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Funding Objectives Eligibility Types of funding Application Procedures Vetting and assessment procedures

OBJECTIVE

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) aims to be a catalyst for promoting the development of social innovation in Hong Kong. It connects the different sectors of the community, including businesses, non-governmental organisations, academics, philanthropies, etc. to address poverty and social exclusion as well as foster the well-being and cohesion of the society through innovative solutions. Partly through the intermediaries, the Fund provides visionary individuals and organisations with resources in support of research, capacity building and the entire life cycle of innovative ventures, from supporting idea incubation, providing seed funding to implement prototype and start-up projects, to assisting their eventual scale-up. The ultimate goal is to foster the development of the social innovation ecosystem where social entrepreneurs can thrive and potential talents can be unleashed to develop innovative ideas, products and services that can effectively meet social needs.

TARGET

As one of the Intermediaries of the SIE Fund, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) launches the Impact Incubator, a one-stop supporting platform connecting SIIs with various parties in regards of knowledge, resources and network to implement innovative ideas with social purpose. We provide holistic support to social entrepreneurs through the “7Ps Incubation Package”. We support and incubate:

Impact Incubator is a R&D Lab for entrepreneurial and innovative ideas with social purposes, we support:

  • Social entrepreneur who aim to adopt sustainable business solutions to address poverty and social exclusion issues
  • Social intra-preneur from NGO or private sector, who aims to mobilizes internal resources for social good
  • Social innovator who adopts creative approaches to addressing social needs

AMOUNT OF GRANT

Projects at different stages will require different amounts of grant funding over variable funding periods.

The maximum amount of grant funding for Late Prototype projects is HKD300,000*.

There is generally no funding ceiling for Start-up, Growing and Scale-up projects.  However, applicants will be required to secure at least 50% of their total funding application budget as matching funds ^. Matching funds may be in cash or in kind, provided by any party other than the HKSAR Government. If the SIE Fund funding application is for HKD500,000 or above, the Joint Vetting Committee and Proposal Assessment Committee will further review the application

*If your budget exceeds HKD200,000, an in-person interview will be conducted

^Matching Fund excludes SIE Fund and all other HKSAR Government funding. It can be in-cash or in-kind e.g rental and equipment sponsorship. The applicant should submit supporting documents to support any in-kind valuation assessment. The matching fund amount will be subject to relevant terms and conditions and will require prior written approval

 The approved grant is the sum of the capital grant and the operating grant, where:

  • Capital grant is the amount approved for acquiring assets (i.e. capital expenditure)
  • Operating grant is the amount approved for financing the funded project's operating deficit

BUDGET

Only expenditure incurred exclusively for the funded project can be covered in the budget, for example ‒

1) CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

  • Cost of procuring equipment
  • Renovation cost

2) OPERATING DEFICIT (OPERATING EXPENSES IN EXCESS OF REVENUE)

  • Salary (including the employer’s contribution to the Mandatory Provident Fund)
  • Expenses for consumables
  • External consultancy fees
  • Production and promotion cost of project deliverables
  • External audit fee (this is compulsory for organisations' and companies' funding applications)
  • Patent registration fee
  • Rental and utilities
  • Travelling fee (not exceeding 5% of the total budgeted expenditure)
  • Insurance
  • Central administrative overheads* (not exceeding 5% of the budgeted expenditure)

* Charges levied by a party (e.g. parent company) for provision of central support / administrative services (e.g. management fees)

PAYMENT OF GRANT

The applicant will be required to keep a Designated Bank Account solely for the purpose of implementing the approved proposal. The grant shall be remitted into the Designated Bank Account in installments at such intervals as specified in the contract.

In general, the initial installment will be released upon commencement of the project and the matching fund is deposited into the designated bank account. Afterwards, installments shall be released at intervals e.g. the submission of the progress and financial reports every six months and upon SIE Fund's satisfaction of performance of the project. Not less than 10% of the grant will be reserved as retention money which shall be released after the completion of the project.

[1]One-off payment to kick start the project
[2]Paid upon completion of project milestone every six month and upon the SIE Fund's satisfaction of performance
[3]Not less than 10% of the approved grant will be reserved as retention money, to be released after the end of the funding period and upon completion of all project milestones.
[4]Each instalment might be adjusted based on the project's latest spending position. The unspent grant, if any, may need to be returned.