The anniversary of France is committed “ embodies what we want for the future of our country: a society where innovation, solidarity and collective commitment come together to respond to the challenges of our time », greets the Minister Delegate in charge of the Social and Solidarity Economy, Interest and Participation Marie-Agnès Poussier-Winsback.
She speaks during an event organized by the La France s'engage foundation, at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) in Paris on November 21. For ten years, this foundation recognized as being of public utility finances and supports social and environmental projects carried out by structures of the social and solidarity economy (ESS)in particular associations. These structures and the foundation's partners came together to examine ways to accelerate the impact of social innovation.
The foundation made two booklets public on this occasion: one is the result of “retrospective” work on its action and that of the supported structures, the other is “retrospective” work. prospective » with 67 proposals to amplify the effects of social innovation.
Various social and environmental initiatives
Throughout the pages of the first booklet, entitled “Impact Story”, examples of supported projects are described in various areas, such as access to quality food, employment or the fight against isolation.
The Chemins d'avenir associations, which implement mentoring to reduce inequalities between young people from rural and urban areas, Les petits cantines, which aim to break the loneliness around meals at free prices, or Wake up café, which accompanies people who have been detained, are part of the 204 structures supported in ten years. These intervene each year with more than 10 million peopleaccording to the foundation.
“Massive” financial support
Every year, La France s'engage selects around fifteen “winning” initiatives through a call for projects. They are then supported for three yearsthrough four main types of action summarized in the second part of the booklet.
Financial support, first. This is the crux of the matter: “en general, the reason why you are applying to the foundation », remarks Enora Hamon, deputy general director of La France s'engage, addressing the project leaders gathered at Cese.
The funding is multi-year, not earmarked and “ relatively important ” Otherwise ” massif », up to 300,000 euros over three years. Modalities “ quite unique in the associative landscape » et « too rare », Specifies Enora Hamon. In ten years, the direct financial support of the foundation amounts to 55 million euros.
Also read: Cese launches a warning cry on the financing of associations
The France is committed label
The foundation also supports structures to increase their impact. This strategic support takes the form of skills sponsorship, an approach which allows companies to make their employees available for a limited time so that they can share their knowledge and skills with associations. In total, 15,000 days of skills sponsorship were granted to structures through La France s’engage. This represents 65 years of work, “ which has a real impact “, says Enora Hamon.
La France s'engage also facilitates networking with patrons, partner companies and other supported structures. This “has been enormously valued » by the winning structures interviewed to take stock of ten years of action, adds Enora Hamon.
The projects supported by the foundation are also labeled. This allows “ to accelerate the development » structures by making them known to peers and future funders, believes the deputy director of La France s'engage.
Proposals to create debate
The second booklet presented by the foundation on November 21 is its White Paper on Social Innovation, this time intended to think about the future of social innovation. It is made up of 67 proposals resulting from consultations with “ the foundation's ecosystem » such as corporate sponsors, winning structures or elected officials. Some are aimed at the State or communities, others at businesses, still others at “ the ESS ecosystem “. In any case, they are intended to be discussed and debated, assures Damien Baldin, the general director of La France s'engage. During the day, the “ winners » from France is committed will have the opportunity to discuss this subject during workshops.
The recommendations are classified according to the actors to whom they are addressed, their ease of implementation and their cost. 21 of them require “ advanced cooperation between several actors » and are therefore considered more complicated to implement. This is the case for the creation of a large school of continuing and initial training in social innovation, for example.
Financially, 18 of them cost nothing: integrating skills sponsorship into companies' human resources strategies, for example. The others have a low or moderate estimated cost or are qualified as investments for the future, like the creation of a public fund to finance social innovation.
Looking for private financing?
« Recently, we went to Matignon with Damien Baldin and one of the councilors asked us if we had any proposals that were easy to implement, which cost nothing and which did not require legislative treatment. », says Enora Hamon. She assures that this is the case for some of the recommendations made.
In her speech, Marie-Agnès Poussier-Winsback called for the mobilization of large companies, particularly in “ further encouraging skills sponsorship “. She also hears “ involve financial actors more in financing social innovation “. She also wishes “ strengthen synergies » between the ESS and traditional companies with a social and environmental commitment approach, in order to “ replicate effective solutions on the ground ». « These are the kinds of approaches we need, particularly in the budgetary context we are experiencing. “, she says, referring to the anecdote of Enora Hamon and the limited resources planned in the state budget for 2025.
Celia Szymczak
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