DBS Grant Programme

DBS Foundation, based in Singapore, offers social enterprises a DBS Grant Programme, thereby enabling them to add critical capabilities to achieve sustainability and scale up their existing business. Through the initiative, the DBS Foundation seeks to encourage innovation by social enterprises in meeting complex social needs, the likes of which include access to health and health education, employment generation for the marginalized, environment protection and waste management solutions, responsible education and literacy, creating rural livelihoods, innovative technologies for social impact, etc. The grant could be availed by social enterprises registered and operating in India, among other countries such as China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan. The Foundation also collaborates with social enterprise developers to facilitate knowledge sharing and enhance the capacity of social enterprises to gain social and commercial viability. These partners provide incubation, boot camps, workshops and financial aid to these enterprises. Also Read About - Social Entrepreneurship

About DBF

DBF Foundation is a DBS Bank endeavour which was founded in February 2014 with the object of championing the cause of social entrepreneurship. The body particularly works with the vision of shaping a better future for Asia by championing social entrepreneurship and encouraging business development. It has till now supported more than 100 social enterprises through small grants and regular stipends.

Quantum of Grant

The foundation offers grants between the range of INR 25 lakhs to INR 1 crore to social enterprises with a product market fit, demonstrated traction in sales and revenue, clear social impact, and scale-up readiness.

Eligibility

Social enterprises with the following facets may avail grants under this program:

It is in possession of a business product/solution that has been validated in the market, as evidenced by revenue generation and/or traction in client acquisition, with plans to scale up the business.
It is committed to a social mission and is driven towards scaling social impact.

How Can I Use it?

The foundation suggests that the funds could be deployed for the following purposes:

Expanding to new locales.
Increasing the capacity of production.
Establishing/Strengthening a brand.
Improving the efficiency of operations.
Building or structuring a team.
Enhancing social impact measurement/management.
Protecting intellectual property.

It may be noted that the foundation wouldn’t be funding:

Specific individual fellowships/stipends and personal expenses, charities or NGOs primarily dependent on donations.
Religious organizations for religious purposes, election campaigns, general fund-raising drives or event sponsorships.

Timeline of Grant

Application forms received before the 31st of July 2019 will be evaluated during the period of August-September of 2019, and the grants for the same will be disbursed by October/November of 2019. Application forms received on or after the 1st of August 2019 will be evaluated on the next evaluation cycle, i.e. 2020.

Evaluation of Applications

Applications for the programme are evaluated on the basis of the following:

Innovation
Social Impact
Business Viability
Scalability of business and social impact
Team strength

Application Process

Enterprises wishing to avail this offer may mail their applications in .docx format dbsfoundation@dbs.com. The submissions could be made in English, Chinese or Bahasa Indonesia. Each entity must not submit more than one application for an evaluation period, not complying to which will lead to its disqualification. The application form for the same is provided in Word format and could be downloaded from here.