Social entrepreneurship targets the underserved, developing sustainable business ideas (products and services) to address common societal challenges and create transformational social value. This approach has the potential to create job opportunities and generate income to unemployed people, especially youth. It also promotes social inclusion, enhancing people’s self-steam and sense of belonging to their communities by valuing traditions, preserving ancient knowledge and protecting the environment. Thus, contributing to the socio-economic development of local communities and also to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Ecomuseums’ work contributes to the study, preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage. Making a social investment in their communities (using a strategy called Venture Philanthropy) would maximize value creation, ensure the sustainability of their work and enhance social impact. This investment could be non-financial, as many ecomuseums have scarce financial resources. Ecomuseums could support social entrepreneurs with their expertise on local heritage, providing capacity-building, establishing partnerships, facilitating networking and fundraising activities, for example. Here we propose steps to plan, implement and monitor this social investment, also indicating some resources to apply this tool.
The publication ”Adding value through non-financial support – A practical guide”, published by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA), plots the costs and added value of non-financial support. It also lists the best ways to encourage your investees and grantees to produce solid societal outcomes.
Developed by the “Prosoa Rural” project (2018-2020), co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the “Social Entrepreneurship and Cultural Heritage” training module aims to promote the initiative and social entrepreneurship of young people based on Cultural Heritage and Traditions.
The comprehensive training course developed by the “Cultural Heritage Entrepreneurs” (CHEER) project (2018-2020), also co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, provides support to participants to find business ideas, develop social enterprises, provide local capacity building and foster social inclusion with focus on local cultural practices and heritage.
The report “Measuring and managing impact – A practical guide”, also developed by the EVPA, provides tips on how to implement impact measurement in five easy-to-understand steps, at the level of both the social investors and their investees.
Nunzia Borrelli, Barbara Kazior, Marcelo Murta, Óscar Navajas, Nathalia Pamio, Manuel Parodi-Álvarez, Raul dal Santo, Julio Seoane
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