The world is facing many serious social and ecological challenges. At the same time we see a large amount of socially driven starting professionals facing youth unemployment. They want to bring about positive change but do not know how to do this and where to start. They lose themselves in job applications and hopelessness in a labour market that is locked.
The world is facing many serious social and ecological challenges. At the same time we see a large amount of socially driven starting professionals facing youth unemployment. They want to bring about positive change but do not know how to do this and where to start. They lose themselves in job applications and hopelessness in a labour market that is locked.
There are also positive movements. Many bottom-up social initiatives and starting entrepreneurs take action to find new solutions. Organisations in the healthcare, welfare and government sectors want to work more bottom-up and entrepreneurial. But many of these new approaches face challenges. With the help of young professionals they could achieve so much more.
MANAGEMENT
One founder and 17 freelancers. The team consists of small programme teams coordinating programmes in 5 cities spread throughout the Netherlands. 7 freelancers have been involved from the start and fulfill more senior and coaching roles.
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Starters4Communities believes in a better world. A social entrepreneurial world in which creating social value is at least as important as creating financial value. Many starting young professionals share our believes. And they have the vision, drive and creativity to make a difference.
We see starting professionals as the key to bring about social change.
We therefore connect starters to social initiatives. We do this with our training and work experience programs. We offer workshops, coaching and make the connection. During each course the starters work on projects from a local community initiative, social enterprise or social organization, or they build their own social enterprise.
1. We help starting professionals enhance their employment opportunities through social entrepreneurship. They gain practical experience by working on an impact project. They learn to collaborate, co-create, adopt an entrepreneurial mind-set and lean innovation skills. Additionally, we offer a coaching program in which self-discovery and talent development are key. At the end of the program the starters have the tools and skills to kick-start a career as a social entrepreneur or entrepreneurial professional.
Furthermore, the potential of this generation is valuably utilized and we help them to make a lasting positive impact in society.
2. Community leaders and social start-ups are given access to the creativity, enthusiasm, knowledge and talents of young professionals. In teams, the starters and change makers work together to help increase the impact, the scope and the financial sustainability of the impact projects.
3. We use our own creativity, experience and talented young professionals to help organisations with social innovation and bottom-up challenges.
We connect starting professionals to impact projects.
We change the world through entrepreneurial action.
We learn by doing. With real impact projects.
We innovate together. A bottom-up search towards a better world.
FINANCING/FUNDING
- 36.000- 40.000 euro costs and revenue per programme.
- 15% fee paid by the starting professionals.
- 35% Assignment local partner (short-term contracts with local council or NGOs)
- 50% Crowdfunding campagne carried out by the group of 20 starting professionals as part of their own development path.
PARTNERS
Impact Hub, Social enterpice NL, local governments, LSA (platform for community initiatives), NGO’s, Dutch (Bcorp), universities, Many Social enterprices, Spark Innovation Campus, community centers, trainers in the field of social enterpreneurship.
LOCATION
National
TARGET GROUP/SOCIAL PURPOSE
Starting professionals (age 22 – 32), community leaders (citizens) and social start-ups
DURABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Our participants stay involved with our organisation and within the communities they worked. This creates a group of young changemakers unfolding a bottom-up social entrepreneurial movement.
During our programmes the starters work on financial sustainability, reach and impact challenges identified by the community initiative they support. The challenges always focus on long term impact and durability.
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- Diversification of resources.
- Strong partnerships with a lot of different people, organisations and government.
- Young ambitious team.
- Strong evaluations from the start that helped develop our service.
- Lean en flexible teams that are self learning.
AWARENESS
We started as a social enterprise.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PLANS
By the end of 2020 we aim to have worked with 5.000 starters aged 22 – 35 years old on strengthening or building initiatives and enterprises with social impact.
We will achieve this by developing an (international) social franchise model.
We are also expanding our services and will in addition to community initiatives also work on assignments from local governments, NGO and health care organisations. Assignments would need to focus on our core strengths in bottom-up engagement and a social entrepreneurial way of working. We are looking at expanding to working with different target groups; such as graduates among refugee communities.
We are building on strengthening our community of now 300 alumni, 100 community initiatives and many partners. We are looking at developing a recruitment aspect where we connect talented young professionals with employers in social sector or social businesses.
ADVICE FOR STARTING UP A SE
Talk with a lot of like minded people and make them enthusiastic about your idea. Often they want to help because you have similar goals. Don’t be afraid to test things and take some risks. Try to start with low costs and see if your idea/product works. See how you can make people your ambassador and make your concept grow (what can you outsource!)