Macquarie Group Foundation for early stage social ventures and run by not-for-profit organisation SEFA Partnerships, is open for applications.
Designed to build the capacity of early stage social ventures through the development of robust and tested business plans, professional mentoring and small grant funding, Kickstarter awards six $10,000 grants annually to eligible social enterprises as part of a two-stage process.
Stage one is an initial application with a short pitch to a judging panel; and stage two is a 12-week business plan development phase involving mentor support by a small team of Macquarie directors.
In 2017, Kickstarter will include two rounds ( February to July and June to December).
SEFA said each round would consist of 12 finalists who will be mentored through the production and submission of their business plan, each round awarding three $10,000 grants.
“The program has supported the likes of Hello Sunday Morning, Clickability, Words with Heart and Batyr in their early stages and has recently been opened up across Australia,” SEFA program manager Hannah Miller said.
She said the free program was looking for innovative start up ventures that address an unmet social or community need; and/or creates a new model or way of meeting that need.
“Applicants need to have an innovative social venture either at pilot or start-up phase that has preferably not received more than $25,000 in funding and can demonstrate at least 25 per cent of the venture’s revenue will be derived from trading income,” Miller said.
Jamie Moore from Hello Sunday Morning said Kickstarter was a “great boost” to their organisation.
“Of course the money was great, but more than that Macquarie has been supportive in terms of resources and mentoring,” Moore said.
“From day one my mentor challenged me to see our business model in a different way and her passion for what we did meant that I listened.”
Applications close 30 June 2017. Shortlisted applicants will be notified on 7 July.
