Final Extension for applications to The Social Enterprise Grant

The Social Enterprise Grant Scheme is a scheme established by ICE, and drawn down under the Local Enterprise Office (LEO), Dublin. The scheme currently has €50,000 at its disposal and is being set up to provide a small number of flexible grants for Social Enterprises, either at start-up or development phase.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants must be a Social Enterprise i.e. A business that generates traded income with social outputs, in which all profit created is reinvested into the business
Applicants must be located within the Dublin City Council administrative area.
Applicants must be either a company limited by guarantee or a co-operative.
Applicants need a current Tax Clearance Cert in place.
Applicants need to provide evidence that public liability insurance is in place and/or will be in place before drawdown of funds
Applicants need to provide a Business Plan
Applicants need to provide 1 years Financial Accounts ( if Applicable) and 3 years projected accounts
Ineligible Projects

Projects will be deemed ineligible if they are regular commercial businesses whose sole aim is to generate profits for Owners/Directors/Shareholders.
Projects will be deemed ineligible if in debt or if threatened insolvency is an issue.
Projects cannot be in receipt of other statutory grants.
Evaluation Process

An ICE Evaluation Committee will assess the applications and supply a shortlist of candidates to the Social Enterprise Grant Committee for final selection and approval. A competitive process will be put in place to assist with the selection process. Selection of successful candidates will be based on the following criteria:

Number of direct/indirect jobs to be created.
Quality of proposal
Viability/Sustainability of project
Quality of promoter
Social return/impact on investment
Decisions will be recorded and a report made to the overseeing Social Enterprise Grant Scheme Committee. A number of shortlisted candidates will be invited to present their project/ social enterprise to the Social Enterprise Grant Committee. This will involve a 5 minute presentation and a 10 minute question and answer session. The Social Enterprise Grant Committee will then decide on the successful grant awardees.

To Apply  http://innercityenterprise.com/socentlink.docx

Applicants must email a completed application to Innercityenter@gmail.com or forward by post, a hard copy of the application to Inner City Enterprise, Unit G10 Spade Enterprise Centre, North King Street, Dublin 7.

Conditions of Draw down

A Letter of offer will be issued to successful candidates and this will include terms and conditions of draw down of the grant funds.
The Letter of offer will need to be signed and returned within a month of receipt.
Applicants will be required to submit a copy of their registration documentation from the Company’s Registration Office (CRO) and a current Tax Clearance Cert.
Public liability insurance will need to be in place and evidence provided.
All successful applicants must agree to work with a mentor assigned by Inner City Enterprise or the Local Enterprise Office.
Successful applicants must be willing to allow reference be made to them, for the purpose of case study materials or media reports, which may be used by Inner City Enterprise or the Local Enterprise Office to further promote the Social Enterprise Grant scheme .
All applicants will be eligible for group mentoring sessions, hosted by the Dublin Local Enterprise Office, on marketing and finance. These workshops will be run between May and June 2016.
Once all of the conditions of draw down have been met grant funds will be paid to the successful applicants.

Due to  demand the closing date for applications has been extended to 27th May 2016.

All applicants will be notified by post of the success or failure of their application.