SHARING FORWARD PRINCIPLE
FIND OUT ABOUT THE WE SHARE x MDC FUNDING PROGRAMME
THE NEED FOR SYSTEM CHANGE
Global challenges
Food shortage, natural disasters, species extinction, climate crisis, pandemics – affect all of us. In order to face them, the way we think and act needs to be transformed. We cannot stand aside anymore and hope for the governments, NGOs and big corporations to solve them for us.
What we need
What we need is a strong focus on sustainable and impactful innovation. Innovation where startups are taking a leading role. Startups and young talents – who have the innovative power and drive to bring positive change.
The current system
The current system of financing such startups and talents leads to 80% failure, because venture capital is very often too impatient. Startups need more time than 3 years to reach financial success. They need patient capital.
We offer a more inclusive innovative impact-driven incubation ecosystem with more philanthropic capital for social entrepreneurs and young talent so they can concentrate on their impact and become more successful in addressing the needs of today and tomorrow. And we want to help you connect with and accelerate local solutions to global challenges as identified in the Sustainable Development Goals.
OUR PURPOSE
VALUES
Impact
We support social entrepreneurs and students who aim to attain the UN SDGs and bring positive change
Entrepreneurship
We believe in the power of entrepreneurship to provide the needed impact innovation
Connection
We aim to connect like-minded supporters and startups – not for profit, but for impact
Collaboration
We Share donors, entrepreneurs and students work together to accelerate disruptive solutions to global challenges
VISION
To help attain the UN Sustainable Development Goals by supporting education and social entrepreneurship projects and fostering a share it forward mentality.
MISSION
To foster a community mindset that prioritizes impact over profit, becoming the go-to funding platform supplying funding for education and social entrepreneurship.
HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT
Share-it-forward Philosophy
We aim to ignite a ‘share-it-forward movement’ where once received help, the startups share with the next generation of startups. Once you have been helped, you help others.
Circular Model
We believe that circular economy is the future. Loans repaid by startups are used to be lent out to a new generation of startups. With our sustainable circular model, we recycle impact capital.
Impact Driven
Our impact is our profit. We certainly want startups to be financially sustainable but the main driving force should be impact. We expect the impact mission to be embedded in the company’s business model.
Experience in the Ecosystem
With decades of experience investing in the Dutch startup ecosystem, we have a track record of discovering promising entrepreneurs and helping them build successful companies.
SHARING FORWARD CIRCULAR MODEL
We Share can only help Changemakers if donors are willing to share a piece of their success with the We Share Community. We believe the Social Entrepreneurs and Impact Students that We Share supports, once they stand on their own feet, will in turn also be willing to assist the next generations of Changemakers.
Letting future generations of Changemakers share their own success is what we call the Sharing Forward principle: We Share counts on the students who receive a scholarship and the social entrepreneurs who obtain grants to share forward with the next Changemakers by contributing a small percentage of their income or turnover.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why does working towards the UN SDGs matter? And what role do they play in We Share’s startup selection criteria?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are one of the primary reasons behind the creation of We Share. To reach these goals by the 2030 deadline, the UN reports that it will cost between US $5 to $7 trillion. It is quite clear that such a financial burden requires not just governmental and non-governmental organisations, but industries, corporates, and individuals as well to do their part. The UN has made it clear that the most effective way to solve global issues is via localised solutions, which means that local entrepreneurs, startups, and students are our best bet for creating impact innovation. This is why We Share provides financial and non-financial support to entrepreneurs and students whose initiatives are impact-driven. The SDGs are one of our crucial investment criteria and therefore, we invite into our community impact startups whose businesses are aligned with at least one of the SDGs and are directly contributing to their attainment. See more information here.
Why do Changemakers need better opportunities to succeed and create impact?
Studies and industry insights suggest that, in the Netherlands, 50-85% of startups fail in the first five years of their existence. The three main causes of startup failure are a lack of appropriate financial support, poor product-market fit and insufficiently-skilled management teams. Our Community strives to combat these obstacles by providing social entrepreneurs with funding, experience, services and mentorship.
What is Revolving Impact Capital and how does it make We Share’s model unique?
Our model is based on the concept of revolving funding – because member contributions stay within the community, they can be used time and again, making We Share a circular sustainable fund. We bring together the elements we admire in foundations, impact funds, charities, crowdfunders and startup mentorship programs. Our community members are actively engaged in helping impact startups not just survive but thrive.