Press Release

Stories of Survival and Revival. The EVPA Annual Conference 2020

Brussels, 3 September 2020 – The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) is holding its first ever virtual Annual Conference from September 21-24 2020. The 16^th edition will be dedicated towards “Building Alliances for Impact” and aims to bring hundreds of professionals together via 60+ interactive and creative sessions to learn, engage, network and get visibility – and ultimately bring positive impact to those in need.
“At EVPA we’ve always stimulated collaboration: amongst peers, between funds and foundations, corporate social investors and their affiliated companies, and private and public investors”, says Steven Serneels, outgoing EVPA CEO.

Enabling Collaboration

The interactivity of the virtual Annual Conference facilitates open discussions to explore alliances which tackle global concerns, addressing not only the ‘why’ but also the ‘how’. Although with a focus on Europe, collaboration knows no borders and can be felt throughout the event: whether sharing the state of investing in Latin America, gaining insight into new platforms such as the Deal Share Platform for Africa or gathering inspiration from Asia, “collaboration is essential to credibly address the major challenges of our time”, Steven Serneels.

Combating Today’s Global Challenges

It is a unique opportunity to explore concrete ways of closer cooperation with affiliate #Investing4Impact networks and stakeholders and to deep dive into topics like ‘just transition’, climate change and socially sustainable development. Divided into four main themes across the four days, participants are able to choose their area of focus and interest:

• Day 1 Building Alliances - Starting from the public sector and institutional investors, the effectiveness of venture philanthropy will be put to the test and the amount of risk investors for impact are willing to undertake in order to achieve societal change assessed.
• Day 2 Resilience – How to prepare for the future with European business leaders, deal with systemic change, build trust between social investors and public authorities but also learn from Covid-19 response examples in high impact ventures.
• Day 3 Social Enterprise Day - Social entrepreneurship along the whole investing for impact spectrum.
• Day 4 Scaling for Impact - What needs to be done in order to maximise impact exactly where it is needed and with the involvement of all players.

Some of the other sessions to be found throughout the four day event:

• The public sector in the investing for impact ecosystem
• The role of matching funds and syndication in financing social enterprises
• Top-10 barriers for inclusive employment and entrepreneurship in a green economy
• Designing a Mindfulness Impact Bond on anxiety in post-COVID’s uncertain times
• Co- as Compassion and Then Co-Investment
• Leveraging EU Funding for Social Finance Providers
• Gender Equity and Venture Philanthropy

“The recent pandemic has clearly shown that building alliances is not only necessary, but tremendously effective”, Steven Serneels.

The EVPA Annual Conference is organised with the support of Impact Capital, DOEN Participaties, EIB Institute, Blueplanet Investments, Grupo Ageas Portugal, Erste Bank Group, Fondazione CRT, Demeter and Fundo Inovacao Social.

For more information on the conference, visit our website conference.evpa.eu.com

Better yet, become a valuable part of the discussion and join us in September!

The European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) is a lively network of organisations sharing the same vision and a common goal: creating positive societal impact through venture philanthropy. Currently, EVPA has over 300 members, mainly based in Europe, showing the sector is rapidly evolving across borders. Its membership covers a full range of organisations within the impact ecosystem, including venture philanthropy funds, social investors, grant-making foundations, impact investing funds, private equity firms, professional service firms, philanthropy advisers, banks and business schools. The EVPA office is based in Brussels, Belgium.