Even though COVID-19 is still around very prominently, I am cautiously re-starting group activities and courses:

• Early next month, I’ll guide a group of local social initiatives from the greater Amsterdam area through their options for promising funding strategies.
• I’ll also give a masterclass on next level sponsoring for local NGOs and social enterprises.
• I’m starting up a new project in the southern Dutch province of Brabant, aimed at the development of some sort of standardized funding toolkit for social and community enterprises.
• And I have good hopes that I’ll be able to deliver the postponed masterclass on participatory grantmaking in October.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing a lot of online sessions with many great social enterprises from all over Europe within the frameworks of the EaSI TA Program and the European Social Innovation Competition. It was not just great fun to do, but also deeply necessary. Even though there is an abundance of funding opportunities, getting early-stage social enterprises properly financed is still a challenge throughout Europe.