The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that collaboration, knowledge-sharing and placing people and environment before profit is crucial to cope with challenges of any scale. Joining forces, the members of Euclid Network keep supporting the social enterprise sector, enhancing the opportunities for its development and growth. To shed a light on the activities of impact practitioners in Europe and neighbouring countries, reflecting the core of social enterprise ecosystem, Euclid Network is pleased to present you the Annual Consultation 2019-2020.
Euclid Network (EN) empowers positive change by connecting, supporting and celebrating social enterprise support organisations to lead the transformation towards an inclusive, circular and cohesive economy. The new EN members’ survey provides an overview of our efforts in shaping the European ecosystem for social impact. This report highlights the diversity of actors in the network, types of support they build, their activities in the areas identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the barriers for the sector.
Throughout Europe, governments, universities, impact investors, knowledge centres, networks and incubators are actively assisting the work of social enterprises. EN federates all these types of organisations.The largest group of EN members are national networks of social enterprises or civil society organisations, followed jointly by universities and social funds.
EN members facilitate emergence, development and scale-up of social enterprise. They provide various types of support, including research and advocacy for policy change in favour of social entrepreneurship prosperity.
Social impact is generated when social and environmental objectives are put before profit. The SDGs provide a framework to distinguish the different impact areas in which social enterprises are supported by EN members. The large majority of members indicate to be particularly interested in the impact areas of education, gender equality and poverty eradication.
Despite significant achievements in the social enterprise sector, there are still clear obstacles on the way to its growth. The support organizations working with social entrepreneurs have identified their top challenges and needs to be addressed, which if tackled can help to elevate the scale of impact delivered by social enterprises.
Understanding of the challenges practitioners face in the field allows us to address them comprehensively. EN can help to leverage those challenges by providing opportunities for social enterprise support organisations to connect with international peers, share good practices, produce professional and entrepreneurial knowhow, build European projects, influence international policies and raise the visibility and understanding of social enterprise internationally.
Through cross-border collaboration and knowledge sharing, the EN network continues to empower the champions that support social enterprise in Europe and beyond to drive positive change. Are you ready to join the community of like-minded change-makers and take your organisation to the next level? Then learn more about Euclid Network and what we can offer to promote social entrepreneurship.
