EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND+(ESF+) – Transaction Costs Support for social finance intermediaries – 2026

Objectives

• To further develop the social enterprise finance market
• To support social finance intermediaries who undertake long-term risk capital investments in social enterprises and mission-driven enterprises
• To catalyse risk capital investments below EUR 1 000 000
• To support the transaction costs for these low value investment tickets and thus to help to overcome the identified market failure / mismatch in the social investment market
• To encourage the European (trans-national) and innovative dimension of social finance schemes and support towards emerging social finance markets, e.g. via cross-border investments and cooperation, dissemination of good practices, etc

Priority

The long term capital investment can take the form of equity, quasi-equity or hybrid financing.

Among financed actions

• Activities related to the preparation, conclusion and follow-up of long-term risk capital investments
• Managing the investments and social impact
• Activities related to the overall EU value-added and the innovative dimension of the financing schemes
• Cross-border experience sharing and support to peers

Eligibility

• Be a legal entity (public or private body)
• Be established in one of the eligible countries:
  • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
  • non-EU countries:
    • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the ESF+ (list of participating countries)
    • countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature
• The single applicant or the lead applicant in case of a consortium must meet specific requirements (see details on the call : click here)
• Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting the proposal

Additional information

• Initial duration of the action: between 36 and 48 months

Extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment.

• Contact: EMPL-SOCIAL-ENTERPRISE@ec.europa.eu

Useful

• Guidelines: Click here
• Other call documents: Click here
• DG website : Click here
• More information: Click here

• Total budget of the call: 4.7 million euros
• Amount of the grant: between 400.000 and 750.000 euros

The grant awarded may be lower than the amount requested.

• Funding rate: up to 80% of the total eligible costs