#1 Application

A central part of the ESF+ Social Innovation+ initiative will consist of launching EU-level calls aimed at supporting transnational projects which facilitate the transfer and scaling up of social innovation. The overarching goal aims to make a positive impact by promoting employment and fair social protection, eradicating poverty, fostering a skilled and resilient workforce, at the same time cultivating transnational cooperation and mutual learning.

Application process
To receive funding, an application, together with mandatory annexes and other supporting documents, have to be submitted by the deadline of an open call. This list of mandatory documents and the deadline for submission of applications are specified in the Call Conditions of each call, as well as on the subpage dedicated to a specific call. Information about currently open calls can be found here.
In all the cases, an application will have to be filled in online and together with mandatory and other supporting documents submitted via eSINNIS – the electronic portal and exchange system managed by European Competence Centre for Social Innovation. Applications submitted not via the eSINNIS or after the deadline will not be accepted.
An application will have to be submitted by filling in the forms provided in the eSINNIS. If, under a call, certain annexes are required to be submitted together with an application, the recommended templates will be provided on the subpage dedicated to a specific call.
When applying, the applicant will have to certify that the information provided in the application is correct and complete and that the application complies with the conditions for receiving the EU funding. For consortium-based projects, the applicant (who will act as a coordinator of a consortium) will additionally have to confirm that they have a mandate to act for all project partners.
It is recommended to complete an application sufficiently in advance of the deadline set under a specific call to avoid any last-minute technical issues. Problems related to last-minute submissions, such as network congestion, will be entirely at the applicant’s own risk and they will not form the basis for the request to extend the call deadlines.
Once an application is submitted, the applicant will receive a confirmation e-mail (with the date and time of the submission of an application).

Eligible applicants
Entities which are eligible to apply under a certain call as applicants, co-applicants and associated partners, will be specified in the Call Conditions of each call. While under some calls, legal entities may be recognised as eligible to submit an application, under other calls, transnational consortia will have to be formed, and only applications by the consortium will be accepted. In case of the latter, the Call Conditions of a certain call will clearly define the requirements set for the composition of a consortium.
Specific conditions for financial and/or operational capacity of an applicant (s), if applicable, will be explicitly described in the relevant Call Conditions.

General funding principles
Three important things should be remembered when applying for funding under the ESF+ SI+ initiative calls: co-financing, avoidance of double funding, and adherence to the no-profit rule.
Co-financing
Co-financing rate will be explicitly indicated in Call Conditions of each call. Co-financing shall come from other resources than the EU budget. Generally, funds from other EU programmes cannot be used as national co-financing source.
No double funding rule
There is a strict prohibition of double funding from the EU budget. Any project may receive only one grant from the EU budget and under no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice. It means that the received grant can only be used to the purpose indicated in the application and application of any other funding for the same purpose is forbidden. Naturally, applicants are allowed to have several EU projects running in parallel, but the objectives and the activities need to be different in each one of them.
No-profit rule
The grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiaries. Profit is defined as a surplus of the receipts (the Union grant, and the revenue generated by the project) over the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary, when the request is made for the payment of the balance. To put it simply, when the total amount of the received funding is greater than the total eligible costs, the difference is considered profit. The project cannot make profit. This stems from the EU’s obligation to prevent the distortion of competition, which would occur if grants were permitted to be directly for profit making.

Funding form and co-financing rates
The available indicative call budget, including the expected size of the grant per project and the maximum co-financing rates, as well as information about project payments will be specified in the Call Conditions of each call.
Calls launched under the ESF+Social Innovation+ initiative, will take the form of a lump sum grant.

• Lump sum grant is a form of simplified cost option, which is an approximation of the beneficiaries’ underlying actual costs. When compared to reimbursement of actual costs, lump sum funding removes obligations on cost reporting, thus provides considerable simplification and allows to focus more on technical performance, quality monitoring, dissemination and exploitation of project results.
• The amounts of lump sums are established for the whole project (the total lump sum) and per each work package individually, in accordance with the Rules of the Use of Lump Sum Contributions under the ESF+SI+ initiative.
• Lump sums are established on the basis of the Detailed budget table (a mandatory annex to each Call Conditions), the Granting Authority’s assessment of the validity of the requested amounts, and a funding rate applicable under a certain call.
• The payment of a lump sum is linked to the completion of the corresponding work package (WP). A WP can only be declared as completed and the corresponding lump sum paid when all the work has been carried out, and all deliverables have been reached.

Project budget and eligible costs
Under each call, the Detailed budget table will be a mandatory annex. A recommended template will be provided as an annex to the Call Conditions and will be available to download on the subpage dedicated to the specific call.
The Detailed budget table presents estimated costs per a work package and per each applicant and co-applicant. It has to be filled applicant by applicant, for all work packages in which a certain applicant implements activities and incurs costs.
General cost eligibility conditions, eligible costs categories, and ineligible costs/contributions will be detailed and explicitly described in the Call Conditions of each call and the Detailed budget table.

Useful resources