Changing Ireland by significantly increasing the impact of Ireland’s leading social entrepreneurs.
The Challenge
Ireland is failing to address its social and environmental challenges fast enough. To do this, we need new approaches and better ideas. We need to challenge that status quo and look at these issues from a different angle. We need to focus more on effectiveness and on impact. We need to fund results.
We are extremely fortunate in Ireland to have people right across the country developing new solutions to our societal problems. Without support, however, these ideas can struggle to make enough of an impact. With current challenges becoming more embedded by the day, and new and emerging issues on the rise, we know that we simply can’t afford to wait for these solutions to grow and scale on their own.
The Idea
When a social entrepreneur comes up with a great new solution to a particular social problem, we believe that those individuals should get the funding and support that they need to scale and grow, ultimately impacting as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
At Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, we seek out social entrepreneurs who have the most potential to positively impact upon challenges in our country. We work with them intensively to develop their projects and ensure that their ideas are implemented as effectively, efficiently, and sustainably as possible.
The Impact
Since 2004, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland have supported 204 social entrepreneurs, investing more than €6.7 million in their projects, as well as providing significant training and mentoring supports. These projects in turn have directly impacted the lives of 520,000 people across Ireland, and created 1,230 jobs in the process.
We’ve seen the impact of Ireland’s leading social entrepreneurs increase significantly due to our funding and support. This group of 204 social entrepreneurs, along with other social entrepreneurs we have engaged with through programmes such as the Arthur Guinness Fund and Vodafone World of Difference, now form the largest network of social entrepreneurs in Ireland.