Venture Philanthropy and Social Investing at Sweden’s Regional Meet Sponsored by Times Realty News

STOCKHOLM - Sept. 1, 2014 - PRLog -- Times Realty News supports a highly dynamic Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum for Scandinavian based members of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA). It was  held at Grevgatan 34, 114 53 Stockholm, Sweden.

The EVPA is a membership association comprised of venture philanthropy funds, grantmaking foundations, private equity firms and professional service firms, advisors, business schools and other organizations who are practicing social investment in Europe. Its goal is to connect like minded minds in the fields of venture philanthropy and social impact investing.

Founder and Chairman of Times Realty News,  David Drake  says,  “With realty financing on the rise because of the JOBS Act, Times Realty News aims to educate real estate entrepreneurs raising capital; VCs, Angels and Corporate investors in realty; service providers and the media; and other real estate companies  on these subjects.” He says further, “Times Realty News believes that a working knowledge and understanding of the new laws and trends will work in favor of potential and existing investors and entrepreneurs in the real estate industry.”

A good number of EVPA members were expected to attend this forum. It  is a unique opportunity to network, increase collaboration and learn more from each other.

The event kicked off with a get – to – know – you session for EVPA participants. The session also aims to discuss ways on how member organizations can contribute in increasing resources available for Venture Philanthropy and Social Investing in the region.

Venture Philanthropy, defined as an approach that uses venture capital finance techniques and strategic management with philanthropic goals, has been in existence in Europe since 2000. However, the industry has yet to gain significant momentum.

One key challenge for Europe is how to increase capital for venture philanthropy. In fact, according to a study by Leonora Buckland of the Stanford Innovation Review, 61 percent  of European organizations  have  allocated less than €2.5 million  to Venture Philanthropy and Social Investment in 2013 and only 8 percent have budgets greater than €20 million.

Throughout the day, participants got to know more about best practices and key opportunities for venture philanthropy and social investing in the region. A key focus was on “How can the EU Social Business Initiative support VPOs”. Spearheaded by the European Commission, the initiative is designed to provide social enterprises and companies that Venture Philanthropic Organizations (VPOs) usually invest in, with the mechanisms for  them to grow and flourish.

The event also featured a case study on the successful launch of the first Social Impact Bonds (SIB) in Belgium. SIB, also known as pay-for-success contracts, is an innovative mechanism designed to allow the government to render social services with funding from private investors. Under the SIB methodology, private investors profit from the bonds only if non–profit outcomes meet specific and verifiable performance targets.

The participants learned the best practices of venture philanthropy and social investing from IKARE (TBC), KOIS Invest & Den Sociale Kapitalfond, Reach for Change & Ferd, Entreprenörskapsforum & Forum for Social Innovation at Malmö University (TBC).

The event was moderated by:

Christine Castille, Community Communication Director of EVPA

Elinor de Pret,  EVPA Public Affairs Manager of EVPA

Francois de Borchgrave, CEO of KOIS Invest

The day’s activities was capped by a networking drink, which is another opportunity to mingle and meet fellow members.

The forum created more buzz for the European Venture Philanthropy funds and could result to more call to action from various private investors.

 Learn more on this groundbreaking event. at:

http://thesoholoft.com/conferences/timesrealtynews-suppor...

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