[This is a paid article with MaGIC.]
Social enterprises are slowly growing in Malaysia. In 2018, a study reported that there were 132 active social enterprises and 39% of them were located in KL.
According to MaGIC (Malaysia Global Innovation & Creativity Centre), there are roughly 328 active social enterprises in Malaysia now, thanks to the new mandates and support from the Malaysian government.
While the impact of social enterprises can be profound economically and socially, they have to act like businesses first.
In our previous interview with Dzuleira Abu Bakar, the CEO of MaGIC, she highlighted a few areas that social enterprises need to focus first before they can make an impact.
In 2019, MaGIC launched the Social Enterprise Accreditation (SE.A) as part of their calling to assist social enterprises. This enabled 29 local social enterprises to get accredited, which gave them benefits in the form of tax incentives and growth opportunities.
And MaGIC’s support for social enterprises continues to grow.
Assisting Impact Warriors In Malaysia
As part of the PENJANA initiative, MaGIC recently launched the ‘Social Impact Matching (SIM) Grant’. The grant gave MaGIC access to RM10 mil worth of funds provided by the government to assist blooming social enterprises.
This time, social enterprises aren’t going to pitch or have a competition.
Instead, they’re tasked to launch and successfully crowdfund for projects or initiatives with innovative solutions focused on these five areas:
- Environmental Protection
- Food Security
- Health & Social Wellbeing
- Community Livelihood
- Heritage Preservation
If the projects managed to go through successful crowdfunding, MaGIC will then match the crowdfunded funds by a 1:1 ratio.
What this means is that if the project raises RM100,000 during crowdfunding, they could be eligible to receive up to RM100,000 through the SIM Grant managed by MaGIC if they passed through the criteria checking.
This brings their total of crowdfunded funds to RM200k.
The funds received through the SIM Grant differs. An accredited social enterprise can get up to RM500,000 matched by the grant. For non-accredited social enterprises or aspiring individuals/organisations looking to cultivate social innovation, they can get between RM20,000 up to RM250,000 through the SIM Grant.
Do take note that the crowdfunding campaign will need to have a minimum goal of RM5,000. The matched funds will then allow those equipped with a social/environmental mission to do more for their cause too.
How To Get Access To Crowdfunding Opportunities
To save the hassle of searching for an appropriate crowdfunding site, MaGIC has partnered with 6 crowdfunding partners: GIVE.asia, LaunchGood, NGOhub, Sedunia, SimplyGiving and SocioBiz by Alliance Islamic Bank.
If you’re thinking of curating a crowdfunding campaign for your project, all you have to do is sign up on one or more of the platforms.
Note: MaGIC said in their FAQ that you can still opt for other legitimate ways of crowdfunding, but it’ll be subject to the same SIM eligibility criteria checks.
There are still terms and conditions from each platform, but what they can offer is a 20% rebate on platform fees if your project is approved for SIM Grant, but this is only for the first RM1 million raised on each platform.
However, note that once you’ve passed 80% of the crowdfunding target, you can kickstart your application process to get approved for the SIM Grant.
“We want to cultivate ‘Doing Good’ as the new norm and help rebuild the livelihood of communities which have been impacted as a result of the pandemic. We believe the Grant will promote inclusive and responsible businesses that create a positive impact on Malaysian society.”
Dzuleira Abu Bakar, CEO, MaGIC
Donors Can Get Something Out Of This Too
For those who donated via cash or cash grants, they are eligible for tax rebates too. But they can only be eligible if they managed to raise at least RM100,000 through crowdfunding and have their SIM Grant application approved.
Upon approval for the SIM Grant, MaGIC will request for tax receipts which will then be sent to MOF (Ministry of Finance) for processing.
The applicant responsible for the campaign can then issue tax receipts to organisations and individuals who supported the campaign. This gives the donors an extra incentive to donate and to make sure that their money is channelled to sustainable causes that creates impact.
Do Your Part In Creating Positive Impact
Even if you don’t have a social enterprise project in mind, you can help them out too by supporting the crowdfunding campaigns or via MaGIC’s new ‘Buy For Impact (BFI)’ movement.
BFI aims to cultivate a socially-conscious buying behaviour within Malaysian shoppers by working closely with social enterprises and Lazada.
Social enterprises such as Komuniti Tukang Jahit, SevenTeaOne, Masala Wheels and APE Shop are now present on Lazada and you can purchase their products there.
To assist the social enterprises through the process, Lazada will be subsiding the start-up costs and they’ll promote the products and services of the social enterprises via marketing and advertising for free too.
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“The purpose of the grant is not only to double the impact social enterprises create, but to also encourage public participation by being involved in delivering solutions to society through their donations,” said Dzuleira.
So if you have a social enterprise project that you’ve been meaning to do and it tackles one of the five areas, this is the prime time to do so. If your crowdfunding campaign is successful, you’ll then get additional funds to further help out those in need.
- To learn more about MaGIC’s SIM Grant or apply for them, sign up here.
- Shop for BuyForImpact products here.
- Read more on what we’ve written about MaGIC here.
Featured Image Credit: MaGIC