The Hive

UnLtd HE Social Entrepreneurship Award

Do you have a great new idea for a social enterprise? Would you like support to develop your idea?

UnLtd and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) are working in partnership with Higher Education Institutions in England to develop their expertise, skills, knowledge base and business support structures in social entrepreneurship and social enterprise activity.

The HE Social Entrepreneurship Awards programme is available to staff, students and recent (2012) graduates, living in the UK. Awards can be granted to individuals or an informal group of up to three people.

Projects that may qualify include initiatives that:

• benefit the public or a community in the UK
• demonstrate a connection to the Higher Education Sector
• need a HE Social Entrepreneurship Award to ensure their success
• offer a learning opportunity for the applicant(s)
• are an entrepreneurial solution to a social problem, or
• will instigate social impact or social change.

Levels of award

There are three levels of awards:

Try it Awards: funding up to £500 to try out ideas on a small scale, determine whether it is viable and learning more about what is needed to make it successful. The first steps in developing a project and the skills to run it.

Do it Awards: funding up to £5,000, (with an average of £2,500) for individuals who can present a potentially viable idea with evidence of some confidence in it succeeding and have the skills to do it.

Build it Awards: funding up to £15,000 for already established social ventures or community projects that address some of the biggest challenges facing communities, have a track record of success over a year or two, and now have the potential to scale and grow to become investment ready.

The Hive has up to £50,000 to give out during the next academic year to qualifying projects and social ventures. Awards must be spent or allocated before 31 July 2013. The money is for the project and not for salary costs of the individuals and there are guidelines for eligible expenditure.

Find out more

Application is by enquiry by telephone, email or personal application here at The Hive. To find out more, contact us.

Someone from the Hive will then meet with you to discuss and assess your idea.