Publication - Advice and guidance

Social Innovation Fund: guidance and application forms

Published: 6 January 2017
Part of: Communities and third sector

Guidance and application forms for the Social Innovation Fund, supported by the European Social Fund (ESF).

The fund is currently closed to applications

The Social Innovation Fund enables social economy organisations to work in collaboration with research institutions, the public and private sector to develop, test and scale up new ideas and solutions to tackle poverty and disadvantage.

It supports a pipeline of projects following a three stage approach to social innovation.

Stage 1:

develop new, innovative and creative ideas and solutions to social problems
available funding of between £30,000 to £50,000
support projects for a maximum of 6 months

Stage 2:

test social innovation ideas/prototypes to find out if they work in practice and identify what works/what does not and why
available funding of between £100,000 to £150,000
support projects for a maximum of 12 months

Stage 3:

sustaining and/or scaling up and growing social innovations that work. These will be new ideas/products/services that demonstrate real positive impact and are expected to be sustainable and 'scalable'
available funding of between £150,000 to £250,000 to 'successful' Stage 2 projects
support projects for a maximum of 12 months

Full details including eligibility criteria and the application process are available in the attached guidance document.